If you’re a true-blue Game of Thrones stan, I would definitely suggest reading this Deadline piece with GoT showrunners and executive producers D.B. Weiss and Dan Benioff. Deadline conducted a thorough interview with Weiss and Benioff following the season six finale, which was the most-watched Game of Thrones episode ever. Game of Thrones has managed to build its audience over time, which is an extraordinary feat for any TV show, especially a show as complicated as GoT. Anyway, the Weiss and Benioff interview is good and they preview some of the storylines for Season 7, like how we’ll see more of Cersei’s ruthlessness, but everyone’s talking about what they say for the final season/s.
DEADLINE: There is a lot of story left to tell. How far have you mapped it out?
BENIOFF: We’ve been talking about the ending, from the beginning. It’s a strange phenomenon, we’re in this territory where you are walking on your own and can’t rely on the written material anymore. As we get close to the ending, we’ve been talking about that for so long, things come into better focus. Once we get to the final end game, we’ve got very specific ideas that have grown organically over the past six plus years about where everything will end up.
DEADLINE: When you have President Obama asking about plot points and whether Jon Snow would stay dead, it indicates you haven’t overstayed your welcome. You could continue this struggle for a long time.
WEISS: Like President Obama, we want to leave while all the people watching this show are really into it. Get out at a high point and not have it be, well thank god that’s over.
BENIOFF: It’s two more seasons we’re talking about. 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. What Dan says is really true, but it’s not just trying not to outstay your welcome. We’re trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end. As Dan said, we’ve known the end for quite some time and we’re hurtling towards it. Those last images from the show that aired last night showed that. Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros; Jon Snow is king of the North and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne. And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them. The pieces are on the board now. Some of the pieces have been removed from the board and we are heading toward the end game. The thing that has excited us from the beginning, back to the way we pitched it to HBO is, it’s not supposed to be an ongoing show, where every season it’s trying to figure out new story lines. We wanted it to be one giant story, without padding it out to add an extra 10 hours, or because people are still watching it. We wanted to 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.
While Weiss & Benioff have always talked about ending the series at seven seasons, now that we’re looking that fact in the face, doesn’t it seem like there is absolutely no way to wrap up these stories in, say, 13 to 15 more episodes. I’m taking their words to mean that Season 7 is going to be split up into two sections, probably seven episodes one year and then six episodes the next year. Which still seems like too few episodes to wrap everything up. That being said, I admire Weiss and Benioff for sticking to their guns and holding the line – if they were just in it for the money, they would be stretching this out for ten seasons or more and HBO would willingly finance it.
Photos courtesy of HBO.
I’m gonna be so sad when my favorite TV series of all time ends, but I actually thing 13-15 episodes is more than enough. It’s building towards the crescendo.
That said, I hope HBO really looks into possible spinoffs/prequels/sequels so I don’t have to leave Westeros for good.
Oh man, I’ll be so bummed. But hopefully GRRM will have put out a new book by then so I could at least have that to compensate. (Fingers, toes, eyeballs crossed!)
That said, I’d rather D+D wrap it up in 13-14 episodes than drag it out too long and basically kill any momentum that might have built up. Like the saying goes: always leave them wanting more.
God, I’m gonna miss this show, and it’s not even over yet.
I hear ya. I can’t believe this season is already over and now the end for good is near! My body is NOT ready.
Me too. I feel bad enough about *this* season ending, let alone the thought that the series as a whole is nearly done 🙁 .
I’m fine with them ending this on a high note. I’ve been a dedicated fan of other series that hit a wall around Season 5ish…and while I watched to the end (through 6, 7, 8, or 9) it was so tired and played out, I was grateful not to have to watch anymore. As a book reader and a huge fan of GOT, I’m super excited to see how this plays out over the next 2 years (seasons). I agree…they could stretch this out and I’m sure we’d all stick through it, but sometimes less is truly more. Not to mention, some of these younger actors are starting to look quite old for their roles, not that it’s entirely problematic, but if you read the books you know that some of these “kids” are only about 8-12….and in reality, they’re looking about twice that age. I was pretty disappointed with this season, UNTIL E09. E10 was some of the best television (and score) I’ve ever seen/heard.
I’m glad that they are plan on ending the story on a high note. I hate when a show jumps the shark and ends on a low note.
I am currently mourning the end of Penny Dreadful. If you haven’t seen the show, it is three seasons long with great acting.
I agree with ending on a high point, but will miss this program.
I’ll look up Penny Dreadful- thanks for the tip. I felt the same mourning about The Killing with Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman. Fantastic series.
Stella, I am SOOOOO sad that Penny Dreadful is over. I do think that they probably couldn’t have pulled more than another season our of it. (They had already explored nearly every creepy topic they could possibly squish in there) But I really loved those characters.
Also without listing spoilers, I have to say I did not love how they ended it. I couldn’t say what a better ending would be, but that ending made my heart hurt.
The show DID jump the shark, though. It jumped the shark in episode 8 of this season when Arya shrugged off brutal stab wounds to the gut that would have killed anyone else, got bandaged up (by the only threatre star/ermergency doctor in Westeros) and given some codeine and was able to do parkour. The Waif’s vendetta made zero sense, and it also made no sense that Arya was able to defeat her. In training, she only managed to successfully block just one of the Waif’s attacks. The Waif went through the same blind training when she was an initiate. It makes no sense that Arya won that fight even with the tiny advantage of having Needle. No wonder it happened off camera.
As well as Arya’s hardcore parkour adventures, we had the TerminWaifor and the slapstick with a market set on some stairs that seemed to cater exclusively to comically spherical rolling fruits so as to make Arya’s wacky roll downstairs all the more wacky.
Let’s not forget Blackfish this episode either.. ‘My incredibly military knowledge’ …. huh, apparently Sansa could benefit from me so I’m not even trying,’ And he kills himself instead of try to help his family.One of the best commanders gone for no reason. Family Duty Honour means SHIT to show! Blackfish, He refused to help his niece for no logical reason. He wasn’t fleeing to save himself, he went out because he was too proud to run again, He had so much power to help up North and he threw it away to die dignified death at home when he could have saed many lives with thisarmty.
Then thee wer the sad crude unfunny joke parts? First it with fingers up assholes and then three of Mereen’s most currently useless sitting there trying to learn how to tell jokes Riveting, I hated that episode and it jumped the shark for me.
I think 13 more series is just about right. Winter comes. Cersei is going to be valonqared. Arya’s gonna get her revenge. LF scheming will blow up in his face. Dany and Jon (I think Jon is the Azor Ahai) will ally against the Night King and won, and I suppose Dany will eventually take the throne, then spring will come and we mourn.
I had a nightmare while brushing my teeth last night…SUPPOSE THE WHITE WALKERS WIN???? No one ever talks about that!! How do we know? How do we know…??? *sob*
GRRM did say the ending is bittersweet so I think we all get our hearts desires only to have the White Walkers come in at the end to crush it all
I think it will be more like Jon and Dany will beat the White Walkers, but they and the dragons will be killed. If the Night King is destroyed, though, they would no longer have a need for the dragons.
Tyrion may be the only one left to rule after it’s all over, but King’s Landing and the Iron Throne will be gone. They’ll have to build a new capital city.
I’m sad, because I really want more episodes, but I get it. They are also going to need so much CGI for the next two seasons, that I’m sure the cost and time is a factor as well.
Hopefully this means no more filler episodes and scenes. While I love Tyrion, I don’t need 10 minutes of him cracking jokes. Spend that time showing The Wall falling, please.
never watched the show, as i started with the books and prefer reading to watching, but show OR book…if dany does not end up with jon and tyrion as her two other heads…i will trip balls.
lol.
It seems silly to change it at that late stage… give us two more seasons of 10 episodes and then call it a day.
Also, don’t call it season 7 and split it over two years. That’d be seasons 7 and 8.
Thank you! That annoys me to no end! If there’s a break in filming/broadcasting, end the season there and start a new one.
Luther’s last season was TWO episodes! WTH even is that??
I feel like that’s enough time to wrap up the drama in the 7 kingdoms in some sort of fashion, but it makes me think the Night King/white walkers will never make it past the wall. That just isn’t enough time for everyone’s story lines PLUS a full out war with the army of the dead. They’re either not going to get far before the dragons are going to quickly f up their day, or something else big like that.
I actually think they can do this. I was watching some old season 5 eps yesterday (call it my GOT abstinence cravings kicking in) and I couldn’t believe how far the stories came un just two seasons. Just watch 5×01.
I think it’s time for a full re watching, all the way back from season 1. I need my GOT fix
I thought so too. The first few episodes will focus on the houses who remain, and the other half will focus on the war with the white walkers. LOTR’s 4 wars (Rohan, Isengard, Gondor and Mordor) all took about 6 hours total, I have faith in GoT producers and GRRM, they will blow us all away. Now we wait, which is the hardest part- pure torture.
Bella Ramsay is such a great little actress. I’d love for her to get a Guest Acting nomination for the finale.
I don’t know, even though Mad Men declined in the last few seasons, I still miss it so much and wish it had continued. I think I’ll feel the same way here, because I similarly enjoy spending time with these characters.
Well unless George Martin is planning to give them more written material they should stop after next season.
Unlike many people, I did find this season very disappointing, they dragged a lot of stories and it was a lot boring.
I think 13-15 episodes is enough, I just wish they would do them all in one season. Having only 10 episodes feels really barely enough already.
A man needs to look for new work.
A man is disappointed that Game of Thrones is not wrapping up in a solid round 80 episodes as opposed to an uneven 73.
A man has felt that Seasons 5 and 6 did a good job of building plot momentum and reuniting characters.
However, a man feels this has been at the expense of character development, political intrigue and world building.
A man feels that many characters were taken by the Many Faced God abruptly and with little set up.
A man feels that the show could do a better job of adapting the layered complexities of Martin’s story and world.
A man wants 80 episodes. A man knows its too late…
It’s David Benioff.
Great show. I’ll miss it but glad it won’t overstay its welcome *coughERcough*
How many plotlines can get wrapped up in 13 episodes?
Well, you can do it in five depending on how fast and feasibly you can massacre everybody involved in said plotlines.
It’s only difficult if everyone remains alive which I’m sure they won’t be for long.
What? You were expecting a happy ending?
My real question is how much the insistence on wrapping GOT up so fast is due to the new HBO head?
I’m more worried GRRM is never going to finish his series and it’ll get handed over to another author to end, (in a similar fashion to his fave Mervyn Peake), and that decades of fandom wank will ensue as a result, in terms of how the story/writing would have gone if he *had* finished it himself.