We’ve all heard the whispers, and now our worst fears have been confirmed – “Game of Thrones” (GoT) will end after season 8.
Rumours of the multiple award-winning and record-breaking fantasy drama TV series ending have long been lingering since July last year. HBO neither confirmed nor denied the news back then. Instead, the broadcaster comforted fans with details of a double season renewal.
Alas, the official announcement was made by HBO’s newly appointed programming chief Casey Bloys at the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles.
“Believe me, as the new guy, if I could get them do to more, I would take 10 more seasons. But we take their lead on what they think they can do (to make) the best version of the show,” he said.
Production for season 7 of GoT is current underway and it will be made up of 7 episodes instead of the usual 10, and expected to air in summer 2017 instead of spring, a shift from the show’s usual schedule. Season 8, now confirmed to be the final season, will premiere in 2018, but the number of episodes is yet to be determined.
Sure, it sounds like we’re quickly running out of time and we don’t blame the fans for being sad over the fact that their favourite fantasy world may disappear from the TV screen forever. There is a glimmer of hope, though, because Casey did not rule out a spin-off.
“We’ve talked about it. 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). It’s a pretty intense production, they’re about to start production soon. I’m open to it. The guys weren’t opposed to it, but there’s no concrete plans for it at this point,” Casey revealed.
Our opinion? We’ll take anything that we can get!
Based on George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire”, GoT is one of TV’s most watched show with 25 million total viewers this year along across all platforms. The finale for season 6 of GoT, which aired in June, broke records with the highest ratings ever for the show with 8.9 million viewers tuning into HBO.
More recently, GoT raked in a whopping total of 23 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, the most nominations this year and more than any of other series for the 3rd year running.
Source: EW.
