'Game of Thrones' season 7 rumors, news: Who would die and live when the HBO hit series returns for 7th installment?

The stage has been set for "Game of Thrones" season 7, and with almost a year to go before the seventh installment premieres on HBO, fans are dabbling left and right in speculations as to the upcoming season's plot and who among the characters would perish.

"Game of Thrones" season 6 saw one too many characters biting the dust, and this early, fans are expecting showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to kill off more characters this season, which is slated to have fewer episodes. This, after a two-minute in-production teaser for the series was released.

Movie Pilot, for one, has listed down their bets on who will bid adieu to the series in the upcoming season. Fans would be surprised to see major recurring characters included in the list.

Among the names in the list is Ellaria Sand, the mother of four of Prince Oberyn Martell's eight bastard daughters. Then, there's Ser Davos Seaworth who is considered an honorable man in the series. The publication likewise described Tormund the Wildling as being "on borrowed time." Petyr "Little Finger" Baelish is also on the list, and so is Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey).

Heady herself told Entertainment Weekly in an interview that her reign as the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms would be neither peaceful nor pleasant in the upcoming season.

"Not a chance in hell. It's a moment of punctuation in the madness," she told the publication.

Meanwhile, there are speculations that Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), who briefly appeared in the series halfway through the sixth season, would be back for season 7. According to USA Today, while the Khaleesi sent the character to a faraway mission so he could find a cure for his grayscale, he would make it back for the upcoming installment and find his true love again. Glen, for his part, has expressed his interest in doing the show again and reprising his role.

"Game of Thrones" season 7 is expected to air summer of 2017. In the meantime, keep coming back for more news and updates about the hit HBO series.