HBO Says GAME OF THRONES Will Run For At Least Eight Seasons

Big news out of the Television Critics Association today: HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo offered a hint at the future of Game of Thrones, and he indicates that the show will last longer than originally anticipated.

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have said that they'd like the show to run for seven seasons:

“It was our unstated goal, because to start on a show and say your goal is seven seasons is the height of lunacy. Once we got to the point where we felt like we’re going to be able to tell this tale to its conclusion, that became [an even clearer] goal. Seven gods, seven kingdoms, seven seasons. It feels right to us.”

But now Lombardo, who has gone on record saying he wants the show to last for ten seasons, has an update for us on the timeline. EW reports:

“Seven-seasons-and-out has never been the [internal] conversation,” Lombardo said to critics at the Television Critics Association’s press tour Thursday. “The question is how much beyond seven are we going to do. [Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are] feeling like there’s two more years after six. I would always love for them to change their minds. That’s what we’re looking at right now.”

There's also the potential for a prequel series if the showrunners are interested in pursuing that option, though apparently no official discussions have taken place about that at this point:

“I would be open to anything Dan and David want to do,” Lombardo said. “It really would depend fully on what they want to do. I think you’re right, there’s enormous storytelling to be mined in a prequel. We haven’t had any conversations.”

It doesn't surprise me that they haven't talked about a prequel show since they're still trying to figure out exactly how long the regular show is going to last. I'd be pretty surprised if Benioff and Weiss decided to stretch this out for ten seasons, but network pressures may force their hand. Hopefully they get to finish the show on their own terms.