Showrunner David Benioff has confirmed there will only be two more shortened seasons of the hit TV show.
Since it debuted on HBO in 2011, the epic fantasy series has become one of the most watched and talked about programs on television.
However the screenwriter and producer has now confirmed rumors that it is almost at an end, telling Deadline.com that there will only be between ten and 15 more episodes, spread over two shortened series.
“It’s two more seasons we’re talking about,” David reveals. “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.”
David, who adapted author George R.R. Martin’s series of fantasy novels for television alongside co-creator D.B. Weiss, says that despite the show’s popularity, he has resisted the temptation to increase the length of the series’ run.
“We (David and D.B.) wanted it to be one giant story, without padding it out to add an extra 10 hours, or because people are still watching it,” he explains.
“We wanted to do something where, if people watched it end to end, it would make sense as one continuous story. We’re definitely heading into the end game now.”
The show’s sixth season ended in the U.S. on Sunday, with the final episode airing in the U.K. a day later.
The finale featured one of the series’ most compelling, if evil characters, Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey, seizing power in the show’s fictional setting, the Kingdom of Westeros.
Throughout the earlier seasons she has been shown as a complex character, ruthlessly ambitious but protective of her children.
And D.B. says that the show’s next series will focus on her, as he explains, “That’s what so much of next season is going to be about; finding out what Cersei’s mind-set is.”
