Game Of Thrones: New Teaser Reveals Season 8 Premiere Month
Everything they've done, they've done for the throne.
HBO has sweetened everyone's Tuesday with a surprise teaser for Game of Thrones season 8.
First posted to the official Game of Thrones Twitter account, the clip doesn't show off any new footage from the concluding season of the fantasy drama series, but it does offer something arguably just as exciting: the premiere month for season 8. As revealed in the last few seconds of the teaser, the beginning of the end of Game of Thrones will commence in April 2019.
"Every battle. Every betrayal. Every risk. Every fight. Every sacrifice. Every death. All #ForTheThrone," reads the caption of the video, teasing major things will happen in season 8.
Now, while the confirmation of an April 2019 debut date for the series' final season is sure to put smiles on the faces of all Thrones fans, who are chomping at the bit to get any kind of information about the six episodes yet to come, it's not exactly surprising.
HBO announced back in January of this year that Thrones would air its final season sometime in 2019, taking a turn that's reduced in episode count but stuffed-up in terms of episode length. (Each is said to run for about as long as a feature film, with two lasting more than 60 minutes and one coming in at about 90 minutes.)
As the network began rounding out its 2019 broadcast season roster, fans started to narrow down which month of the year Thrones would return. Though HBO made Game of Thrones-related speculation a little tricky by not setting specific release dates for most of its upcoming content (like Watchmen, Lovecraft Country, the second season of Big Little Lies, and the final season of Veep), which left fans without concrete windows to theorize Thrones season 8 would fall in, the network did recently announce that the third season of True Detective will premiere on January 13, 2019. Many assumed that Game of Thrones would return for its final season not long after, as both series are highly anticipated ones.
But even without taking HBO's content schedule for 2019 into consideration, an April premiere for Game of Thrones season 8 was almost a guarantee. The show debuted its very first episode in April 2011, then aired almost every new season in April from there on out. (Season 3 very nearly bowed in April, premiering on March 31, 2013; and season 7 aired in July of last year after production delays set it back a few months.) It's only fitting that Thrones will return to its "home" and roll out its final six episodes in April of next year.
HBO hasn't yet confirmed which day of the month Game of Thrones season 8 will premiere, and it's not easy for us to predict a set date either since the past seasons that debuted in April haven't stuck to just one period of time during the month. (The first season debuted on April 17, 2011; the second on April 1, 2012; the fourth on April 6; the fifth on April 8; and the sixth on April 24.) However, Game of Thrones traditionally airs episodes on Sundays — of which there are only four in April 2019: April 7, April 14, April 21, and April 29. We can't place bets on which date is the one HBO has set for Thrones season 8, but it's likely one of those four. And we're just glad the wait will soon be over.