'Game of Thrones' season seven to premiere on July 16

Los Angeles: The seventh season of award-winning fantasy drama “Game of Thrones” is set to premiere on July 16. 

The announcement was made by HBO in an elaborate reveal on a live video on the show’s Facebook page watched by over 150,000 fans, as a block of ice was melted by a flaming torch.

Fans were encouraged to leave comments with the word “fire” and “dracarys” to speed up the melting. However, it did not come easy as the attempt encountered multiple glitches. The video turned black twice leaving fans disappointed. The date was finally revealed after an hour of interruptions. 

HBO also released a new trailer for the season which was seen over 16 million times in less than 6 hours. 

Production on the show delayed the premiere of the series past its usual April start date, in order to capture the weather the producers wanted. 

The later airdate means that season seven will miss the eligibility window for the upcoming 2017 Emmys. “Game of Thrones” scored 23 Emmy nominations last year, winning 12 total, including best drama. 

The penultimate season will consist of seven episodes with season eight expected to be somewhere between six or eight episodes.