WATCH: New ‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 teaser

LOS ANGELES, USA – Game of Thrones returns for its season 7 premiere on July 16! 

HBO announced the news on Friday, March 9, in an elaborate marketing stunt which elated and bemused fans of the hit fantasy show.

In a gimmick described by the New York Times as “memorably misguided,” the US cable network revealed all in a Facebook Live video showing a block of ice which viewers had to melt by commenting “Fire” to reveal the date.

The process was supposed to take a touch under 15 minutes – already a long time to be concentrating on a block of slowly melting ice – but the video malfunctioned several times, drawing out the process to more than an hour.

After the live reveal, a teaser of season 7 was released, where audio clips of significant events can be heard. No new scenes are released in the teaser, which ends with an ominous line from Jon’s Snow: “There’s only one war that matters… The Great War. And it is here.” 

Since its debut in 2010, the fantasy epic – which has 38 Emmys, more than any other narrative show in history – has been the target of criticism for senseless violence and, more controversially, its pervasive use of rape as a dramatic device.

The adult themes have not deterred viewers of the show, which has grown its audience in the US to more than 25 million, and is breaking records across the world.

Season 6 of Game of Thrones was the first to move beyond George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss last year announced a shortened run of episodes for the final two seasons after HBO had already confirmed season 7 would return in summer, a departure from the usual April premieres.

The show has been teasing winter’s arrival since its pilot episode, and with the season six finale entitled The Winds of Winter, the camera crew has been forced to wait for colder weather. 

Benioff told fans at San Diego Comic-Con in July last year shooting would not finish until February and that “there’s no way to get the show out there until summer.” – With reports from AFP/Rappler.com