HBO's sword and sorcery epic is hurtling towards the final clash for power over who rules Westeros. Following season seven, he pieces are all in place: Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) have sealed their union (which looks like it could open its own can of worms); Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) is raiding the coffers to defend her power in King's Landing and now the Wall has fallen the White Walkers (complete with zombie dragon) will be attacking from the north.

Here are all the details we have on season 8, when and where you can watch Game of Thrones in the UK.

When can I watch Game of Throne Season 8?

Everyone at Game of Thrones HQ wants to get this last season just right so they are taking their time. There are a lot of moving parts with huge battles, dragons, zombies and more expected so the filming and post-production will take longer than usual. Therefore HBO have stated there will be no GoT in 2018 with a spring (probably April) return in 2019.

How can I watch season 8 in the UK?

Sky Atlantic are the official broadcaster in the UK. GoT will also be available on their On Demand catch up service, NOW TV , and via iTunes.

How many episodes?

This is the final ever series but sadly it's also the shortest yet with just six episodes. But each episode is expected to be feature length with the budget to go with such ambitions. The finale will be directed by showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss. However, with Miguel 'Battle of the Bastards' Sapochnik scheduled to direct episodes 3 and 5, it's anticipated these will be epic battle episodes. Other series regular David Nutter will directed episodes 1, 2 and 4.

What can we expect?

HBO are keeping story details under lock and key. We've overtaken the plot of George RR Martin's novels so it's a mystery to everyone except the cast and crew, and while actors are popping up all over the place they know better than to let on. What we do know is that series creators David Benioff and DB Weiss, with Bryan Cogman and Dave Hill, are on writing duties. Unsurprisingly the war for the Iron Throne will be brutal. We imagine elite mercenaries The Golden Company could be major players in the final battle as Cersei has hinted that she might hire them to take on Snow and Targaryen's massed forces. Also remember this is Game of Thrones so expect multiple deaths of even fan favourite characters, heads will roll (literally).

Who's starring in season 8?

Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) are all back. Expect a few new faces to be confirmed as the air date approaches (but hopefully not the return of Ed Sheeran).

What's next for Game of Thrones?

GoT is HBO's most popular show of all time so it should come as no surprise that after season eight they will want to return to Westeros in some capacity. It's looking like a prequel and apparently there are four or five spin off series in development. However HBO's President of Programming, Casey Bloys, has stated that while they are working on several ideas they only expect one show to actually make it to screen, telling EW: 'The idea is not to do four shows. The bar set by [Benioff and Weiss] is so high that my hope is to get one show that lives up to it … If you only developed one, everything would rest on that one shot … this increases our odds of finding one that's unique.'

Game of Thrones returns to Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in 2019. In the meantime, let's check out the Army of the Dead one more time too...