Fans had come to expect and anticipate the release of season 8 of Game of Thrones in April of 2019 but as it turns out, the release date has been pushed back. According to HBO’s president of programming Casey Bloys, the show is slated to air around the first half of the year.

In order for a show to be qualified for Emmy Awards 2019 nominations, it would have to be aired during June 1st 2018 till May 31st 2019. So, for Game of Thrones to be nominated it should be released before the end of May next year.

But the show’s visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer said, “In two years we’ll be eligible for the Season 8 work which we’re just beginning now.” That means they are aiming for the Emmy Awards 2020 nominations. Which means the show will air much later than the earlier April date. “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.”

Bauer also talked about the show’s highly anticipated ending, “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. 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.”