No, it's not too early to get excited about Game of Thrones season seven. With the HBO hit's sixth run now over, thoughts are inevitably turning to next year... and how much longer the fantasy epic can run.

Is the end in sight? Here's everything you need to know.

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Game of Thrones season 7 release date: When's it on?

HBO has made a habit of debuting new GoT episodes in the spring - ordinarily in early April. But this year, it'll launch a little later - in the summer months.

"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 any more," showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss confirmed.

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"So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot."

Makes sense... not that it helps to soothe our broken hearts.

Filming won't even wrap till February 2017 - but to keep us going, here's a first-look teaser - new episodes are very much In Production:

preview for Game of Thrones season 7 first teaser from Comic-Con

Game of Thrones season 7 cast: Who's in it?

Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion), Lena Headey (Cersei), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime) all reportedly signed up for a seventh season back in late 2014.

The same five actors were also optioned for an eighth run of episodes in June 2016.

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But all these contracts mean is that GoT has an option on those actors - there's still no guarantee that their characters will actually survive that long.

For example, in October 2014, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that - along with Sophie Turner (Sansa) and Maisie Williams (Arya) - Natalie Dormer had also signed up for season seven. But that didn't stop her character Margaery from going up in Wildfire flames at the end of season six.

One character we'd given up for dead will be back, though - with Iain Glen (Ser Jorah) spotted on a flight to Northern Ireland, greyscale be damned.

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As for Joe Dempsie's long-lost Gendry - last seen rowing to parts unknown back in season three - there's still no word when he'll be back, though the actor told Digital Spy he'd "love to be involved".

"There's a lot of unanswered questions about Gendry and the longer it goes on, the more obvious his absence becomes," he said.

BUT... he has since been spotted landing in Belfast - so could he be on his way back?

Among the newcomers will be Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent in a mysterious-but-major role.

There's even some talk that the long-dead Khal Drogo could be back... a rumour that sprang up after Jason Momoa was spotted in Ireland - drinking a pint of Guinness, natch - with GoT's showrunners.

HBO's also casting a number of new mystery roles, with nondescript codenames like 'Young Lord' and 'Lovely Lady' - provoking much speculation as to which characters could be about to make their screen debut.

Sadly, any rumours that Murder, She Wrote legend Angela Lansbury would show up in Westeros have since been totally debunked

Game of Thrones season 7 episodes: How long will it run?

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HBO officially renewed its smash-hit series for a seventh year on April 21, 2016 - with HBO's then-president of programming Michael Lombardo later indicating that Game of Thrones would end after eight seasons.

"David and Dan are feeling there's probably two more years after season six, that's what we're looking at right now," he said in January.

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In June, Benioff and Weiss appeared to confirm that the show would wrap up with two shorter seasons:

"It's two more seasons we're talking about," Benioff said. "From pretty close to the beginning, we talked about doing this in 70-75 hours, and that's what we'll end up with. Call it 73 for now."

Given the 60 hours already covered, that does indeed leave us with just 13 remaining - and it's since been announced that we'll be getting seven episodes in 2017.

This would seem to confirm that the eighth and final run will be divided into just six instalments - though HBO's new chief Casey Bloys was still unwilling to talk numbers as of August 2016.

Game of Thrones ending: What will happen in the final episodes?

The climax to season six saw Jon Snow appointed the King in the North, while Bran learned that his brother was not Ned Stark's bastard, but the offspring of Lyanna Stark and some other man - potentially Daenerys's deceased older brother Rhaegar Targaryen.

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Meanwhile, Dany finally set sail for Westeros - rallying the combines forces of the Unsullied, the Dothraki and the Ironborn, with Tyrion, Varys, Missandei, Olenna Tyrell, the women of Dorne and her dragons all at her side.

She's hurtling towards a confrontation with Cersei, who'll be a major player this season having just seized the Iron Throne following the demise of her son Tommen.

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"The thing that gave Cersei humanity was her kids," Lena Headey has said. "They're gone now. Her father is gone. Tyrion is gone. There's no-one to tell her she can't, she's stupid, she's just a woman.

"I think when Jaime looks anything other than happy, she has a 'f**k you' moment. This will be such an interesting season for them."

Could the Queenslayer fan theory be about to come true?

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Dany might have to face off against Jon, too - unless, of course, she makes him her husband, as part of an incestuous partnership? It's the sort of thing that GoT loves...

"We know what the end is, and we're barrelling towards it," Benioff and Weiss said of what's sure to be the most highly scrutinised series finale since Lost.

The tight-lipped pair haven't given any clue as to what that ending might entail - though George RR Martin has hinted at a "bittersweet ending" for his A Song of Ice and Fire books, which serves as the (increasingly loose) inspiration for Game of Thrones.

GRRM has also shared a significant twist - or "holy shit moment" - with Benioff and Weiss, which won't make it to the screen till "the very end" of the show.

Just don't expect (SPOILERS!) Lady Stoneheart to make an appearance any time soon. Though Catelyn Stark was resurrected in Martin's novels, she's yet to resurface on the TV show and director Mark Mylod has insisted he's had "not had one discussion" about the character in the GoT writers' room.

Watch our pick of the best Game of Thrones fan theories that are still active going into season 7:

preview for Game of Thrones fan theories: 5 of the best

Game of Thrones 7 episodes: Who's directing?

Alan Taylor – who's directed six GoT episodes, including Ned Stark's final outing 'Baelor' – will return to the show for the first time since 2012.

In the interim, he helmed Thor: The Dark World (2013) and reunited with Emilia Clarke on Terminator: Genisys (2015).

Jeremy Podeswa will also be back, having previously secured an Emmy nomination for directing the controversial 'Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken' – in which Sansa (Sophie Turner) was raped by Ramsay (Iwan Rheon).

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Next is Mark Mylod. A four-time director on the show, the British director took charge of The Hound's comeback in this year's 'The Broken Man' and Arya's epic chase in 'No-One'.

Finally, Matt Shakman is also on board. He's not worked on the show before, but has directed episodes of The Good WifeHeroes RebornHouse and 39 instalments of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Notably absent from the roll call is Miguel Sapochnik, who directed both this season's 'Battle of the Bastards' and explosive finale, 'The Winds of Winter'.

The Emmy nominee has however indicated that he's keen to return to GoT in 2018, to helm one of the final episodes.

Game of Thrones books: What's going on with 'The Winds of Winter'?

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"I have days where I make lots of progress, I have days where I make next to no progress," Martin told Digital Spy back in 2014, discussing his long-awaited next book, The Winds of Winter.

The sixth novel in his fantasy saga, Winds has been in the works for several years now - before even the first episode of Game of Thrones had aired on HBO.

In January 2016, having missed a series of deadlines, Martin confirmed that the book wouldn't be published before the launch of season six of the TV series. And still we wait.

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But it's not as simple as the TV series having 'caught up' with the books. The show's uniquely fractured storytelling means that while some plot strands - Jon Snow's, Tyrion's - have moved well beyond the novels, others have not.

There's still some Martin material that the show is yet to touch upon - and some or all of this could potentially be included in a seventh season.

But is the sixth book in the series FINALLY on its way? As one Reddit user pointed out, a new ISBN number has been added at the ISBN office by Penguin publishing, which means the next book could be closer than we thought.

Don't get too excited, though – HarperCollins reportedly registered an ISBN number thought to be the new book over a year ago, so it could still be a wait before the latest instalment is released... 

Game of Thrones spinoffs and prequels - and will there be a movie?

George RR Martin, ever the optimist, was bullish about the prospect of GoT sequel, prequel and/or spinoff when questioned on the matter in April.

"There is certainly no lack of material," he said. "There are eight million stories in Westeros as well… and even more in Essos and the lands beyond. A whole world full of stories, waiting to be told… If indeed HBO is interested."

Just don't expect either Kit Harington or Emilia Clarke to feature. Representatives for Harington have denied that the actor has been approached to star in a spin-off, while Clarke insisted that "other spin-offs... might be more intriguing" than a Daenerys series.

preview for Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke: Brienne is a badass

Benioff and Weiss have also apparently ruled out any extension of the franchise – at least, they wouldn't be involved in any such project.

"At a certain point, especially if it's a serialised story, it falls apart and loses its heat and its momentum - because there's a carrying capacity even a world the size of ours has," Weiss said.

"When you reach that carrying capacity and you try to push it further, people start to wonder when this is going to be over and hope that it will be over soon so they can move onto the next thing. That's not what we ever wanted."

So no small-screen spinoff - but there has been talk about a Game of Thrones movie. And we'll give you one guess who's been doing most of the talking.

"It might need a feature to tie things up," George RR Martin said back in March 2014. "Something with a feature budget, like $100 million for two hours. Those dragons get real big, you know..."

From: Digital Spy