While “The Game of Thrones” showrunners have long said they only planned to make seven seasons of the show, it turns out that HBO has a different idea in mind for their whopping cash cow of a fantasy franchise.
As HBO programming president Michael Lombardo said at TCA last night, "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. [Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are] 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.”
Asked about whether Benioff and Weiss might consider mining the immense amounts of Westeros lore that George R.R. Martin has written to create a prequel series, Lombardo seemed to say that anything is possible.
“I would be open to anything that Dan and David wanted to do—about Game of Thrones, or any subject matter,” Lombardo said. “It really would depend fully on what they wanted to do. I think you’re right, there’s enormous storytelling to be mined in a prequel, if George and Dan and David decide they want to tackle that. At this point, all the focus is on the next few years of the show. We haven’t had any conversations about that at this point.”
Lombardo also addressed questions about the show’s rampant violence, which many have felt has overstepped the boundaries of taste too frequently in recent seasons.
"This show has had violence as part of one of its many threads from the first episode,” said Lombardo. "I can't speak to any single person's particular taste... I think the show is phenomenal. It hit 20 million viewers this year... And I'll be honest you with you, I think there are no two showrunners who are more careful about not overstepping what they think the line is — and everyone has their own line, I understand — but doing things that are critical for the storytelling and I support them fully artistically.”
Oh, and one more question, sir! What’s going on with Jon Snow?
"Dead is dead as dead as dead. He be dead. Yes. Everything I've seen, heard, read, Jon Snow is indeed dead," he concluded with a smile.
You know nothing, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo!
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