how many seasons will GoT go on for?

[Real Heir of Bear Island]

A lot of the things were cut or condensed because of TV-pacing issues; even having more episodes a lot of the things would never work on TV. Bloating a season with irrelevant filler "just because it's on the book" is not a good thing, IMO. I prefer a tight adaptation with a relatively quick pace (the pace of the books is VERY slow for TV standards).

And don't forget that each season must work as a cmoplete story: it needs character arcs and climaxes to work. One 20-episode season and two 10-episode seasons don't work the same way! What I mean is, once season 4 is done, the rest of AFFC+ADWD could work on a 20-episode season perhaps, but won't work on two separated 10-episode seasons.

I hope your not the same person who would complain about all the gratuitis sex scenes when so much is cut out. I agree it is not ideal to stretch the show, and I have been happy with teh way the show has progressed. The show got me into the books like so many others. My main point is that if GRRM needs more time to write, things can be done to stretch out the series even if it means adding some of the sample chapters from WoW to some of the episodes that cover AFFC and ADWD, in order to give Mr. Martin time to finis ADoS. My main concern is having to wait a year without any episodes, some sloppy ending put together to close the tv series or for the show to spoil the future book(s). I'd gladley take a slower pasced more dragged out season than any of those possible outcomes.

[oierem]

Season 5

New characters: Taena,one Kettleback, Kindly Man, singer of Night's Watch, Darkstar, Arys Oakheart, Areo, Arianne and Doran if they don't appear in S4,2 or 3 Mereen nobles, Bloodraven, Lord Manderly, Aegon and co.

King's Landing: Full AFFC. One of the 3 main focus of the season.

Riverlands (Jaime and Brienne): Full AFFC, with Brienne travels pretty condensed (only 4-5 episodes of her, same for Jaime, 2 in KL and 2 or 3 in the Riverlands)

The Wall: finishes when Jon lets the wildlings pass The Wall. They can beef the relationship with Mel, Val, Bowen Marsh...Full Bran of ADWD. One of 3 focus of the season

The North: Finishes with Arya's/Talisa's Wedding and Stannis taking Deepwood Motte, Full Davos of ADWD

Braavos: Full AFFC

Dorne: Full AFFC

Vale: Sansa finishes with her becoming Alayne. Not too much screentime.

Sam: With Maester Aemon dying in Braavos.

Victarion: Considering that the Kingsmoot has appeared in S4, we'll see his only AFFC chapter beefed a bit.

Mereen: Finishes with Dany getting married. One of the 3 focus of the season

Tyrion: Tyrion gets captured by Jorah

I don't agree with the "3 main focus" idea; you can't dismiss the rest of the storylines just because there will be three rather powerful ones.

But anyway, my biggest question is this: what will happen in season 4??? As it's been said, the last 1/3 of ASOS is mainly KL and the Wall. But the rest of the characters need something to do meanwhile! And that creates to objections to your breakdown:

-Theon/the Boltons: part of their ADWD material should be covered in season 4, otherwise, the North will be absent. It can't be just "Theon being tortured for a few scenes". The only logical conclussion to this arc is Ramsay's wedding. Which means that the northern plot is very advanced by the end of season 4.

-Dany: she can't spend the whole season taking Meereen, that would literally kill her storyline (since it's a repeat of season 3). If we assume that she takes Meereen during the first half of the season, she needs some climatic material to end the season. And once again, her wedding is the logical ending to her storyline (finally deciding to stay in Meereen; at the same time Tyrion and Victarion should decide to go and get Dany in episode 10, giving the viewer some hope that they will eventually meet).

As you see, these two storylines will need the material from ADWD in season 4; that will allow that both the Battle of Winterfell and the Battle of Meereen to be at the end of season 5.

[oierem]

I hope your not the same person who would complain about all the gratuitis sex scenes when so much is cut out. I agree it is not ideal to stretch the show, and I have been happy with teh way the show has progressed. The show got me into the books like so many others. My main point is that if GRRM needs more time to write, things can be done to stretch out the series even if it means adding some of the sample chapters from WoW to some of the episodes that cover AFFC and ADWD, in order to give Mr. Martin time to finis ADoS. My main concern is having to wait a year without any episodes, some sloppy ending put together to close the tv series or for the show to spoil the future book(s). I'd gladley take a slower pasced more dragged out season than any of those possible outcomes.

I don't get what you mean about complaining about the sex scenes...

In other words, you say you're willing to "sacrify" the quality of the series in order to give Martin more time to write the books (external reasons). Fine, at least you admit that it's not the best option :)

I like the series and I'm suggesting what's best for the series, not counting external reasons:

1) I don't think it's good for the series to add filler or have a slower pace -the story is already rather slow.

2) I don't think it's realistic to hope that the series will last 10 seasons. 7-8 is probably the best we can hope for. And the "third act" of the story (WOW-ADWD) needs time, cannot be rushed.

3) I think Martin needs too much time to write the reamining books, and the fact that they can give him one year more or less is insignificant. If he could focus on it, he would be able to finish it; if he wants to keep at his current pace, one year more won't make any difference.

[YouSnowNothing]

re: the Northern storyline

There's a big difference between the books and show - Ramsay doesn't know that Bran and Rickon are alive. Also, Bran and Rickon haven't parted ways yet. And Bran has very little story for the S4/5/(6?) period, so why not combine the two a bit. Something like:

S3:

- Theon captured by Bolton men, take to Dreadfort.

- Probably the oft-speculated plot with Ramsay pretending to be "boy"

- beginnings of the torture and Theon's transformation into "Reek".

- Ramsay tortures/tricks Theon into revealing Bran/Rickon are alive.

- Season ends with Ramsay sending out men to find Bran/Rickon.

- Bran's story ends at Queenscrown (i.e. doesn't go beyond the Wall yet).

S4:

- Bran/Rickon almost caught by Bolton men. This is what triggers Bran and Rickon to split.

- Bran goes beyond the Wall with Coldhands at the end of the season.

- More torture, completing Theon's transformation into Reek.

- Inability to capture the Stark boys triggers the Bolton plan to claim Winterfell through "Arya" (or Talisa).

- Season ends with Theon meeting "Arya"/Talisa/whoever and them all heading off to Winterfell.

Then S5 picks up with the regular ADWD stuff.

[Real Heir of Bear Island]

I don't get what you mean about complaining about the sex scenes...

In other words, you say you're willing to "sacrify" the quality of the series in order to give Martin more time to write the books (external reasons). Fine, at least you admit that it's not the best option :)

I like the series and I'm suggesting what's best for the series, not counting external reasons:

1) I don't think it's good for the series to add filler or have a slower pace -the story is already rather slow.

2) I don't think it's realistic to hope that the series will last 10 seasons. 7-8 is probably the best we can hope for. And the "third act" of the story (WOW-ADWD) needs time, cannot be rushed.

3) I think Martin needs too much time to write the reamining books, and the fact that they can give him one year more or less is insignificant. If he could focus on it, he would be able to finish it; if he wants to keep at his current pace, one year more won't make any difference.

Regarding the sex scenes: I was talking about all the book fans who would cry about the gratuitis sex scenes, for example Visery's scene or LF tutoring the whores in the brothel, when they could have used that air time to stay more ture to the books. I for one am one of those who agrees with that, though I don't hate the sex scenes either, well most of them anyway.

I see your point totally. Maybe a year won't make a difference but two possibly could. If stretching the 2 books into three seasons of 6-8 episodes plus delaying the releases of those seasons by two months each it can get done. I like to be optimistic and think that a year, maybe two will do it. There are options out there. Sopranos and more recenlty Breaking bad split seasons up or shortened and released them a year apart. It's not ideal, but I'd take 6 episodes instead of none.

Anyway, my whole point to begin with is that if there is a will there is a way. If HBO and GRRM really wanted to get the whole book series on TV, they could. They would have to make sacrifices and we might have to accept shorter seasons, longer periods in between them or maybe a slower moving season. I would happily wath more of Arya training to become a FM or a few extra scenes of Jon as LC. They could even add some scenes from imagination that weren't in the books. I can always use more Stannis, for example, in the books Stannis produces the letters from the NW, next time you see of them they are beyond the wall slaughtering wildlings. I'm sure writers can dream up some cool stuff that happned on the way up from Dragonstone. We can see the sack of Mereen isntead of just hearing about it. There are lots of cool scenes that could be made that we didn't necesarily see in a pov. They've done it already with Robb.

Again this is all contingent on how bad HBO and Martin want ot get this done and how much money they are making vs how much they are willing to spend.

[SerMixalot]

re: the Northern storyline

There's a big difference between the books and show - Ramsay doesn't know that Bran and Rickon are alive. Also, Bran and Rickon haven't parted ways yet. And Bran has very little story for the S4/5/(6?) period, so why not combine the two a bit. Something like:

S3:

- Theon captured by Bolton men, take to Dreadfort.

- Probably the oft-speculated plot with Ramsay pretending to be "boy"

- beginnings of the torture and Theon's transformation into "Reek".

- Ramsay tortures/tricks Theon into revealing Bran/Rickon are alive.

- Season ends with Ramsay sending out men to find Bran/Rickon.

- Bran's story ends at Queenscrown (i.e. doesn't go beyond the Wall yet).

S4:

- Bran/Rickon almost caught by Bolton men. This is what triggers Bran and Rickon to split.

- Bran goes beyond the Wall with Coldhands at the end of the season.

- More torture, completing Theon's transformation into Reek.

- Inability to capture the Stark boys triggers the Bolton plan to claim Winterfell through "Arya" (or Talisa).

- Season ends with Theon meeting "Arya"/Talisa/whoever and them all heading off to Winterfell.

Then S5 picks up with the regular ADWD stuff.

I can see this storyline as being alot of exposition from the Reeds to givealot of the history we are missing in the story. Gonna be sad to see Osha leave the series with Rickon for a season though, she is a fan favorie.

[ColdDrake]

I enjoyed reading AFFC and ADWD but they felt incomplete to me when I finished. Mainly because a lot of time was spent building up to the Battle of Ice (Winterfell) and the Battle of Fire (Mereen) and they didn't happen. I think when they adapt this for tv they'd be wise to include one or both of these to make the season more satisfying. Those two books will be hard to adapt, with many characters and much slower plot progression than before. I wouldn't mind if they changed a lot of things and expect that they have to. One of the strengths of the show is that it's fast paced- the 10 episode seasons ensure that each episode is important and eventful. I think strethcing these two books over too much tv could turn a lot of people off.

[aFeastForDragons]

^ WOW has to come out before then haha

[The Dragon has three heads]

There's so much after the fact retelling in ALL the books, a retold story that takes half a page could be a whole scene, id like to see that happen.

Plus inventing scenes for charactors like Allisor Thorne, Pycell, Varys etc has happened and will happen to keep the story moving but not too quickly so that the main story lines without material in AFFC don't get too far ahead.

I Believe the Dornish will be introduced as a Major faction in Season 4 and into 5. With much more attention on them than the Tyrells.

Jon may not even fight the battle of the wall until late season 4. And I have not problem with that.

I'd rather see more than less.

[The Dragon has three heads]

There's so much after the fact retelling in ALL the books, a retold story that takes half a page could be a whole scene, id like to see that happen.

Plus inventing scenes for charactors like Allisor Thorne, Pycell, Varys etc has happened and will happen to keep the story moving but not too quickly so that the main story lines without material in AFFC don't get too far ahead.

I Believe the Dornish will be introduced as a Major faction in Season 4 and into 5. With much more attention on them than the Tyrells.

Jon may not even fight the battle of the wall until late season 4. And I have no problem with that.

I'd rather see more than less.

[Sun]

Reading over this thread it seems I'm in a true minority in thinking that the show will wrap with S4, or the end of ASOS. Somehow I just can't see it going any further for financial, logistical and creative reasons, all of which have already been mentioned by others here.

[YouSnowNothing]

With the show as successful as it is now, and that unlikely to decrease throughout the epicness that will be S3/4 (ASoS is widely agreed to be the best book, and will translate onto screen very well), there is no way it will be cancelled after S4. HBO will not let such a success disappear, no way Jose.

[The Last Grenseer]

I think about 6 seasons

[Mr Fixit]

With the show as successful as it is now, and that unlikely to decrease throughout the epicness that will be S3/4 (ASoS is widely agreed to be the best book, and will translate onto screen very well), there is no way it will be cancelled after S4. HBO will not let such a success disappear, no way Jose.

Exactly. I'm pretty confident in saying that 5 seasons are guaranteed. ASOS material in S3/S4 will probably look great on screen which will lead to greenlighting Season 5. Beyond that, who knows. Even if the show starts losing its audience at an alarming rate, there's still all those lucrative foreign deals, not to mention DVD/Blu-ray sales. Taking all that into account, and even factoring in a diminishing number of viewers, I'd say we'll get at least 6 seasons.

[YouSnowNothing]

I agree. Depending on how AFFC/ADWD is adapted and how well that goes down with the audience - many book readers are frustrated with those book's plodding pacing, the lack of forward plot momentum (Dany hanging around in Meereen, nothing more from the Others), and extra, seemingly irrelevant characters and plotlines (coughgreyjoyscough) appearing out of the woodwork. I can see the audience getting frustrated and viewership dropping around S5. However, the ratings and critical acclaim will still be high enough at that point that they can afford to drop, and the show will have enough to survive another couple of seasons. After that point, it may be worth HBO's time to complete the series so it can cash in on DVD sales despite it's low ratings.

Really, it all depends on how well they manage to convert AFFC/ADWD. It could either go incredibly well or horribly badly. But even in the worse case scenario, I think we're guaranteed at least 6 seasons at this point.

[StannisEndGame]

I heard that peter dinklage had signed up for 6 seasons and with these ratings I believe atleast 6 seasons is almost guaranteed

[King Tommen]

There's also the fact that the entire saga of ASOIAF is one contained story and by cancelling it prior to getting to the end, you are rendering much of the project useless. After they get into the AFFC and ADwD material, it's possible that interest could wane somewhat and it might not be as much as part of the zeitgeist as it is currently, but you're going to maintain a fairly sizable audience who have been hooked into the characters and story and just want to see how it all ends, whether they grouse and grumble about how the story is going or not.

I could see the show making some concessions in terms of paring down the cast, accelerating the story and cutting the budget in later seasons. All of those things are certainly possible (but not inevitable). But cancelling the show outright without allowing a proper conclusion? Highly unlikely.

[Mr Fixit]

I also think Martin himself could be of great help there. If Winds of Winter is published on schedule in a few years, and the book becomes a great critical and commercial success (which seems highly possible, as it will signify the beginning of Act III and return to some explosive plotting characteristic of ASOIAF's Act I), it could help reinvigorate the interest in the show as well.

[Dragon greyscale]

Reading over this thread it seems I'm in a true minority in thinking that the show will wrap with S4, or the end of ASOS. Somehow I just can't see it going any further for financial, logistical and creative reasons, all of which have already been mentioned by others here.

You're not alone in this. If the show does move beyond ASOS they're gonna diverge and go their separate way. True Blood style. They basically have to if they want to keep the show succesful.

[Khal-a-bunga]

The way I see it, the show is all but guaranteed to go for at least five seasons. I'm going to assume that D&D realize that AFfC & ADwD don't need more than one season to tell their stories (also assuming that some of the material from both books is moved into season four, although mainly as it concerns ancillary character and locations). By the time D&D get to the point where they are working on this season, True Blood will have wrapped and the summer spot for HBO will be open - I fully expect GoT to take said scheduling spot. This will allow the production to add the two extra episodes necessary to tell the story of AFfC & ADwD, and will also be the last chance George will have to deliver The Winds of Winter. Assuming TWoW is more akin to ASoS than any of the other novels in the series (which we'll just have to assume it will be), that should provide an additional two seasons of material for D&D to work with, so that George can finish the series with A Dream of Spring. If there is going to be any extended breaks during the run of this show, that would be the only point it would be acceptable to occur at. What seems more likely to me is that the last season of GoT will roughly coincide with the release of the last book in the series.

So the timeline then...

2013: ASoS pt. 1 is released, and pt. 2 is shot.

2014: ASoS pt. 2 is released, and AFfC & ADwD is shot.

2015: After an extended break, the extended season of AFfC & ADwD is released. TWoW has also been released during this interim, and pt. 1 begins shooting.

2016: TWoW pt. 1 is released, and pt. 2 is shot.

2017: TWoW pt. 2 is released, and a hiatus is taken during which time George finishes ADoS while D&D script and plan pre-production simultaneously.

2018: Late in the year an extended final season of the show airs after being shot in late 2017 into the middle of 2018.

2019: HBO releases a series box set with a ton of new special features, and makes absolute bank.