George R. R. Martin Thought HBO’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Could Run For Another Five Seasons

While HBO is winding up its epic fantasy series, Game of Thrones, after eight seasons, the creator, author George R.R. Martin, thinks there was still enough source material to bulk the TV series out for another five seasons.

George R.R. Martin appears to be a fan of writing massive tomes with his A Game of Thrones book series. However, HBO has decided to tie up the TV adaptation of his series after eight seasons. This seems timely as the TV series strides ahead of the book series and will, ultimately, divulge secrets not yet revealed in the books.

The decision to end HBO’s Game of Thrones after eight seasons fell to the decision making of the series showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. They have previously said that they wanted to tie the TV series up neatly and not choose to extend the life of the show merely because the ratings were good.

However, George R.R. Martin told Variety at the Primetime Emmys red carpet on Monday that he thought the TV series could have run longer.

“We could’ve gone 11, 12, 13 seasons,” George R. R. Martin said.

“David and Dan have been saying for like five seasons that seven seasons is all they would go,” the author elaborated.

“We got them to go to eight but not any more than that. There was a period like five years ago when they were saying seven seasons and I was saying 10 seasons and they won, they’re the ones actually working on it.”

While it may seem like George R.R. Martin might be milking the network for an extended run of his book series, Martin also added that he wouldn’t like to see an HBO spinoff developed that reused characters already seen in Game of Thrones. He believes these characters’ stories have been concluded in Game of Thrones. In addition, he speculated that the actors playing these characters might also be done with them.

“I know all of the actors, as great as they are, all the actors are anxious to get on and play other roles,” George said. “They don’t want to spend their entire lives playing one role and that’s fine, that’s great, we had such an amazing cast.”

Of course, while their stories may end with Season 8 of Game of Thrones, it doesn’t mean HBO is done with the universe surrounding these characters. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, HBO already has one spinoff series in the works which will delve into the time some 1,000 years prior to the events seen in the current Game of Thrones TV series.

The final season of Game of Thrones will premiere on HBO in the first half of 2019.