“Game Of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff & D.B. Weiss have been quoted saying they expect “Game of Thrones” to run seven seasons, but HBO programming chief David Lombardo says the duo now plans a total of eight.
Lombardo says he would prefer the series run more than eight seasons. “We hope that they would change their mind, but for that’s how they are feeling now,” he said at HBO’s TCA event.
Season five, which pretty much exhausted all five of the published George RR Martin novels on which the series is based, concluded in June.
Martin plans two more novels in the series, but there's not yet a publication date for either.
Season five drew material from Martin's yet-unpublished novels, particularly Tyrion Lannister serving as interim ruler of Meereen. By the end of Martin's fifth novel, Tyrion hasn't even met Dany Targaryen.
Season six is currently in production.
Martin has also written three novellas set 90 years or so before the events of “Game of Thrones.” They focus on traveling companions Aegon V Targaryen and Ser Duncan The Tall, who would eventually become king of Westeros and commander of the Kingsguard, respectively.
(Aegon is not to be confused with Dany’s dad, Aerys II Targaryen, slain by Jaime Lannister. Aegon was the Mad King’s grandfather and the Stormborn Khaleesi’s great-grandfather.)
“Thrones” is the most popular show in HBO history. Could an HBO prequel series follow? “We would be open to anything [the showrunners] want to do,” said Lombardo. “There is enormous amount of storytelling in that world.”
