Los Angeles, July 19 (IANS): The production of the seventh season of HBO's hit fantasy drama TV series "Game of Thrones" is set to begin later this summer.

Production of the seven-episode seventh season will be based in Northern Ireland, while additional portions will be filmed in Spain and Iceland.

The premiere of the seventh season is slated for summer 2017 on HBO internationally and on Star World Premiere HD in India.

“Now that winter has arrived on 'Game of Thrones', executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing,” Casey Bloys, President, HBO Programming, said in a statement. 

“Instead of the show’s traditional spring debut, we are moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule," she added. 

The directors of the seventh season will include Mark Mylod, Jeremy Podeswa, Matt Shakman and Alan Taylor. Locations for shooting in Spain will include Sevilla, Caceres, Almodovar del Rio, Santiponce, Zumaia and Bermeo.

Last week, "Game of Thrones" received 23 Emmy nominations for its sixth season. 

Season six will be aired on Star World Premiere from Monday to Friday.