Game of Thrones Season 7 has been announced, albeit with some disappointment for fans.

The long-running series, which has had 10 episodes in each of its previous six season will not return with that format. Fans instead will have to settle for just seven episodes of the hit series and only six in the eighth and final season of the show.

But there is more. The series will not return until summer 2017. In the past the series has premiered in the Spring usually at the beginning of April. Season 6 premiered later than any other series, opening on April 24, 2016 and ending on June 26. The season to premiere earliest was Season 3, which bowed on March 31, 2013.

This upcoming season will be filmed in Iceland, Northern Ireland and Spain.

"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," said Casey Bloys, president, HBO programming according to EW. "Instead of the show's traditional spring debut, we're moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule."

The series has garnered tremendous popularity with each season increasing viewership exponentially. While the debut season averaged just 2.52 million viewers, the last season has averaged over 7.69 million viewers. The final episode of Season 6 was the most viewed episode in the entire series, averaging 8.89 million viewers.

The series also managed a whopping 23 nominations at the Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series; a year ago the show managed a record 24 nominations.