"The Leftovers" season 3 has been delayed to early 2017, but according to a report from IndieWire, it has been revealed that it is likely the show will specifically air on HBO on the original April premiere date that was once filled in by "Game of Thrones." "Game of Thrones" is now going to premiere in summer next year.
According to Casey Bloys, the President of Programming of HBO, explained that the new timeslot for "The Leftovers" season 3 will now allow the show to become the cable network's primary contender for the Primetime Emmy Awards 2017. "Game of Thrones" season 7 will not be eligible for the Emmy's given that it will premiere past the deadline.
Bloys continued to explain that there were two reasons for the delay. "[One] part of it was production, and part of it was scheduling," he confirmed in the interview before teasing "We had a slot, obviously, in the spring, where 'Game of Thrones' was moving out of."
The report continues to explain that this means season 3 is likely going to premiere in April 2017. It is noted that season 1 originally aired back in June 2014 while season 2 was pushed to October 2015. This will be the earliest that the series will premiere in the year.
He also explained that even if "Game of Thrones" is no longer eligible for the Emmy's HBO will still be ahead of its competitors. In last year's Emmy Awards, HBO managed to snag a total of 94 nominations and even if the 23 nominations of "Game of Thrones" was subtracted from the equation HBO would still have 15 more than the next network in line, FX, which garnered 56 nominations.
HBO has yet to make a formal announcement regarding the release date of "The Leftovers" season 3 although Bloys' statement does make it apparent that the show is likely going to release by April 2017.
