HBO has announced that the second season of Game of Thrones will start shooting on July 25th in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They note that other locations will be announced as they are confirmed. Cast, writers and directors will also be announced as they are confirmed. After the jump, the full press release. Northern Ireland Screen also reported on the announcement, with a quote from their chief executive.

Winter Is Coming: For the record, this is nearly the exact same date that they began filming season one (that started on July 26th). Same start date plus same amount of episodes means that we should expect a season two premiere around the same time as well. April 15th, 2012 looks good to me.