Why was leaked Game of Thrones season 7 premiere date set for summer?

Game of Thrones fans have been wondering when exactly the season 7 premiere date will be for some time, and it looks as though the answer has been leaked.

As the show moves out of its usual spring slot, making this season's premiere episode more unpredictable than ever before, GoT viewers are particularly keen to find out when it returns to the screen.

Interestingly, the IMDb website briefly listed season 7 episode 1 to premiere on 25 June 2017, but the release date was hastily taken down as if it were published by mistake.

Twitter account GoT Source captured a screen shot of the website's slip-up and posted it onto the social media sharing site, sending fans into a spin.

HBO made a habit of debuting new GoT episodes in the spring, usually around April. This year, show bosses decided to mix things up by launching it in the summer months.

GoT showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss previously stated: "We're starting a bit later because at the end of this season, 'Winter is here' – and that means that sunny weather doesn't really serve our purposes any more.

"So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot."

Filming of season 7 won't be completed until February, so the June start date seems reasonable. It will only consist of six episodes – with all of them presumed to be epic – and the launch date delay is due to the production having to wait to shoot in the colder months.

Bastille are set to follow in the footsteps of other musical acts Coldplay, Mastodon and Sigur Ros by making a cameo in one of the new episodes. HBO is due to officially announce the release date for season 7 soon along with an announcement teaser trailer.