Game of Thrones has been one of the biggest shows on television from almost the very beginning, and it has only grown more popular with the passing years. In fact, Game of Thrones was breaking its own ratings records throughout Season 7. The odds that even more records will be broken in the eighth and final season are pretty good. Unfortunately, HBO recently announced that we won't be seeing Season 8 until 2019. Now, HBO president Casey Bloys has revealed why a whole calendar year will pass without any new episodes, saying this:
It wasn't necessarily a delay. It was based on when they felt that they could deliver a show that they are most proud of. I suppose we could've said to them, 'You must deliver by this date.' But we've worked with them a long time and I trust them to tell us, 'This is the time we need to make it good.' So I don't know that it's a delay as much as it is 'This is the time required to deliver at the level that they think the fans expect.'
As it turns out, the premiere of Season 8 was pushed to 2019 due to the strength of HBO's relationship with Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The two men evidently believed that they'd need some extra time to give Game of Thrones a fitting sendoff, and HBO has enough faith in them to sign off on a longer production schedule. Casey Bloys' comments at the TCA press tour (via TVLine) make a lot of sense, all things considered. After all, Game of Thrones has been a massive success for HBO. Benioff and Weiss clearly know what they're doing when it comes to Game of Thrones, and there's no reason to believe that they'll fall short for the final season.
While a stellar Season 8 will undoubtedly be fantastic in 2019, waiting through all of 2018 without new episodes might be a little rough for fans, especially if the folks at the show are paranoid about preventing spoilers from leaking. It might be quite a while before we find out any big details, although small bits of information are already floating around. We have learned two unexpected characters who will be back, and we can be sure that there are some big twists in store courtesy of Bran as the Three-Eyed Raven. Given that the show is reportedly filming multiple endings to keep a lid on plot twists, detailed spoilers may be hard to come by.
For what you can watch while we wait for the final season of Game of Thrones, check our our midseason TV premiere schedule, our 2018 Netflix premiere guide, and our rundown of important 2018 Amazon Prime dates. If you feel the need to watch some of the Game of Thrones actors on the small (or large) screen ahead of Season 8, you can discover many of their projects in our list of where the Game of Thrones stars can be found while we wait.
