Winter may be coming once again.
But it sounds like Game of Thrones is going.
With Games of Thrones Season 6 just a couple weeks ago (SEASON PREMIERE ON SUNDAY, APRIL 24!!!!!), showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have come out and said that the beloved drama’s end may be near.
And it may be split into a pair of abbreviated seasons.
“I think we’re down to our final 13 episodes after this season,” Benioff told Variety this week. “We’re heading into the final lap. That’s the guess, though nothing is yet set in stone.”
The network is yet to confirm an exact episode count for either season, but HBO President Michael Lombardo told reporters at the 2015 Television Critics Association summer press tour that Season 8 would very likely be the show’s swan song.
“[The producers are] feeling like there [are] probably two more years after [season] six,” Lombardo said at the time.
“I would love for them to change their minds, but that’s what we’re looking at right now.”
One of the reasons why Game of Thrones can’t go on very much longer is that the series has outpaced novelist George R.R. Martin.
As loyal book readers are tragically aware, the author was unable to complete the sixth novel in his Song of Ice and Fire franchise prior to production on Season 6.
As a result, a majority of the upcoming 10-episode run was based only on notes from the scribe.