Disappointment is coming.

HBO just announced details on the delayed start and premiere of "Game of Thrones" Season 7, which will indeed be shortened to seven episodes. As the showrunners previously revealed, the Season 6 finale plot that winter had arrived prompted the series to decide to push back filming. They would normally be starting right about now. Instead, HBO said, they will begin "later this summer" for a "debut slated for summer 2017" on HBO.

The past six seasons, which have had 10 episodes, premiered in April or late March, so "summer" suggests at least June, no? If so, that's even later than we thought!

Collider also added another unfortunate detail we didn't consider at first: A summer 2017 debut "means Game of Thrones will not be eligible for the 2017 Emmy Awards, and thus will have to sit next year's ceremony out before returning in 2018." Yikes.

Here's HBO's new press release:

The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series GAME OF THRONES will begin shooting its next season later this summer, it was announced today by Casey Bloys, president, HBO programming. Production of the seven-episode seventh season will be based in Northern Ireland, while additional portions will be filmed in Spain and Iceland, with debut slated for summer 2017 on HBO.

"Now that winter has arrived on GAME OF THRONES, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing," said Bloys. "Instead of the show's traditional spring debut, we're moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule."

Season seven directors will include Mark Mylod, Jeremy Podeswa, Matt Shakman and Alan Taylor.

Locations for shooting in Spain will include Sevilla, Caceres, Almodovar del Rio, Santiponce, Zumaia and Bermeo.

Last week, GAME OF THRONES received 23 Primetime Emmy nominations, the most of any nominee for the third year in a row. This year's nominations include Outstanding Drama Series, 2 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington), 3 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, Maisie Williams), Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Max von Sydow), 2 for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Miguel Sapochnik, Jack Bender) and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (David Benioff and D.B. Weiss).

Season seven credits: The executive producers of GAME OF THRONES are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger and Bernadette Caulfield; co-executive producers, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin and Bryan Cogman; producers, Chris Newman, Greg Spence and Lisa McAtackney.

Watchers on the Wall has already shared some early casting notices for Season 7, and they recently posted a report from Iceland saying filming (with at least "six major characters") was expected there in January 2017.

We probably won't get word on Season 8 until next year, but the showrunners confirmed that it will be the final season and it, too, will be shorter than 10 episodes. The rumor is (whimper) only six.

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