Game of Thrones Season 8 Release Date News - When will it start, how will it end?

Game of Thrones season 8 release date news: When will it start, how will it end? GAME OF THRONES season 7 came to an end last night, marking the beginning of the end for the hit fantasy saga. Here is everything you need to know about season 8 including its rumoured release date and how many episodes there will be. When will Game of Thrones season 8 start? Game of Thrones season seven wrapped up on Sunday August 27 with a feature-length finale, but thoughts have already turned to what season eight might bring. Jaime Lannister actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has confirmed that the final season will begin filming in October. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next season,” he told Collider. “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.” Season seven went into production in September last year for a July release date. And while season eight is slated to be the shortest yet, HBO president Casey Bloys has hinted that each episode could be feature-length. “I imagine they’ll be longer but … I’m not sure [how long],” he said. “We haven’t had that discussion yet because I don’t know how long the episodes are going to be. Two hours per episode seems like it would be excessive, but it’s a great show, so who knows?” The extended running times, combined with the expected scope and scale of the final run, means that the cast are likely to spend as much time filming as they would for a normal 10-episode season. “It’s a big season,” Bloys explained. “So they’re trying to get a sense of how long they’re going to take to film this.” Based on this, we expect Game of Thrones season eight to arrive no earlier than August 2018. However, in a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bloys hinted that season eight could be delayed until 2019. “They have to write the episodes and figure out the production schedule,” he said. We’ll have a better sense of that once they get further into the writing.” He has since confirmed that all six scripts are completed, which hopefully points to a speedy release. How many episodes will be in Game of Thrones season 8? The saga will conclude with six episodes, making season eight the shortest yet. The first six seasons were each made up of 10 episodes, with season seven compromising seven instalments. When will the Game of Thrones prequels be released? Plans are afoot for a Game of Thrones expanded universe, with four prequel series currently in the early stages of development at HBO. George RR Martin is overseeing the mammoth project, with four separate screenwriters working on a series each. Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service) is one of the writers, along with Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island), Brian Helgeland (LA: Confidential) and Carly Wray (Mad Men). Goldman has revealed that her series will be “recognisable” to fans. “I think as a book reader or as someone who watched the series, you would say, ‘Oh, that! OK.’,” she told IGN. “Yeah, it would be recognisable as a past event, but I think that’s probably as far as I can go.” Bloys has said that although four series are in development, none of them are guaranteed to air. “This franchise is really rich and very exciting,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “It is going to be really, really hard for anybody to match the level that this show has set in terms of quality and filmmaking. “So the idea was, if we're going to try it, let's take a couple of shots and see. My hope is at least one lives up to the level of quality [Game of Thrones creators] Benioff and Weiss have set.” He confirmed that if any of the series see the light of day, they will not be piggybacked on to season eight. “The final season is going to be its own event,” he explained. “It's going to be a big deal for us and the fans. I'm not interested in using it to launch any other show.”