“Game of Thrones” Season 7 will finally air this July after a long wait. However, HBO revealed that the final season of the said show might be moved to a later release.

Programming president of HBO, Casey Bloys revealed recently on Entertainment Weekly that “Game of Thrones” Season 8 might be delayed. He added that there are plans to postpone its premiere date to 2019. Along with the announcement of the seventh season, HBO revealed that the final season has been originally scheduled to air in 2018.

The news surprised fans of the show especially when some of the cast have already revealed that the production has already planned to film “Game of Thrones” Season 8 as early as September this year, which is just after the seventh season ends. Bloys said that the delay depends on the show’s creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. He explained that the two showrunners have yet to write the episodes and figure out the schedule for the production of the final season.

Bloys added that they want to give their all in making “Game of Thrones” Season 8 the best show out there hence considering to delay the release date. He revealed that “Game of Thrones” Season 7 will be full of battles and since the final season is monumental, they have to make sure that it is better than the previous season. Since day one, HBO has always delivered a great season and fans expect no less from the final two seasons that will conclude the highly acclaimed story of dragons, White Walkers, and politics.

Some have voiced out though that HBO should not push through the delay and drag out the show especially when it’s on its last season. The further delay will kill the momentum according to Forbes. It is said that there are rumors that the delay is a way for George R.R. Martin to catch up to his writing and publish the last two sequels in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels before the show ends.