London, Jan 5 (IANS): The hit sitcom "Game of Thrones" will now return in 2019 after a year's gap, say officials.

After long speculation about the air date of the eighth and final season, the HBO show is taking a year off and will return with the new season. It is still unclear at what point in 2019 the final season of "Game of Thrones" will air, reports variety.com.

Filming on the upcoming season began in October last year and will continue until mid-2018.

In October last year, actor Liam Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos Seaworth, revealed: "We're filming right up until the summer."

"When you think about it, up until last season we would have six months to do 10 episodes, so we are doing way more than that for six episodes. So that obviously will translate into longer episodes," Cunningham said.

The budget for the final episodes of the hit series is much bigger than the standard for expensive TV episodes, with each episode costing $15 million apiece.

As the final season is expected to feature a lot of battle scenes, the show may require more special effects.