‘Game of Thrones’ season 8 will be final season; spin-off possible

While at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour this morning, there were a number of different things confirmed on the HBO front.

When it comes to “Game of Thrones,” the first couple were rather expected. First, that season 7 will not be in the Emmy race for next year thanks to it premiering a little later than usual. The later premiere date is due to the show starting production later this year, a move designed to give many of the outdoor scenes more of a wintry feel. It’s a move with quality first in mind, even though the irony is that the quality of this show to date has really beefed up the network’s total Emmy nominations.

Meanwhile, programming head Casey Bloys also confirmed that the upcoming eighth season will be the series’ last. This has been a plan of showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for some time.

As for the future of the franchise beyond these final seasons, Bloys made it clear that he is not necessarily opposed to the idea of a spin-off; it would just need to make sense within everything that they have done to date. They don’t want to create a new series simply for the sake of doing so, but we’re sure they will be chomping at the bit for ideas given that this has been the highest-rated show in the history of the network. Why wouldn’t you want to get more of that franchise if you possibly could?

If you want to see some other highlights from HBO’s event at TCA, including premiere dates for “Westworld” and “Divorce,” be sure to head over to the link here! Also, sign up over at this link to secure some other TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: HBO.)