'Game of Thrones' season 7 premiere date, spoilers news: Shortened season 7 airs summer 2017; premiere delay will mean Emmy absence

The wait for "Game of Thrones" season 7 has officially become longer.

On Monday, July 18, HBO announced that the slated premiere date for its award-winning fantasy drama series is summer 2017.

The first six seasons of "Game of Thrones" debuted in spring, typically in April.

In addition to the season 7 premiere delay, HBO announced that the new season will be significantly shorter than seasons 1 to 6. While the first six seasons of "Game of Thrones" consisted of 10 episodes each, season 7 will only have seven episodes.

Casey Bloys, HBO's president of programming, also announced that the series will begin shooting for season 7 later this summer and that the production will be based in Northern Ireland. There will also be scenes filmed in Iceland and Spain.

Entertainment Weekly noted that it has been a couple of years since "Game of Thrones" last did significant filming in Iceland. The country was the setting for the scenes set North of the Wall, especially during the period in which Jon Snow (Kit Harington) was with the Wildlings.

"Now that winter has arrived on 'Game of Thrones,' executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing," Bloys said in a statement. "Instead of the show's traditional spring debut, we're moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule."

HBO has recruited directors Mark Mylod, Matt Shakman, Jeremy Podeswa, and Alan Taylor to helm the "Game of Thrones" season 7 episodes.

According to ComicBook.com, the filming locations in Spain include Almodovar del Rio, Bermeo, Sevilla, Zumaia, Caceres, and Santiponce.

The news of the season 7 delay came just days after it was revealed that "Game of Thrones" had earned a record-breaking 23 Emmy nominations, including the one for Outstanding Drama Series.

The Hollywood Reporter noted that the season 7 delay will mean that "Game of Thrones" will not be eligible for the Emmys in 2017.

While the official season 7 premiere date is yet to be announced, there is a good chance that the series will not make the eligibility cut-off in 2017. This year, the eligibility window for an episode to be nominated was June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016. Only the first six episodes of "Game of Thrones" season 6 were eligible for this year's Emmys.