Talking about the footage he’s seen so far, Michael Lombardo told the Hollywood Reporter:

Everything looks fantastic. The director got great performances. Unlike a lot of projects like this, everything was shot on location. It has such a rich texture that it looks more expensive than it actually was… The fantasy is so incidental, it has a very adult tone. You forget it’s fantasy while you’re watching it, and that’s what I love about it.
Look, we’re not asking for cut-rate Lord of The Rings-isms or anything, but when one of the selling points for a genre show is that you forget it’s a genre show, we’re kind of thinking that something’s gone wrong somewhere along the line. Or have we missed NBC telling people that the latest Law & Order is so good that you’ll forget there are cops in it?

Games of Thrones is expected to be on HBO in “March or April” of next year.