When Will The First Game Of Thrones Season 8 Trailer Be Released?
Are HBO going to give us a proper first look at the final season of Game of Thrones anytime soon?
Update: The premiere date for Game of Thrones Season 8 has now been revealed, with the show returning April 14. Another teaser dropped too, but we're still waiting for a proper trailer. Original article as follows...
The 2019 Golden Globes brought with it a new, albeit tiny, glimpse of Season 8 of Game of Thrones, leading many to question just when we're going to see the trailer for HBO's flagship series.
The few seconds offered up as part of HBO's 2019 sizzle reel whet the appetite, but also highlight just how little we've seen of the final season of Game of Thrones. There was one shot, taken from the same scene, revealed last year, and now this. We can add in a teaser devoid of any footage, and an EW cover story that didn't bring with it any photos.
What we do know, though, is that the show returns in April, and so we're going to be getting at least one trailer before then, and more likely two. That means the first one should arrive sooner rather than later, although it is a little tricky trying to predict TV trailers since, unlike the movies, they're not tied to other releases. Still, HBO does have a rough pattern, which means we can sketch out a rough timeframe.
The marketing for Thrones used to start quite early: for most of the early seasons, which premiered in April, we'd get a trailer in January, and occasionally even December. The big turning point was Jon Snow's death - and the show becoming increasing secretive as part of both that and some leaks - which meant that, ahead of an April 24 premiere, the first Season 6 trailer didn't arrive until March 8.
Season 7 skewed things again by moving to the summer, but the first trailer was released on May 24, seven-and-a-half weeks prior to its premiere on July 16.
There isn't a fixed release date for Season 8 as yet, but we know it's April and that it'll be on a Sunday night, which means it's out of 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th. True Detective returns this week and runs for eight episodes, leaving a gap that another series could fill for 6-8 weeks if Thrones were to take anything from the 14th onwards, which seems likely.
It's also worth noting that True Detective's run wraps up on February 24, which puts the date of the finale right in the same timeframe that, based on the last couple of years, we can most likely expect a Game of Thrones trailer. There's an argument dropping the trailer during the finale would distract from the episode itself, but it'd also guarantee eyes on it.
Even if it doesn't come with True Detective, mid-to-late February does seem like the most likely period for the trailer right now. The Super Bowl, which comes in early-Feb, isn't something HBO has made much use of before now, and they'd likely want a Game of Thrones trailer to stand on its own anyway (much like how Star Wars skips the event too). Of course, they could change this year, but it's a lot of unnecessary expense, especially as we're talking about a proper trailer here rather than just a teaser. As mentioned, it's difficult to know what HBO will do, but we should finally have that trailer towards the end of February, and then the hype will really begin.
Are you excited for Game of Thrones Season 8? Let us know down in the comments.