The news ran wild last night with the report from the Television Critics’ Association summer session panel where HBO executive Michael Lombardo spoke about Game of Thrones and remarked the following:
“Seven-seasons-and-out has never been the [internal] conversation. The question is: How much beyond seven are we going to do? Obviously we’re shooting six now, hopefully discussing seven. [David & Dan] feel like there’s two more years after six. I would always love for them to change their minds, but that’s what we’re looking at right now.”
On top of that, when asked about potential prequels, Lombardo expressed strong willingness to further delve into the Game of Thrones story once the main series was done.
We’ve been saying for quite awhile that it was premature in earlier seasons to take it at anyone’s word that the show would only run seven seasons, no matter what anyone at HBO or the production said. We also predicted that it would be only with the start of season 6 production that we would start to get a real picture of the final plan. This seems to have been borne out.
That said, there are serious financial issues for HBO to consider if they decide to go into a full-on eighth season, as all the actors would up for renegotiation and the payroll can be expected to balloon if that happens. However, there’s an intermediate step: an extended seventh season, split over two years, compromising fourteen or sixteen episodes; this would permit the production to retain actors under their current contracts without need of renegotiation. As to Lombardo’s desire to go beyond just eight seasons? It sounds very effusive, and perhaps it suggests that HBO doesn’t think the increased salary burden would stop it from continuing to pursue its most popular series…. but we’re dubious it’s at all possible, given the way the show has largely rushed through the published novels in the last season. While rumors suggest they may be delving into book material they’ve skipped in this upcoming season, it seems improbable that they could effectively do so in a way that would allow the finale to be pushed four or more seasons into the future.
There surely must be potential in utilizing all the popularity, as well as the current prop, set, and costuming assets to pursue spin-off projects such as a prequels about Robert’s Rebellion, but that may depend very much on how well the show holds on to its mass popularity as it comes to a close. It’s definitely a question or a number of years in the future.