IN IMAGES. HBO releases the first 14 photos of the upcoming 8th and final season of Game of Thrones starting on 15 April on M-Net.

HBO has released 14 photos of the upcoming 8th and final season of Game of Thrones that will start on 14 April in the United States and that will be broadcast Express from the US on M-Net (DStv 101).

M-Net will broadcast episodes of Game of Thrones at 03:00 on Monday mornings, starting on Monday 15 April, and then again during prime time on Mondays at 21:00, starting from 15 April.

The first batch of 14 images include a look at Cercei Lannister (Lena Headey) sitting on the Iron Thrones wearing a new outfit and cutting a solitary figure standing alone at the Red Keep, the broody King of the North, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) returning to Winterfell alongside Little Finger.

There is Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), the Kingslayer Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Samwell Tarley (John Bradley), as well as the Three-Eyed Raven Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright).

Jon and Daenerys are seen standing together in the cold, with images of Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), the Master of Whispers Varys (Conleth Hill), and the Onion Knight Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham).

MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax will carry seasons one to seven of Game of Thrones for viewers to binge-watch.

It's not yet clear whether MultiChoice will allocate the new 8th season's episodes to be carried on Showmax, or if it will be on DStv Now's Catch Up service for paying DStv subscribers who miss out on the linear M-Net broadcast.

The upcoming 8th season's six and longer than usual "mini-movies" will all be upsized bumper-episodes, with the first two Game of Thrones episodes clocking in at 60 minutes each without commercials and the last four episodes each stretching for 80 minutes without commercials.

That means a final season story time of 440 minutes, or 7 hours and 20 minutes.