EW.com reports that programming chief Casey Bloys confirmed during an appearance Saturday at the Television Critics Association Press Tour that the fantasy series will end with season eight.
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The announcement comes a month after David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Game of Thrones’ executive producers, said they would like to end the show in 73 hours.
Game of Thrones season 8 is due in 2018. “But we take their lead on what they [need] to make the best version of their show”. “The guys weren’t opposed to it, but there’s no concrete plans or anything like that at this point”. “They know we’ll take as many as they want to give us”.
Again, hardly a surprise, and it’d be a shock if HBO didn’t continue to make shows set in Westeros, given how huge Game of Thrones is. While it was a bit unclear for awhile as to when the epic show was going to call it quits, the network just confirmed that yes, Season 8 would be its last. That leaves roughly 13 more episodes of the show in two truncated seasons.
However, Bloys would go on to note that there hasn’t been a decision regarding just how many episodes season eight will have.
The showrunners have also planned for the eighth season to consist of merely six episodes. The reason for the Season 7 delay is due to the filmmakers wanting the outdoor scenes to more closely resemble the arrival of winter in the series.
Production on season seven will begin later than usual – because storylines require colder than usual weather – and they will be shooting in Northern Ireland, Spain, and Iceland.
Game of Thrones broke viewing records at home and overseas in June for its season six finale, and has dominated the Emmy award nominations for a third straight year.
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Yet, it appears Benioff and Weiss’ vision has won out.
