'Game of Thrones' to return for seven-episode, seventh season next summer

LOS ANGELES, July 18 (UPI) -- HBO says the seven-episode, seventh season of Game of Thrones will begin production this summer in Northern Ireland, Spain and Iceland.

The announcement was made Monday by Casey Bloys, president of HBO programming.

"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," Bloys said in a statement. "Instead of the show's traditional spring debut, we're moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule."

Starring Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Maisie Williams, the medieval fantasy series received 23 Primetime Emmy nominations last week.