HBO’s programming president discusses the end of Game of Thrones

Casey Bloys, the president in charge of all HBO programs’ schedule, has answered (very vaguely) a few questions about the final season of the network’s hit show.

Although Game of Thrones will not return until 2019 — as well as Big Little Lies and True Detective — Casey Bloys agreed to answer (cryptically) a few questions during an interview with Hollywood Reporter about the show.

As far as we know, the final season will consist of 6 episodes, many of which will be longer than 60 minutes. When asked if all 6 episodes will be supersized, Affleck remains very vague:

"It really will be dependent on when the show runners get the cuts and what they’re happy with. Everything on Game of Thrones is driven by their desire to make the best show possible. When we’re going to air, how long the episodes are — we’re taking their lead on what they need."

However, his answer is definite when it comes to considering a revival or sequel in the future:

"That’s not happening. This story, A Song of Fire and Ice, is done. There’s no revival, reboot, spinoff talk."

It is clear that Game of Thrones, as we know it, will come to an end at the end of the finale in 2019. But Bloys held forth on the upcoming GoT prequel spinoffs and announced a 2020 release while making sure not to give anything away:

"There are five of them. If we do a pilot and series, nothing is going to air on HBO until at least a year after the final season. We’re not doing a final season and then, “Following it at 11 p.m. … .” I’ve seen some exciting material. We have really great writers working on these; it’s very exciting. But there’s no timetable. Not everybody is on the same schedule, so I’ve seen different versions of different things that are potentially exciting. But there’s no timetable about when a decision would be made about any of them."

When asked what these prequels would be about, Bloys simply answered he couldn’t share anything as of yet.

There are multiple theories on what could be explored in the spinoffs (the Targaryen family is one of the strongest rumor out there, and definitely the most likely to be true).

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Back to the original series, the HBO programming president assures the fans they will enjoy the final season: “[The episodes] are great. It’s fantastic. The fans are going to be very, very happy.”

Hmm, “very, very happy” and Game of Thrones don’t exactly go together. And although it is almost certain the fans cannot expect a happy ending for their favorite characters, it seems they can hope for the best outcomes (to some extent) and a satisfying conclusion to an epic journey.

But who will sit on the Iron Throne in the end? That’s the burning question. Bloys answers:

"I don’t even want to answer that! [Laughs.] But it’s exciting."

I’m personally leaning towards a no more Iron Throne for the finale. I’ll have to hold on a little longer before being proven right or wrong. The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones will air in 2019 on HBO.