HBO

The final six Game of Thrones episodes are no time to skimp – whether on budget or story – and it seems HBO is going all-out. Reports estimate that Season 8 episodes might cost around $15 million (each!), if not more.

Well, if the big “SW” park full of Samurai weren’t a big honkin’ clue Westworld would visit another era in Season 2, we finally have confirmation. Reports of LOST and The Wolverine star Hiroyuki Sanada joining the cast are now confirmed, and we already have a first look at the armored character.

Our watch has ended for Game of Thrones Season 7; the perfect time to conserve energy for the next round of crazed conspiracy theories. Well, let’s shoot one more down on our way out, as star Isaac Hempstead-Wright takes an ice javelin to that crazy Bran-Night King theory.

Game of Thrones production requires long enough lead that by the time we’re watching a season, the cast is already headed back to work. The final six episodes may be a different story, but one star says they’re headed back to work soon, which could pinpoint a 2018 premiere.

The 2014 Sony Pictures hack taught us that infodumps can stretch on for months at a time, and the recent HBO breach was said to be several times larger. Following the initial leak of Game of Thrones script pages and several comedy episodes, it now seems the next batch of stolen material will emerge this weekend.

Just as Westworld got Season 2 hype rolling early with a first trailer, so too is HBO proving surprisingly forthright with its breakout hit. We’ve long known Season 2 would premiere at some point in 2018, while a new HBO announcement seemingly narrows to a spring return.

The Deadwood revival got perhaps its best update yet when stars Kim Dickens and Dayton Callie claimed to have been scheduled, and HBO has good news as well. Top brass have seen the script, and are now working toward making it a reality.

Perhaps no Game of Thrones crossover will prove so anticipated as that of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen (maybe Hot Pie and the Night King). Either way, the moment is finally going down in new photos from this coming Sunday’s “The Queen’s Justice,” while things are getting a bit chilly for Melisandre.

We’re just two weeks from Game of Thrones Season 7 treating us to the longest episodes yet, though the future remains as uncertain as ever. Even less episodes will populate the eighth and final season, and according to those involved, the run-times may get even longer.

Game of Thrones Season 7 isn’t likely to garner complaints of extended runtime, especially with thirteen hours left overall. Still, there’s good reason to suspect that HBO’s flagship drama will be cramming episodes to the gills, as the July 16 premiere runtime is one of its longest yet.

Game of Thrones is debuting later in the year than ever, but that doesn’t dampen our excitement for the first official Season 7 trailer one bit. Watch the world of Westeros get a little colder, even as the Great War heats up in the penultimate season’s first official trailer.

Our days of mourning Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds are far from ended, but the first trailer for their mutual HBO documentary Bright Lights will uplift as much as upend your day. See for yourself, as Fisher looks back on her mother’s storied Hollywood career, as much as her own struggle with depression.