Emmys: How 'Game of Thrones' hopes to get Voters' Attention For Its Late-Arriving Episodes

HBO's biggest hit didn't unveil its most acclaimed episode of the season until June 19, six days after Emmy voting began, but it's still staking a claim for consideration.

HBO has to be hoping that Emmy voters are procrastinators, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The roughly 20,000 members of the TV Academy began voting for the 68th Emmy Award nominations on June 13, but it wasn't until six days later, on June 19, that HBO aired "Battle of the Bastards," the penultimate episode of the Game of Thrones' sixth season, which — spoiler alert — included not only a dragon-fueled showdown in Meereen, but also an impressively mounted battle to reclaim Winterfell, with the heroic Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and villainous Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) facing off.

Critics and fans alike immediately proclaimed it the best episode of the season — and began a breathless countdown to this coming Sunday, June 26, when HBO will air the season finale, "The Winds of Winter," just 24 hours before the Emmy nomination voting window closes.

In terms of courting voters, this timetable was less-than-ideal for HBO's most popular series. The cable network is always very guarded about its upcoming content, hoping to avoid leaks prior to airing, and it guards no show more closely than Game of Thrones, which is why it did not make the final two episodes available to Emmy voters before the episodes aired.