HBO confirms 'Game of Thrones' will have a shortened season 7 airing next summer

After much speculation, HBO has confirmed that the upcoming seventh season of "Game of Thrones" will be seven episodes long.

The announcement on Monday also stated that the show will begin production again later this summer in primarily Norther Ireland, with some portions filmed in Spain and Iceland.

The next season is set to air in summer 2017, though the network didn't specify an exact date.

"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," HBO programming president Casey 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."

The formal announcement can mean several things for the show's future. First, it's probably winding down with season eight.

In April, Benioff told Variety, "I think we're down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We're heading into the final lap. That's the guess, though nothing is yet set in stone, but that's what we're looking at."

More to come...