Hot on the heels of the season 7 finale, fans of "Game of Thrones" have already begun speculating about the release date of the next and final season of the series. Television giant HBO, on the other hand, has not yet released its official airing date, which compels viewers and critics alike to make educated guesses as to when season 8 will be released.

HBO told The Hollywood Reporter that the production for season 8 is to begin in October this year and might end in August 2018. However, the publication also added that such could mean that the airing of the six-episode final season might come as late as 2019, with more or less a 16-month gap between seasons, a rumored delay which HBO would neither confirm nor deny.

This could mean the wait might be longer compared to the interval between the previous seasons. However, it is also possible that the wait between seasons could take after the gap between season 6 and 7 which was approximately 11 months, as pointed out by The Independent.

This long "winter" for fans and viewers of the show, however, did not discourage them from formulating some theories and predictions about the fate of the show's characters. One of the theories which the fans of the show and books alike are most excited about is the titular and perhaps overdue "Cleganebowl" which will pit Sandor "The Hound" Clegane against his brother Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, played by Rory McCann and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, respectively.

This could be due to The Hound's dialogue with The Mountain in the season finale, where he told his brother, "Remember me? Yeah, you do. You're even uglier than I am now. What did they do to you? Doesn't matter. It's not how it ends for you, brother. You know who's coming for you. You've always known." Many saw the scene as a hint that a brother-to-brother battle is about to take place in the final season.