"Game of Thrones" season 7 will be released next year and will have fewer episodes than previous seasons as the series is reaching its end. However, the production and potentially the release of season 7 is now reportedly delayed as the production team is literally waiting for winter to film the show's winter scenes. 

As stated by the Hollywood Reporter, showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff explained during a UFC podcast that production was being delayed by the need for snowy weather. Fans of the series and even the books will recall that at this point the franchise's story featuring winter has arrived, meaning even sunny areas like King's Landing will have snowfall.

"We don't have an air date yet,"explained the duo. "We're starting a bit later because at the end of this season, 'Winter is here' -- and that means that sunny weather doesn't really serve our purposes anymore. So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim, gray weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot."

In previous seasons, winter has only been prevalent in scenes taking place around Winterfell, the Wall and the land north of the Wall. However, now that winter has arrived for the whole world southern areas like Riverrun, King's Landing and Dorne may experience snowfall and will require natural snowy weather.

Plot-wise, this is due to the arrival of the White Walkers - known as the Others in the "Song of Ice and Fire" books by George R.R. Martin - and with them comes true, neverending winter and "the long night."

The Hollywood Reporter points out that the delays in production might mean season 7 will launch as late as May or early June. It is further explained that previous seasons typically premiered in March but season 6 was pushed back to give room for "Vinyl," forcing the previous season to premiere on April 24.