Games of Thrones. Representation pic

Games of Thrones lovers will have to wait until 2019 for the final season of the fantasy series. HBO officially announced that the epic fantasy series will return for its eighth and final season in 2019 with six episodes. The cable and satellite television network took to its Twitter handle, writing, "Send a raven. #GameofThrones returns to @HBO for its eighth and final season in 2019".

'David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik will be the directors for the new season. Writers for the new season are David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman and Dave Hill,' it added. The executive producers of the series are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger and Bernadette Caulfield and co-executive producers are Bryan Cogman, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis and George R.R. Martin, it confirmed.

The delay is suspected to give 'Game of Thrones' creator Martin a window to release his long-awaited novel 'The Winds of Winter'. For the first time, the series has skipped a year since it debuted in 2011. However, actress Sophie Turner had previously revealed that production for the final six episodes had begun in October.