San Diego Comic Con is going to seem a little smaller this year due to Game of Thrones and Westworld deciding not to participate this year. The news comes after it was announced that Marvel Studios will not be attending this year either. Both of the hit HBO shows had a significant presence last year, but it's understandable for Game of Thrones since they're hard at work at finishing the 8th and final season of the show. However, this could mean that the final season might not debut until after the 2019 San Diego Comic Con.

As for Westworld, the show is currently in the middle of its second season, so there's no real need to go out and promote it. In fact, HBO didn't have to do much promotion at all for the show since fans had been waiting for an extended amount of time for the return. The same can be said for Game of Thrones. HBO released a small statement about the decision to sit this year out. It reads.

"Due to production schedules and air dates for Game of Thrones and Westworld, these series will not be presented at San Diego Comic-Con this summer. HBO has a longstanding relationship with SDCC, and we are very grateful for the fans' enthusiastic response over the years. We look forward to returning in the future."

Additionally, HBO also quietly announced that they will not have a presence for the upcoming Watchmen series either. However, the show is only in the pilot phase, which means that basically anything can happen at this point. If the show does end up getting the green light from HBO, there's no doubt that the show will be represented in the years to come at the San Diego Comic Con.

Game of Thrones is the wild card here. Fans are hoping that the 8th and final season will premiere during the early part of 2019 as opposed to the latter half. If HBO decides to do one more big San Diego Comic Con rally for the series, it's likely that the show will premiere around that time, which isn't a huge wait, but it will be excruciating for hardcore fans. Another route that HBO could take is to completely bypass Comic Con all together because it certainly does not need any help in the promotional department. Plus, there's the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-offs to look forward to.

San Diego Comic Con will be a little less crowded, but those are some pretty big absences this year. Game of Thrones is usually a huge presence as is Marvel Studios, so it will be interesting how everything else pans out. Marvel has Ant-Man 2, Captain Marvel, and Avengers 4 on the slate, but they're going to wait until next year to announce Phase 4 of the MCU. Will Game of Thrones follow in the same footsteps? We'll have to wait and see. You can read more about Westworld and Game of Thrones} sitting out Comic Con this year over at ComicBook.