Iain Glen attends the DVD launch of the complete first season of 'Game Of Thrones' at Old Vic Tunnels on February 29, 2012 in London, England. Getty Images/Tim Whitby (Photo : Getty Images/Tim Whitby)
The "Game of Thrones" Season 7 premiere is all but confirmed for summertime release this 2017 but the actual air date on HBO remains unknown. When actually the next GoT season will hit the TV screen seems the least of concerns by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. For now, they are taking their sweet time filming the hit fantasy-drama series that is based on George R.R. Martin's epic novel "A Song of Ice and Fire", specifically "The Winds of Winter" volume.
Time reported that as far as Benioff and Weiss are concerned there is no "official return date," for the upcoming installment of Game of Thrones. But there are things about the show that are already set in stone. It's certain that Season 7 will be short by three episodes from the previous seasons and for 2018, GoT fans will only to see six episodes for Season 8.
GoT actor Iain Glenn, who is Ser Jorah Mormont in the series, told The Radio Times in an interview that filming of the show will wrap up in February but the cast and crew, including himself, have no idea when the broadcast on HBO will be. It's his understanding that Benioff and Weiss are not rushing things.
"They are taking the length of time it takes to shoot ten episodes to shoot just seven this year and six next year," Glenn said, hinting too that viewers will get to see GoT Season 7 episodes that are bigger than ever, perhaps more compelling than the "Battle of the Bastards" in Season 6 and even more heart-wrenching than "Red Wedding" where most of the Starks were slaughtered in Season 3.
"I think the scale and size of the set pieces, the world that is being created it's just getting more and more extraordinary and they feel they need that time to shoot seven hours as opposed to ten," the actor added, somehow dropping clue that for Season 7 HBO intends to run each seven episodes longer than usual. But this happening will greatly depend on the final cut that the showrunners will produce.
But to be sure, the last two seasons of Game of Thrones are headed to the end-game, and this Glenn is confirming. "This season you feel that the drama is moving towards its end game, more characters are overlapping so we are seeing a lot more of each other ... and we are going to the same places," the actor said.
He is unsure though is Jorah Mormont will stay alive until the finale of Season 8, in the same way that he is clueless on which GoT characters will die next and when.
What is certain, according to The Radio Times, is that toward the end game there will be pieces on the board that will be removed.
And Benioff was kind enough to paint a general picture of the things to expect for Seasons 7 and 8. "Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros; Jon Snow is king of the North and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne. And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them," the Game of Thrones showrunner said, as if teasing of the magnitude of explosion to happen when all these forces collide.
