Back for the 1st time in San Diego in two years, the HBO blockbuster is looking to say one last god-bye to fans

EXCLUSIVE: Barring an unforeseen new conquest of King’s Landing, Game of Thrones looks certain to be returning to Comic-Con’s Hall H next month for a triumphant celebration of the Emmy-winning series’ record-breaking run.

As talks between HBO and confab organizers are in the final stages, exactly which past and present members of the sprawling ensemble that includes Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Sophie Turner, John Bradley, Gwendoline Christie, Liam Cunningham, Maisie Williams and Isaac Hempstead Wright will be taking the stage in front of the thousands in the largest room in the San Diego Convention Center is TBD, I hear.

However, it does seem likely that Harington may be there, as the actor is said to be in the closing stages of his treatment at a Connecticut wellness center that he checked himself into last month. Nothing on NYCC yet, but Game of Thrones will have at least one other Comic-Con presence this year too. Wright, aka Bran Stark, is heading to Comic-Con Africa in September.

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Back here in the U.S., the SDCC presence of executive producers and showrunners David Benioff and D.B Weiss does not seem likely, but George R.R. Martin, on whose books GoT was based, is anticipated to appear in one form or another. Maybe the infamous coffee cup that sneaked in front of Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen in the “The Last of the Starks” episode will be there too.

HBO did not respond to request for comment on SDCC from Deadline. If all goes to plan, 2019 will be mark first time Thrones has been back at Comic-Con since 2017. Deep in production on its eighth and final season, the now-completed HBO blockbuster skipped the San Diego shindig last year for the first time in many a Hall H.

Of course, with GoT’s final episode having aired on May 19, this year, the cast will be able to speak freely about the show and its twist, turns and who was killed off. As fans know right up until “The Iron Throne” end last month, GoT plots were treated like state secrets. Perhaps the most diverting example of which was in 2015, when Natalie Dormer responded to a fan question and admitted to SDCC that she didn’t “have a f*ckin’ clue what happens to me next.”

As the final Comic-Con schedule is ironed out, one thing we do have a clue about is at least one notable absence this year. There will be nothing from Warner Bros and its DC Comics properties at the fanfest next month, as Deadline reported last week. Yet, 99.99% expect The Walking Dead to be back to claim its berth in the massive Convention Center as well as several CW regulars too like the concluding Arrow plus Flash, Supergirl and the upcoming Batwoman.

Among other HBO regulars, it is unclear right now if Westworld will be coming back to SDCC this year. The Jonathan Nolan- and Lisa Joy-run series has added Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, Lena Waithe and Vincent Cassel to the mix in a third season that’s expected to debut next year. Just before its Season 2 opener last year, Westworld bowed out of Comic-Con in San Diego because of “production schedules and air dates,” according to HBO. Hard to tell if history is repeating itself this time round.

Comic-Con 2019 runs July 18-21, with a preview night July 17.

Like GoT, Deadline will also be attending SDCC this year. Editorial director Anthony D’Alessandro, Associate Editor Dino-Ray Ramos, Mr. Hero Nation himself Geoff Boucher and myself will be breaking all the news inside and outside the Convention Center.