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AS the penultimate season of “Game of Thrones” comes to a close, fans are already looking ahead at the epic series’ true conclusion. But we still don’t know exactly when to expect the eighth and fi nal season.

HBO’s programing president, Casey Bloys, said the screening time could be in 2018 or in 2019 depending on the show-runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ writing and production schedule, accord-ing to an Entertainment Weekly report.

“For its fi rst six seasons, “Game of Thrones” consistently aired in the spring of each year. 2017 was the fi rst year the show returned during the summer instead. This was due to production being pushed back to accommodate the “winter” needs for outdoor fi lm-ing,” said Bloys.

“While we don’t know for certain, it’s safe to assume fi lming will once again be timed with the winter months. As of Aug. 20, Watchers on the Wall reported that

preproduction for ‘Game of Thrones’ was starting in Northern Ireland.”

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister, also said in an inter-view that he thought fi lming for season eight would start in October of this year.

The silver lining is that the fi nal season is sure to be epic. “Game of Thrones” sound designer Paula Fairfi eld broke important news at the fi rst annual Con of Thrones. According to Fairfi eld, the

fi nal season may consist of six movie-length episodes.

The season-seven fi nale, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” was 79 minutes, 43 sec-onds (HBO specifi ed the exact length in a press release). The idea of having six fi nale-worthy episodes is exciting, but we should all be prepared for a long wait ahead.

Night gathers, and now our watch begins.

(SD-Agencies)

THE seventh season of “Game of Thrones” has come to a dramatic conclusion.

A zombie dragon, an illicit romance and satisfying revenge helped drive the season fi nale to a viewership high.

A total of 12.1 million viewers watched Sunday’s seventh season fi nale, titled “The Dragon and the Wolf,” up 36 percent from the 8.9 million viewers who watched the season six fi nale.

The seventh season of Emmy-winning “Game of Thrones” drew an overall 30.8 million viewers, up nearly 8 million view-ers from last season and cementing it as the most-watched show on Time Warner Inc.’s premium cable network HBO.

The record ratings came after hackers stole data and content from HBO and leaked it online, including scripts and unaired episodes of “Game of Thrones.”

The seventh season saw the show’s lead

characters head towards a great battle over the Iron Throne reigning over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, while a zombie army of White Walkers, led by the undead Night King, march south and threaten mankind’s destruction.

Characters Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen fi nally came together to join forces against the White Walkers, the remaining Stark children reunite at their home in Winterfell and enact a satisfy-ing revenge against master manipulator Petyr Baelish.

The Lannister siblings also reunite in King’s Landing in a tense meeting that puts their family ties to the test.

Medieval fantasy “Game of Thrones,” based on George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” books, has won numer-ous Emmy awards including best drama series last year. It is not eligible for this

year’s Emmy awards due to its summer premiere after production was pushed back to capture more winter landscapes for the storyline, but it will be back on the roster for next year’s Emmy awards.

Fans are torn between being stunned by the major plot devel-opments and heartbroken that the episode could be the last one

on our screens until 2019. What have critics said?

The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg said “The Dragon and the Wolf” episode had “action, twists and just a little incest.” Which all sounds pretty standard for “Game of Thrones.”

Ed Power, writing in the Daily Tele-graph, was a fan of the “solid 80 minutes of betrayal, nudity and skulduggery in dimly lit rooms.” “It was good to welcome

the old, happy-stabby ‘Game of Thrones’ back with a vengeful gleam in its eyes,” he mused, describing it as a “dark and slow-burning instalment.”

But he noted that the revelation about Jon Snow’s parentage was “presented as an interesting nugget rather than conti-nent-quaking pivot.”

Sean T. Collins, of Rolling Stone, said there were “moments of happiness and horror straight out of the biggest ‘GoT’ nerd’s dreams,” and that it was quite right that “the lion’s share of screentime” went to Cersei Lannister.

He said the storyline had been “hur-tling to a point of no return,” adding: “The lies, betrayals, power plays, and murders we’ve witnessed for seven years, they are all a distraction. We’re all in this together, and we’d better realize it ASAP.”

(SD-Agencies)

'Game of Thrones' finale: What did the critics think?

Why fans may have to wait until 2019 for the fi nal season

Posters for “Game of Thrones.”Posters for “Game of Thrones.”File photosFile photos