We’re only five days into 2018 and already, there’s some not-so-great news and it concerns what may arguably be the best show ever created, Game Thrones.  has confirmed that the eighth and final season won’t air until 2019. We know. Devastating.

Along with that announcement, HBO named the show’s creative team, stating “David Benif & D.B. Weiss, David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik will be the directors for the new season. Writers for the new season are David Benif & D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman and Dave Hill. The executive producers the series are David Benif, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger and Bernadette Caulfield. Co-executive producers are Bryan Cogman, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis and George R.R. Martin.”

According to , even though there will only be six episodes to finish the series out, producers will need more time to ensure the final season lives up to the hype. The white walkers have just broken through the wall with their army wights and undead dragon, after all. There are also a few variables producers didn’t have to consider before. Episodes are going to be longer than their usual 50-60 minutes. Not to mention, Game Thrones needs to film during the cold months to properly portray the winter, which has now come to Westeros. Additionally, Screenrant reports, Game Thrones used to be able to film separate story lines simultaneously, as some characters were filming in Northern Ireland or Iceland while others filmed in warmer weather. Now that storylines are intersecting (Daenerys and Jon Snow, for example),  there will be less need for separate locations and multiple crews.

So what can fanatics do to fill the void in the mean time? Well, there’s the obvious: rewatch seasons 1-7, as there are so many details that have most likely gone unnoticed or been forgotten.

This recap video by HBO is a good start:

Or, Westworld comes back this spring. Tune in.