Game of Thrones season 8 may not premiere until the summer of 2019, the world mourns

Brace yourselves, Game of Thrones fans: the wait for season 8 might be longer than we initially thought. Since filming wrapped on the show’s final season back in July, we’ve attempted to make some educated guesses as to when we’ll once again see Jon, Tyrion, Dany and the rest wage war on the Night King and his army of the dead, but alas, there’s been no official announcement from HBO. However, in a recent interview with the Huffington Post, visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer dropped a bomb on all that guesswork while discussing the show’s Emmy eligibility.

"In two years we’ll be eligible for the Season 8 work, which we’re just beginning now. We’re going to be toiling away on Season 8 until May of 2019, so it’s eight or nine months away. But the prequel is starting to shoot in February, at least the pilot. So we’ll still have quite a lot to do on Season 8 when they’re beginning."

Regarding Emmy eligibility, Bauer is referring to the requirement that in order for a series to be eligible for next year’s Emmy Awards, it would need to air between June 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019. If Bauer is working on the series until May of next year, that would indeed eliminate Game of Thrones from contention for the 2019 awards (exceptions can be made regarding consideration if one or more episodes air past the deadline).

If what Bauer says is true, and his comments aren’t simply a slip of the tongue, it represents the most definitive timetable yet, from anyone involved with the show. HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys previously stated that season 8 would debut in the first half of 2019, which isn’t that far off, now.

Either way, if Bauer is working on the special effects through May — even if he only meant through May 1 —  that would make June the earliest we would see season 8. Yes, it’s appropriate to get into the fetal position and cry, cry a lot.

Far from being one offhanded remark, however, Bauer doubled down on his work schedule regarding Thrones. “So much of it comes down to timing and all that stuff,” he said. “The situation changes every week. I know I’m not doing anything else but ‘Thrones’ until May of next year.”

Also of note, Bauer confirmed the untitled Game of Thrones prequel series will film its pilot in February of 2019, so perhaps we might get to see HBO’s hopeful Thrones replacement — about the Long Night/Age of Heroes — at some point in the fall of 2019…or, this all could simply be a severe case of wishful thinking.

Once Bauer was done crushing our hopes with news of Game of Thrones possible returning next summer, he discussed how the series will end when it finally airs. “I thought it was really brave. I thought it’d be interesting to see,” he said. “It’s very true to what Thrones is, and knowing how it ends, I don’t actually see how it could end any other way.” Well, that sounds promising, Mr. Bauer, please, tell us more.

"I think the whole series has aimed toward this. I obviously can’t say what it is. I think there will be divisions because people have grown to identify and like and hate various characters, so everybody has their version of how they want it to end based on those things, but looking at it objectively, I think the way it ends is the way it must end, so I’m just going to leave it at that."

Hopefully, Bauer isn’t referring to Cersei wiping everyone out and sitting on the Iron Throne until the end of time. We don’t think we could handle that. Or conversely, we’d love nothing more for that to happen. Ah, Game of Thrones fans are such a diverse and fickle bunch.

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