Game of Thrones Returning in Summer 2017 with Seven Episodes

LOS ANGELES: HBO has announced that next year’s season of Game of Thrones will have fewer episodes and debut later than previous outings.

The hit show’s seventh run will feature seven episodes instead of its usual ten, with a premiere scheduled for summer 2017. Past seasons have aired in the spring. The announcement comes as the drama garnered the most Emmy nods out of any nominee for a third straight year.

Production will be based in Northern Ireland, with additional portions filmed in Spain and Iceland.

“Now that winter has arrived on Game of Thrones, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the story lines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing,” said Casey Bloys, the president of HBO programming. “Instead of the show’s traditional spring debut, we’re moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule.”