HBO has officially confirmed that the eighth season of the hit television series based on George R.R. Martin’s celebrated medieval fantasy saga will be the final chapter of the show. Production on the seventh season is currently underway, meaning that fans only have two more seasons to watch the battle for the Iron Throne — and the fate of Westeros itself — play out.
The end of the series after season 8 was initially teased by the show’s executive producers and showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but the network recently made it official during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“Yes, they have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys told EW. “Believe me, as the new [programming executive] coming in, if I could get them to do more. I would take 10 more seasons. But we take their lead on what they think they can do the best version of the show.”
Benioff and Weiss previously indicated a desire to have the eighth season consist of only six episodes, but the actual length of the season wasn’t confirmed by Bloys. The possibility for a Game of Thrones spinoff series, however, was indeed addressed.
“We’ve talked about it,” said Bloys. “It’s something I’m not opposed to, but of course it has to make sense creatively. I’m not sure that [Benioff and Weiss] could really wrap their heads around it when they’re just about to start production [on season 7]. … I’m open to it. The guys weren’t opposed to it, but there’s no concrete plans for it at this point.”
The hit HBO series received 23 nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards at the upcoming television award ceremony, more than other series. The penultimate season of the series will premiere next summer.
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