Game of Thrones season 8 airdate: Is it back to April?

If what Maisie Williams says is true, then Game of Thrones season 8 might not be quite as far away as some fans have feared.

We already know that Game of Thrones season 8 isn’t actually airing until 2019. It’d be nice to have it this year, but what fans want, what HBO wants, what the showrunners want and what’s actually feasible given the expectations are four very different things, all in competition with each other. And so, the fans have, in a sense, lost. But this is more a battle rather than the entire war, if Maisie Williams is to be believed.

That’s because, in a new interview with Metro, she flat-out says, “[We] air our first episode in April,” and the interviewer himself helpfully added the 2019 marker. Of course, she also mentions that filming will end in December — suggesting that the current activity is just the precursor to much larger things to come, or at least more things in general. We’re open to either.

An April airdate would actually be pretty ideal for Game of Thrones. After all, airing in April means it’s eligible for Emmys in the same year, since the calendar typically runs from June 1 of the previous year to May 31 of the next year. As a result, HBO’s later 2019 and 2020 slates wouldn’t be overshadowed by the final season gobbling up all of the attention, and it probably means that HBO might have more Emmys to its name in totaly with Thrones one year and something else the next (even if it’s not necessarily the next series in the franchise — it could even be the second season of Big Little Lies).

The one problem is that it’s possible she doesn’t exactly know the airdate. Actors usually don’t get a say in such things; see also Iain Glen’s still-not-actually-confirmed-or-denied comments about the length of the show remaining. However, the show used to have its premieres in April — so it’d be a nice return to form considering how long the wait until summer felt last year for season 7.

Next: Will the ending of Game of Thrones really be satisfactory?

It also means that the wait could be considerably shorter. We here at Culturess will keep digging into this, Game of Thrones fans — as well as all the spoilers and theorizing you can handle.