Game Of Thrones Season 7 Poster Comes Face To Face With The Night King

Prepare to come face-to-face with the terrifying Night King. HBO has released a new motion poster for the penultimate season of Game of Thrones, the hit fantasy drama based on George R.R. Martin's novels.

The new poster brings the face of the Night King, the leader of the White Walkers, who is poised to march south towards Westeros as the new season begins.

The looming threat of the Night King and his army is one of the factors that hastens the pace of Game of Thrones's seventh season when compared to the six previous.

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"For a long time we've been talking about 'the wars to come,'" explains David Benioff. "Well, that war is pretty much here. So it's really about trying to find a way to make the storytelling work without feeling like we're rushing it — you still want to give characters their due, and pretty much all the characters that are now left are all important characters. Even the ones who might have started out as relatively minor characters have become significant in their own right."

Based on the popular book series A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin, the hit Emmy-winning fantasy series Game of Thrones chronicles an epic struggle for power in a vast and violent kingdom.

The seventh season of Game of Thrones will see Daenerys Targaryen finally make her way from Essos to Westeros to reclaim the Iron Throne, while the Night King's White Walker army marches south, bringing winter with him.

Game of Thrones stars Emmy and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Diana Rigg, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and Jonathan Pryce. Executive producers are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield. Co-executive producers are Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin.

Game of Thrones Season 7 premieres July 16 on HBO.

NEXT: George RR Martin Reveals Game Of Thrones Prequel Details

Game of Thrones may only have two seasons left, but HBO is already making plans to extend its stay in the world of Westeros and Essos. Multiple prequel scripts have already been ordered for a prequel series that will take place in the same universe, but that will not feature the same characters or be based on any story published by George R.R. Martin so far, though he is working with some of the prequel writers to develop the new series.

Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have also stated that they will not be involved in developing the new shows, though they will receive some form of an official credit since the spinoffs will be derivative of their original series.

Photo Credit: HBO