After 6 seasons of meteorological prognostications, winter has finally come to Game of Thrones. And it’s really not going to be here long. Confirming previous predictions and rumours, HBO have officially declared that their award-winning fantasy drama is ending with season 8. The confirmation was given by HBO Programming President Casey Bloys during the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour over the weekend (via THR):
“Yes, I think [the showrunners, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff] have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do. If I could get them to do more, I would take 10 seasons but we want to take their lead with what they could do and what the best version of the show is.”
You can take this as both good and bad news. Good because I would rather a show tell its story and call it quits instead of being dragged out unnecessarily – especially in this, where it’s based on George R.R. Martin’s book series – and bad because, “Oh no! No more Game of Thrones!”
This bit of potentially negative news for fans comes on the heels of another though. It was recently confirmed that not only is the upcoming season 7 going to be shortened to 7 episodes as opposed to the normal 10, but we will also have longer to wait for the next season as the producers wish to make use of more wintry conditions for their shooting. However there may be some good news for those fans who are hoping to still have some Game of Thrones in their life in the future, as Bloys has confirmed that the network is willing to field the idea of a potential spinoff if pitched correctly.
“We’ve talked about it. It’s not something I’m opposed to but it has to make sense creatively. I’m not sure the guys can wrap their heads around it when they are about to start production. We’re open to it; the guys aren’t opposed to it but there’s no concrete plans right now.”
With season 6 having passed Martin’s books chronologically (because he writes at a glacial pace), Weiss and Benioff have already needed to come up with plenty of their own story. So technically, a spinoff is really not that far fetched. Heck, some of the story arcs in the TV series are already so different to the books, that they could already be considered spinoffs!
Game of Thrones season 7 is expected to debut sometime in mid-2017.
Last Updated: August 1, 2016
