Queen Cersei Lannister would surely approve of HBO’s recent machinations. The network tweeted that the exact premiere date for Game of Thrones Season 8 would be revealed just before the premiere of True Detective Season 3 this Sunday.
The network shared that update via a joking text exchange:
The official Game of Thrones account retweeted it, to let more fans know to expect the official final season arrival date on Sunday, January 13:
So far, all fans know is that Game of Thrones Season 8 is meant to have six feature-length episodes, starting in April. Which Sunday in April? Well, there are only four to choose from. But we’ll get the final answer this Sunday.
More than that, though, this tease has fans hyped for some kind of trailer or at least a new teaser. HBO knows that’s going to drive a lot of fans to the cable network on Sunday — not just the date announcement, but the footage that may be around it.
I suspect they won’t drop the full official trailer we’ve all been waiting for right before the premiere of True Detective Season 3. The point of this is to draw viewers TO Mahershala Ali‘s debut in the new season. A full Game of Thrones trailer would need to be dissected immediately and distract from True Detective. So I suspect it will be light on new footage. We’ll see.
True Detective has never had Game of Thrones-level viewers — the first two seasons both averaged about 2.5 million viewers vs. GoT Season 7 averaging more than 10 million. But GoT fans may keep HBO on after getting the premiere date in whatever GoT teaser HBO may share this Sunday night. That seems to be the main point. ‘Cause otherwise they could just tell us the date now, and drop that fat trailer at any time.
Game of Thrones already got fans talking with about three seconds of new footage revealed during the Golden Globe Awards. That new scene showed Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow arriving at Winterfell, with a clearly unhappy Sansa Stark saying Winterfell was Dany’s to command.
Game of Thrones fans are on standby for a full trailer, and any footage they can get, before the big premiere on April [To Be Announced Sunday] most likely at 9 p.m. ET as usual on HBO.
For now, HBO is in full True Detective mode. Season 3 of that series premieres this Sunday, January 13 at 9 p.m. ET, and if the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere date is being announced before the new season, you should probably start watching maybe … half an hour in advance? More? Less? Up to you.
Here’s what else is airing in midseason 2019 as we wait for Game of Thrones to arrive … and then depart almost as quickly as it arrived. Seriously, stretch the hype out as long as you can, ’cause after this we just have the prequel series.
