Last night, “Game of Thrones” made its triumphant return to the Primetime Emmys, after a year off, to take home 9 total awards, including the coveted Outstanding Drama Series trophy. The night also signaled the series’ penultimate run at awards, with the eighth and final season premiering in the first half of 2019. One person painfully aware of “Game of Thrones” pending ending is none other than the author of the source material, and executive producer on the series, George R.R. Martin. And if he had his way, the show would be only about half-way to its ending.
READ MORE: Best And Worst Of The 2018 Primetime Emmys
“We could’ve gone 11, 12, 13 seasons,” George R. R. Martin said at the Emmys (via Variety).
“[Series creators] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] have been saying for like five seasons that seven seasons is all they would go,” the author continued. “We got them to go to eight but not any more than that. There was a period like five years ago when they were saying seven seasons and I was saying 10 seasons and they won, they’re the ones actually working on it.”
It makes perfect sense why Martin would want to continue the series. The man has become a legend, up there with the likes of Stephen King, as one of the most recognizable authors in the world. However, with the series ending, all eyes will be on Martin to finally finish his long-delayed series of novels. Oh yeah, and the ending of “Game of Thrones” means the end of a pretty darn lucrative income stream. But we’re going to guess he’s got plenty already.
Martin also is spearheading the potential prequel series that HBO is working on to replace ‘Thrones.’ Details are scarce but we do know that it will take place well before the current storyline and feature a cast of brand-new characters. Prequels seem like a good idea, but why not a spin-off featuring some fan-favorites, such as Hot Pie, for example?
“I know all of the actors, as great as they are, all the actors are anxious to get on and play other roles,” Martin said. “They don’t want to spend their entire lives playing one role and that’s fine, that’s great, we had such an amazing cast.”
The untitled prequel series, as well as the final season of ‘Thrones,’ is still without a release date.