After airing for the first time all the way back in 2011, Game of Thrones has slowly become one of the most popular TV shows to date. With only the eight and final season left, millions of people are eagerly anticipating the end of the nearly decade-long saga. But if you were expecting the story of Westeros to conclude in 2018, we’ve got some bad news for you.

2017 came to a close with Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark for all you GOT fans out there) accidentally letting slip that the last Game of Thrones season will not air until 2019 in an interview with Variety. With fans fearing that this might very well be the case, TV giants HBO have just decided to start 2018 off by confirming the bad news.

Season 8 of Game of Thrones is currently in production, and the good news is that it will feature longer episodes. There’s also way more money involved in the  whole production, with each Season 8 episode costing a whopping $15 million. For context, Stranger Things’ first season cost less than half, at a cool $6 million episode. 

The bottom line, however, is that Game of Thrones isn’t coming back until 2019. 

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David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).