Photo courtesy HBO

Just as many Game of Thrones fans may have accepted the HBO juggernaut is indeed done for the season after the June 26 finale, it appears season 7 may not arrive as quickly as previous installments.

According to showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, production for the upcoming season may be delayed because winter is getting a slow start this year in the locations across Europe where the show is filmed.

"We don’t have an air date yet, but this year will likely be a bit later." The duo shared on the UFC Unfiltered podcast. "We’re starting a bit later because, you know, the end of this season, winter is here, and that means sunny weather doesn’t serve our purposes anymore, so we pushed back everything down the line to get some grim, grey weather, even in the sunnier places that we shoot."

Depending on the eventual production schedule, it's possible the series veers away from its early spring premieres (this past season premiered on April 24) to a debut later in the year.

Benioff and Weiss have previously said Game of Thrones will end with eight seasons and only 13 episodes split between the final two installments.

“Like President Obama, we want to leave while all the people watching this show are really into it,” Weiss said in an interview last month. “Get out at a high point and not have it be, well, ‘Thank God that’s over.'”