Season 7 of “Game of Thrones” has been amazing so far, continuously breaking records. The premiere episode “Dragonstone” was watched live by 10.1 million people, the highest record until “The Spoils of War” that was watched live by 10.2 million people despite the episode being leaked prior to its original air date.
Just recently with “Eastwatch,” the record was broken, once again, with 10.7 million live viewers. Considering where the episode left off – which leads to the anticipated battle between the living and the undead, it is highly likely that the upcoming episode “Beyond the Wall” will break the record again.
With just 2 episodes left in Season 7, fans are already wondering about Season 8 - when it will start filming and when it will air. Season 7 took 6 months of filming that began in August 2016 and premiered in July instead of the regular April.
“Game of Thrones” producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, previously stated that they needed to push the filming back to portray the winter season better in Season 7. Though there are fewer episodes than normal, production took just as long as normal due to the big scale of the events in the season.
Season 8
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister, was recently interviewed by Collider to promote his new film “Shot Caller”. During the actor’s interview, “Game of Thrones” questions were unavoidable.
Coster-Waldau revealed that they’ll be reporting back to set in October and that the actors will probably get the scripts in the next few weeks.
Like the fans, the actor admitted that he is curious about what will happen in the upcoming Season 8. Coster-Waldau continued in his interview that he knew what was going to happen in the first 3 seasons of the show.
But after that, he had to wait for the script every season. If he is expecting the Season 8 script, that could mean that Jaime will survive Season 7 – he recently survived a dragon attack and drowning.
Season 8 as has previously been reported will consist of six episodes only. Like Season 7, production and filming of Season 8 will take 5-6 months due to the scope of the final episodes of the show.
If filming begins in October and lasts for 6 months and post-production takes another 6 months, fans can probably expect Season 8 in late 2018.
There are also speculations that Season 8 will debut in 2019. HBO hasn’t released any official statements regarding the premiere date of the upcoming final season.
Spin-offs
There are four spin-off series currently in the early development stage according to HBO. Four different writers are exploring the different time periods in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” universe. It has been confirmed that all are going to be prequels and that no existing characters will be included.
Benioff and Weiss are not one of the writers working on the spin-off series as they are preparing for Season 8.
IGN has reported that one of the spin-offs is being developed by Martin and Jane Goldman. Goldman revealed that the prequel would be a recognizable past event. The screenwriter couldn’t say any more details without spoiling the prequel.
With four series in the works, fans are eagerly hoping for a prequel that will cover Robert Baratheon’s rebellion. The prequel could show the Tourney at Harrenhal, the Mad King, Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark’s story and the Tower of Joy.
