Game of Thrones season 8 release date: HBO gives update on final episodes' arrival

(HBO/Sky Atlantic)

With every episode of the final season of Game of Thrones having the budget and in some cases runtime of a mid-sized feature film, HBO has always made clear that it would be some time before they reached our screens.

"2019" has been the word all year, but now HBO's programming president Casey Bloys has been (marginally) more specific: "First half [of 2019]" (via EW).

If season 8 were arriving in January or February we'd probably know about it by now, plus the season has only just wrapped principal photography.

More likely is that it will commence in April, the show's traditional slot used for the first six seasons (seven being the anomaly, launching in July of 2017).

The show's climax is set to be one of the biggest events in television history, each of the six episodes reportedly costing $15 million.

HBO already has a prequel to the show in development, which Bloys confirmed they are "hoping to go into production [with] in early '19."