'Game of Thrones'
Executive producers and directors David Benioff (L) and Daniel Brett Weiss take part in the filming for Season 6 of HBO TV series "Game of Thrones'" northeast of Spain, Girona, September 3, 2015. Home Box Office Inc. is filming part of the sixth season of the American fantasy TV series in Girona. Reuters/Gustau Nacarino

“Game of Thrones” Season 7 is set to premiere in the summer of 2017, HBO has confirmed. Production is set to begin soon and the producers have shared the first list of filming locations.

HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys announced in a press release that production of the TV series will begin “later this summer.” The producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff felt the story this time around required them to film when “the weather is changing,” so the filming has been delayed this year.

Winter has finally arrived in the TV series, something that has been talked about since the very first season. The fantasy world of Westeros that George R.R. Martin has created has many years of summer and spring, and now winter is expected to last for years too.

The release date of the next season has been pushed to the summer of 2017 in order to “accommodate the shooting schedule,” according to Bloys. The directors who have been confirmed for “Game of Thrones” Season 7 are Mark Mylod, Jeremy Podeswa, Matt Shakman and Alan Taylor.

Just as before, the production of the show will be based in Northern Ireland. The cast and crew will also travel to locations in Spain and Iceland to film additional scenes. The press release didn’t specify how many filming units will be used this time around. Traditionally there have been two – Dragon Unit and Wolf Unit, which work simultaneously in different locations.

The filming locations in Spain, HBO announced, include Sevilla, Caceres, Almodovar del Rio, Santiponce, Zumaia and Bermeo. The sites for Northern Ireland and Iceland have not been revealed by the producers.

25.1 million was the average viewership of each episode of the sixth season, which is five million viewers more than the fifth season, another press release has announced. This sets the bar even higher for “Game of Thrones” Season 7. HBO has confirmed that there will be only seven episodes in the show next year. The exact premiere date is yet to be announced.

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