'Game Of Thrones' Eyes Season 7 For End; When Will The HBO Series Call It Quits?

Usually, when people are talking about HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” the conversation drifts toward when their fan-favorite characters will meet their end, but when will the show itself call it quits? Well, it looks like fans will have a little more warning than they would get for a character’s death. In fact, HBO and the show producers are already planning for the inevitable end of the hit series.

Creators and executive producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff say their plan is to call it quits after seven seasons -- Season 7 would likely air in the summer of 2017. That would make sense, considering the book series on which the show is based, George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire,” will consist of seven books when Martin finishes writing. Adding credence to that speculation was the announcement last October that the cast’s contracts had been renewed through a potential Season 7.

“We see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Benioff told Entertainment Weekly. “We still have a long way to go and things to figure out, but we definitely know where we’re heading and the major end-beats.”

Not everyone is happy about that timeline. HBO, for one, would like to see their biggest and most profitable hit continue well beyond seven seasons. However, it does not appear the network plans to go against Weiss and Benioff’s wishes.

“This is the hard part of what we do,” Michael Lombardo, HBO programming president, told EW. “We started this journey with David and Dan. It’s their vision. Would I love the show to go 10 years as both a fan and a network executive? Absolutely.”

Fans would likely agree, but perhaps the series will be better served with an earlier end date, going out on its own terms. In the meantime, 2017 is still a long way away. “Game of Thrones” Season 5 premieres on HBO on April 12.

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