Only two more episodes are left in the season 7 of Game of Thrones, after which only season 8 would remain to us. But the release date of the final season was a subject of speculation, especially after rumors that it might be delayed till 2019. However, in a recent interview, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (who plays Jaime Lannister) revealed that the shooting would begin this October and the actors would receive the script in a few weeks. In his words:
“I knew what was going to happen for the first three seasons. After that, it’s been a season at a time. You get the scripts a month before we start shooting, or six weeks, and then you know what’s going to happen that season. But, I don’t know what’s going to happen next season. We go back in October, so maybe in the next few weeks, we’ll get the scripts and I’ll find out. I’m very curious.”
The actor was in an interview with Collider while promoting his upcoming film Shot Caller. From his comments, one thing could be deduced: Jaime Lannister makes it to season 8. However, he made no comments regarding the release date of the season.
The first six season of the show followed a consistent format. The shooting spanned from July to December, and the season premiered in April the next year. However, this changed with season 7, because the team wanted a colder climate to portray winter in a better way. The current season had only seven episodes, but the increased length of the final two episodes led to the same duration of shooting (six months). If we believe that the same period of shooting would follow for the last season, then season 8 could air by September 2018.
However, there is no assurance of this. For instance, the longer shooting duration in season 7 was due to longer episodes, with the finale being of 80-min duration. It has been rumored that each episode of season 8 would be of similar duration, which means the total length of six 80-min episodes would be much longer than the usual ten 50-min episodes we were used to seeing. On top of that, the final season might use the heaviest CGI, which would further delay the premiere. So, even though we are expecting the new season in September next year, we shouldn’t be surprised if it delays to 2019.
The next episode of current season, Beyond the Wall, airs this Sunday (August 20) on HBO.
