'Game of Thrones' final season to debut April 14

The eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones" will launch April 14, HBO announced late Sunday.

Comprising six episodes, this likely means "GOT" will wrap May 19, although the network did not set a finale date in its Sunday release announcement, which was timed for the launch of the latest edition of "True Detective."

While details of the final six episodes have long been withheld, fans have speculated about the series, and teasers — one was released in December and another Sunday — have hinted at the obvious: The final battle between the Starks (Jon Snow, Arya, Sansa), and Daenerys Targaryen against the forces converging from "beyond the wall," the White Walkers.

Moreover, the show has long since moved past the novels comprising the source material for "Game of Thrones" — "A Song of Ice and Fire," by George R.R. Martin — although Martin is believed to have indicated to producers the broad outlines of the final two novels of the series so that when they're finally published, both series and novels will be in general agreement. Those novels are "The Winds of Winter" and "A Promise of Spring." Neither have publication dates yet.

Meanwhile, Martin is at work on a "GoT" prequel for HBO.