Maisie denies leaking Game of Thrones release date

From Digital Spy

The talk you've been hearing about Maisie Williams revealing when Game of Thrones will air the eighth and final season sadly doesn't appear to be true.

HBO broke the news recently that the immense production schedule for the final episodes simply won't make it possible for Game of Thrones to actually air this year, annoying countless fans to no end.

But fans were seemingly given a rare bit of good news when Metro recently published what it claimed were quotes from Arya Stark actress Maisie Williams about a possible air date.

"We wrap in December and we air our first episode in April [2019]," she is supposed to have said. "That's a four-month turnaround for these huge episodes.

"There's a lot that goes into the final edit. You would not want to rush this season at all. We owe it to our audience and our fans to really do this final season to the best of our abilities."

However, Maisie has since claimed that the publication misquoted her, tweeting: "Just a tweet letting you know this Game of Thrones release date 'quote' I've supposedly given is completely false and taken from an interview I did years ago."

Oh well. With Maisie backtracking, it means that HBO president of programming Casey Bloys's explanation for the delay is the most recent update we've had on when Game of Thrones will return.

"[The producers] take the time they need to do the show at its highest level of quality," he said at the TCA press tour. "As the show has gone on, it's gotten bigger – big battle scenes, big special effects. These things take time.

"Here's the one thing I can assure you: [showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff] were not sitting around on a beach waiting to go back to work.

"They're perfectionists, and this is the soonest it can come back at a level of quality that they are comfortable with."

Game of Thrones will premiere next April on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK.

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