‘Game of Thrones’ final season to air in first half of 2019

MANILA, Philippines – Start polishing your Valyrian steel swords Game of Thrones fans: the final season of the HBO hit series may return in a matter of months.

According to several reports, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said on July 25 that Game of Thrones season 8 will premiere in the first half of 2019.

This narrows down HBO’s earlier premiere announcement in January that vaguely marked 2019 for the series’ final return.

Send a raven.#GameofThrones returns to @HBO for its eighth and final season in 2019: https://t.co/FpWV0O0L9i

— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) January 4, 2018

The upcoming season will be the last for the show that has become a pop culture phenomenon since its debut in 2011. The series is centered on an intense political power play set in the medieval fantasy land of Westeros as various houses battle for its iron throne.

The most recent season ended in August 2017. In its finale, the scramble for the throne became all the more complicated as the parentage of one of its contenders, Jon Snow, is revealed, and an undead army called White Walkers closes in on Westeros. (READ: 7 moments from ‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 that shook us to our core)

Season 8 is expected to pick up right where the show left off, and posts from the show’s cast hint that they’ve already finished filming it.

On July 7, Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark, bid goodbye to her character and the show through a post on Instagram.

“Goodbye Belfast, Goodbye Arya. Goodbye Game of Thrones. What a joy I’ve had. Here’s to the adventures to come,” she wrote as she posted a photo of her bloodied shoes.

goodbye belfast. goodbye arya. goodbye game of thrones. what a joy i’ve had. here’s to the adventures to come #lastwomanstanding #barely #immasleepforthenextfouryears #justkiddingidontsleep

A post shared by Maisie Williams (@maisie_williams) on Jul 7, 2018 at 4:53am PDT

Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, wrote a similar post on June 18.

“Hopped on a boat to an island to say goodbye to the land that has been my home away from home for almost a decade. It’s been a trip [Game of Thrones] thank you for the life I never dreamed I’d be able to live and the family I’ll never stop missing,” she said.

Hopped on a boat to an island to say goodbye to the land that has been my home away from home for almost a decade. It’s been a trip @gameofthrones thank you for the life I never dreamed I’d be able to live and the family I’ll never stop missing ##lastseasonitis

A post shared by @ emilia_clarke on Jun 17, 2018 at 12:23pm PDT

– Rappler.com