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‘Game Of Thrones’ Renewed For Season 7 By HBO — What Will Happen After Hit Series Ends?

By Shaunee Flowers
Published on: 13:38 PST, Apr 21, 2016

HBO quickly put a stop to all speculation that Season 6 would be the end of Game of Thrones. According to TV Guide, the hit fantasy series was renewed for Season 7 despite rumors that the series might be coming to an end. It turns out that the GOT executive producers have plans to run the show for eight seasons, possibly cutting the last two seasons down by a few episodes.

Game of Thrones’ executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have talked about the end of the HBO hit in the past. Prior to HBO’s confirmation that the show would be renewed, the show creators told Variety their thoughts on the matter.

“I think we’re down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We’re heading into the final lap. That’s the guess, though nothing is yet set in stone, but that’s what we’re looking at.”

That conversation took place before HBO ordered Season 7. Now that news of the Game of Thrones renewal is official, it looks like the network is on board with Benioff and Weiss’ plans to break the final two seasons up with Season 7 having a total of seven episodes and Season 8 finishing off the story with just six more episodes.

Game of Thrones fans are thrilled to know that their favorite show will be coming back in 2017 but aren’t too happy with the idea that the seasons will be cut short. The first six seasons of GOT already only have 10 episodes, typical of an HBO series. Fans want more though and anything related to the hit series will help ease the depression of the end of such an amazing show, even if we know that end is coming in 2018.

HBO programming president Michael Lombardo agreed with Benioff and Weiss, that Game of Thrones has about two years left in order to finish the story properly. He did admit that he wished there was more time.

“That’s my understanding from them right now, those have been the conversations we’ve had,” Lombardo told Variety. “Because where these narratives go, it feels like another two years to them. As a television executive, as a fan, do I wish they said another six years? I do.”

George R.R. Martin, who wrote the novels that inspired Game of Thrones, has said he has several ideas for spin-offs of the series and many more stories to tell about Westeros, Braavos, and the rest of the GOT world.

“There is certainly no lack of material,” Martin told Entertainment Weekly. “Every episode of The Naked City – one of the television shows I watched as a kid – ended with a voice-over: ‘There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.’ There are eight million stories in Westeros as well … and even more in Essos and the lands beyond. A whole world full of stories, waiting to be told… if indeed HBO is interested.”

Martin says that he has several novellas that were written for the Dunk & Egg series. That group of stories take place in the same world as Game of Thrones except they tell stories of the people who lived 90 years earlier in the same part of the world. Martin claimed that each of the short stories could be adapted into a two-hour, made-for-TV movie if HBO was interested in the stories.

The viewership for Game of Thrones has increased every year that it’s been on the air. The hit series is the most-watched series in the history of HBO and fans will definitely miss the fantasy hit when it’s over. Thankfully, even if the seasons are shorter than what fans are already used to, everyone can enjoy GOT for at least two more seasons and then hope for spinoffs.

[Image via HBO]

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