Fans of HBO's Game of Thrones just might have to wait a little bit longer to see the final season in 2019, according to visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer. Though an official premiere date has not been announced, many believed that the massively popular show would be returning in April 2019. However, it now looks like winter has been pushed back to as far as June 2019, which could end up stressing a lot of fans out who were preparing for an April return of their favorite show.

In a new interview, Joe Bauer states that he will "be toiling away on Season 8 until May of 2019," which means that Game of Thrones probably won't come back until the end of May at the earliest. Bauer also talked about Emmy consideration, noting that they're aiming to have the show ready for the 2020 Emmys, not 2019. To qualify for the 2019 awards, Game of Thrones would have to air between June 1st, 2018, and May 31st, 2019.

Joe Bauer also stated that working on the visual effects of Game of Thrones changes on a weekly basis. He noted that so much of it comes down to perfect timing, while also stating that he won't be working on any other projects through May 2019. It's entirely possible that the visual effects team will have a few episodes in the can by the time the end of May rolls around, so hopefully that's what will occur. For now, it looks like a June or July premiere is a safe bet. Season 7 premiered in July of 2017, while previous seasons all premiered in April or March.

HBO's president of programming, Casey Bloys, said the show would be premiering in the first half of 2019, which is pretty vague. Game of Thrones fans have been waiting for an official release date for quite some time. However, HBO is not about to rush one of the biggest shows in television history for its final season. Joe Bauer also mentioned that the pilot for the prequel series will more than likely begin filming in February of 2019, which could also put some strain on the production of Game of Thrones Season 8.

While Joe Bauer offered up some pretty disappointing news for the final season of Game of Thrones, he ended on a good note. When asked about specifics about Season 8, Bauer obviously couldn't say much, but he did state that it's "brave." He also says that the ending "stays true" to the rest of the series and offered another vague nugget by explaining, "I think the way it ends is the way it must end." Just like the contents of Season 8 of Game of Thrones, the official release date is a mystery for the time being. The news of the Game of Thrones Season 8 delay was first reported by The Huffington Post.