Last Sunday’s sixth season finale of Game of Thrones broke the series’ records with 8.9 million viewers. Across all digital platforms, Game of Thrones reportedly reaches 23 million viewers, so you can understand why HBO doesn’t want to part with it any time soon. However, the showrunners, Dan Weiss and David Benioff have confirmed the rumors of the series’ conclusion after two additional seasons.
“It’s two more seasons we’re talking about,” said Benioff during an interview with Deadline. “From pretty close to the beginning, we talked about doing this in 70-75 hours, and that’s what we’ll end up with. Call it 73 for now…We’re trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end. As Dan said, we’ve known the end for quite some time and we’re hurtling towards it. Those last images from the show that aired last night showed that. Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros; Jon Snow is king of the North and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne. And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them. The pieces are on the board now. Some of the pieces have been removed from the board and we are heading toward the end game.”
The idea of shortened seasons is not going to sit well with GoT fans, but let’s face it, they’re gonna watch it anyways.
Related: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6 Finale Review
Benioff and Weiss also addressed one of the most surprising twists of the season finale, which found Cersei named the new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms after she orchestrated the destruction of her enemies in a massacre of wildfire. Cersei barely reacted at all when she saw that her last child, Tommen had committed suicide.
“That’s what so much of next season is going to be about; finding out what Cersei’s mind-set is,” explained Weiss.. “Who is she? While Cersei has certainly done a lot of horrible things in her life and she could be a very cruel person, the one thing that was redemptive about her was, she genuinely loved her children. Now they’re all gone, and I think that is very interesting for us. Who is she without her children? The answer is something you’ll find out next season. That’s so much of what is to come that I’ll just give it away if I start delving into it now.”
The seventh season of Game of Thrones is expected to begin production next month. HBO is expected to formally renew the series for an eighth and final season once it closes new deals with the remaining cast members.
Are you eager to see the endgame for this show? Let us know in the comment section below!
