On the eve of Game of Thrones’ sixth season, neither HBO nor showrunners have clarified past disparity between the adapted Song of Ice and Fire series lasting seven or eight seasons, but the truth may lie somewhere in-between. Bosses believe Game of Thrones may have only 13 episodes left after Season 6, splitting them into two seasons.

Take this with a grain of salt for the moment, as showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have only just begun mapping out the series’ conclusion, though the pair intimated to Variety that the final two seasons could end up with shorter runs than the ten episodes we’re used to. Says Benioff:

I think we’re down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We’re heading into the final lap. That’s the guess, though nothing is yet set in stone, but that’s what we’re looking at.

That would include seven episodes for Season 7, and six episodes for the eighth and final season, though those numbers are for now considered premature. It was HBO bosses who initially pressed for Benioff and Weiss to expand beyond their seven-season vision, though boss Michael Lombardo acknowledged the likely compromise:

[Two more years] is my understanding from them right now, those have been the conversations we’ve had. Because where these narratives go, it feels like another two years to them. As a television executive, as a fan, do I wish they said another six years? I do … I’m always an optimist, and I do believe we will figure this out.

Game of Thrones wouldn’t be the only HBO landmark to end with unorthodox final seasons, as The Sopranos too stretched out its sixth and final run between twelve and nine episode chunks, though we may not know Thrones’ plan too far in advance of its July production start.

Well, is Game of Thrones best served to wrap up with the number of episodes Weiss and Benioff dictate, or should HBO push for two more runs of the usual ten?

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