HBO is planning two more seasons of Game of Thrones, but each season will feature far fewer episodes than fans are accustomed to. In fact, there are only 13 more episodes to go before the episodic series comes to a conclusion.
At a panel taking place at SXSW on Sunday, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss confirmed the eighth and final season will consist of six episodes. The upcoming seventh season, set to premiere July 16th, was previously announced to span seven episodes.
“It’s only going to be six episodes for the final season,” Benioff explained (via EW). “From the beginning we’ve wanted to tell a 70-hour movie. It will turn out to be a 73-hour movie, but it’s stayed relatively the same of having the beginning, middle and now we’re coming to the end. It would have been really tough if we lost any core cast members along the way, I’m very happy we’ve kept everyone and we get to finish it the way we want to.”
Benioff and Weiss also confirmed they will not be involved in any Game of Thrones spin-off series. “I think HBO might well do [another series] and I look forward to watching it and I think it be great, but I think they should get new blood in,” Benioff said.
Below, watch the recently revealed teaser trailer for season seven.
