Is season 8 and beyond actually confirmed by anyone important?

[Lord_Ravenstone]

On February 18, 2016 at 5:41 AM, ummester said:

I think it's the other way around - the original plan which GRRM discussed with D&D way back when was suited to 7 seasons. But HBO and, now possibly GRRM (because he wants it to end at the cinema) want to prolong it.

Mark my words, if it goes passed 7 seasons, it will get worse not better. If it ends in 7, there is a chance of it ending well, without jumping the shark - but if they try and stretch it out too long, then some of the silliness we saw in season 5, or the boredom of the last 2 books, will be nothing compared to what will come.

 

The story is well past the half way point, it needs to wrap up. Winter needs to come and everything needs to be explained and resolved, within 7 seasons and seven books.

Why is everyone so out of the loop?

 

they already confirmed it's going to be 8 seasons 

[Lord_Ravenstone]

On February 20, 2016 at 5:40 AM, ummester said:

We already saw the battle for Winterfell in Season 5 - that was it, Stannis defeat. I doubt it will be any different (overall) in the book There isn't going to be another battle for Winterfell, just John leading the dead to slaughter the Boltons - not really a battle.

Why so sure Sandor will return? His arc is complete - he doesn't need to come back. He died in the show and is at peace in the book.

Seriously, when we move into the end game, it's not going to take seasons to show it. Blackwater Bay only took 1 episode and that was mostly talking. Once things heat up and the reveals and action occurs, trying to space it out will make it boring.

When the wall is down and the dragons are in Westeros, it's only going to take about 2 visual hours to wrap things up. There wont be much time for dialogue when the carnage starts.

Season 6's climax will be Jon battling the Boltons for Winterfell 

Although I don't that's how it'll go in the book. That'd be too much spinning your wheels. I see it likelier that Stannis succeeds.

[ummester]

13 hours ago, Lord_Ravenstone said:

they already confirmed it's going to be 8 seasons 

Where? That is to the heart of this thread - link an article where someone confirms exactly how many seasons.

Only articles I have read talk about how many seasons HBO wants, D&D want or that GRRM wants it to end on the big screen. There are also articles mentioning how HBO is considering prequel series and other spin offs - but no definite on the amount of seasons to complete Game of Thrones.

13 hours ago, Lord_Ravenstone said:

Season 6's climax will be Jon battling the Boltons for Winterfell 

Although I don't that's how it'll go in the book. That'd be too much spinning your wheels. I see it likelier that Stannis succeeds.

Then who are the bad guys in season 7? And, once Jon, or Sansa, or any Stark gets Winterfell back - what Stark story is there really left to tell? As soon as there is a Stark in Winterfell again, the dramatic drive for the Stark children is kind of lost.

[Lord_Ravenstone]

7 minutes ago, ummester said:

Where? That is to the heart of this thread - link an article where someone confirms exactly how many seasons.

Only articles I have read talk about how many seasons HBO wants, D&D want or that GRRM wants it to end on the big screen. There are also articles mentioning how HBO is considering prequel series and other spin offs - but no definite on the amount of seasons to complete Game of Thrones.

Then who are the bad guys in season 7? And, once Jon, or Sansa, or any Stark gets Winterfell back - what Stark story is there really left to tell? As soon as there is a Stark in Winterfell again, the dramatic drive for the Stark children is kind of lost.

http://www.details.com/story/hbo-confirms-game-of-thrones-will-have-at-least-8-seasons

Well that's the path the show wants to take with the Starks.

And the villains for season 7 will be the Others, Euron Greyjoy and Cersei, I suppose.

They sucked out a lot of good content by leaving the Second Dance of Dragons out, eliminating Stannis and pushing the Starks into Winterfell too fast.

[boojam]

7 hours ago, ummester said:

Then who are the bad guys in season 7? And, once Jon, or Sansa, or any Stark gets Winterfell back - what Stark story is there really left to tell? As soon as there is a Stark in Winterfell again, the dramatic drive for the Stark children is kind of lost.

Er... do  you read the books?

The 'Others' are the chief antagonists , the show just got to them sooner than GRRM did.

They really don't have a name for the Others on the show except white walkers and Night King, the collective 'Mafia' ring just show up visually.

 

[ummester]

1 hour ago, boojam said:

The 'Others' are the chief antagonists , the show just got to them sooner than GRRM did.

Really?

The Others protect human babies - they imbue them with ice magic to withstand the cold. Humans kill their own offspring, in both the books and show.

Further, humans are constantly betraying each other - the Night's watch killed Jon Snow, for instance, where as the Others and Children of the Forest seem to adhere to far more noble ideals and do not betray each other. They appear to ward over the ancient magic and lands of Westeros far better then the human invaders do.

[boojam]

6 hours ago, ummester said:

Really?

The Others protect human babies - they imbue them with ice magic to withstand the cold. Humans kill their own offspring, in both the books and show.

Further, humans are constantly betraying each other - the Night's watch killed Jon Snow, for instance, where as the Others and Children of the Forest seem to adhere to far more noble ideals and do not betray each other. They appear to ward over the ancient magic and lands of Westeros far better then the human invaders do.

Why did the Others kill about 100.000 Wildlings? (On the show that is.)

Anyway I think you are joshing with me.

[ummester]

1 hour ago, boojam said:

Why did the Others kill about 100.000 Wildlings? (On the show that is.)

Anyway I think you are joshing with me.

Because the Wildlings have broken the pact by settling north of the wall - the exact pact the Nights Watch was probably established to uphold. The shield that guards the realms of men - from going north.

I'm not joshing - I think there is as much chance for Jon/Arya and Bran to align with the Others and the forces of Winter as there is for anything else in the story progression.

[Charlie Hustle]

10 hours ago, ummester said:

Really?

The Others protect human babies - they imbue them with ice magic to withstand the cold. Humans kill their own offspring, in both the books and show.

Further, humans are constantly betraying each other - the Night's watch killed Jon Snow, for instance, where as the Others and Children of the Forest seem to adhere to far more noble ideals and do not betray each other. They appear to ward over the ancient magic and lands of Westeros far better then the human invaders do.

Unless you know something we all dont know. The books and show have trained me that "the others" are the Bad guys of this world. All of this land/kingdom grabbing is really insignificant to the bigger picture of them changing the world to populated zombies. How do they keep their population us? by using human babies or corpses. 

I would love to see what goes on from their perspective. To see their side of the story if there is a struggle for survival. Or if they are trying to take over the world. 

[ummester]

5 hours ago, Charlie Hustle said:

The books and show have trained me that "the others" are the Bad guys of this world.

The first 2 books and 2 seasons also trained us to think Jamie was a bad, bad man, beyond all sympathy. This changed.

We were initially very sympathetic of Dany and now we witness her feed her own species to her pets.

We initially thought the Night's Watch was the last bastion of honor and hope for the realm, yet we have seen 2 Lord Commander's slaughtered by their own men.

The primary spiritual enemy of the 'Great Other' is a witch who burns children at the stake, so I am wondering exactly who is on the more decent side of spirituality in this coupling?

[boojam]

On 2/25/2016 at 3:34 PM, ummester said:

The first 2 books and 2 seasons also trained us to think Jamie was a bad, bad man, beyond all sympathy. This changed.

We were initially very sympathetic of Dany and now we witness her feed her own species to her pets.

We initially thought the Night's Watch was the last bastion of honor and hope for the realm, yet we have seen 2 Lord Commander's slaughtered by their own men.

The primary spiritual enemy of the 'Great Other' is a witch who burns children at the stake, so I am wondering exactly who is on the more decent side of spirituality in this coupling?

By those definitions .... nobody.

[ummester]

On 3/5/2016 at 5:11 AM, boojam said:

By those definitions .... nobody.

Those definitions are true to the books and show, aren't they?

So, logically, the Others can only be better than the humans because they can't possibly be any worse.

As for Mel, shadowbinders and Ashai - I think they have been presented as the most 'evil' things in the story so far. Breeding deformed dragons, interacting with demons and so on - they are perverting themselves and the order of the world around them as a means to some end, which we just don't know yet.

[RhaenysBee]

While I think there's enough plot material for a season 8, it would be stylish to wrap it up in 7 seasons. Also, many awesome shows made the mistake of taking it too far and making just one last unnecessary season that was completely wrong on even level (House MD, Gilmore Girls, Charmed). 

I hope they realize that it doesn't have to end with a final season 7 or 8. They can easily pull off a prequel. In fact, it's actually a prequel the world needs and not an 8th or 9th or 100th season. It's R+L and Robert's rebellion we need. Please make it happen. (And send me popcorn when Twitter reacts) 

[JonSnowed]

If GRRM has two more books then they clearly have enough for at least one more season possibly two after this one. As much as I love the show I really hope it does not go beyond eight seasons and the actors are only tied up for seven I am guessing the final season will be split into say two 8 episode mini series.

Think of it like this the show is covering the remainder of AFFC/ADWD plus the stuff from Winds of Winter that is already drafted (sa7 about 50% at the time they wrote this season). They will have the remainder of Winds to cover which will very likely be published this year and also an outline of the final book with George writing in some of the final episodes himself.

[The Egg]

I heard a rumor saying there will be 7 seasons plus 2 movies, with the last season in between the movies but I don't know if the guy who told me was to be believed.
In any case, I can't believe there are only 2 more seasons to the end: if the show was supposed to last for 7 years, season 5 had to be an important one, building up the stories for the last two, but what we had was mostly boredom.

As for who's the Big Bad Wolf: isn't it cool we read 5 books and saw 50 episodes and we still don't know?

[Mandzipop]

The reports are that it will be at least 8 seasons.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-season-seven-eight-853119

I can imagine that Roberts Rebellion might work as a movie.

[earth127]

But we never got that formal anouncement. 

[Mandzipop]

1 minute ago, earth127 said:

But we never got that formal anouncement. 

They have to renew the contracts with the actors as well. There would be a plot spoiler if they announce it prior to season 6.

Kit did mention that he will be involved until he is in his 30's. That would require them to go past season 7.

We have a fair amount of knowledge of what will happen in season 6, enough to establish that one more season is not sufficient to finish the story. Admittedly the fact that I don't believe that 10 hours is enough to finish the story properly is my opinion.

[Lordsteve666]

Only one more season after the next would be a really rushed job. I mean the show started off pretty relaxed in pace and covered the books reasonably closely, but things have just gotten more and more rushed and watered down as we've gone on. 

I don't like this whole race to the finish attitude we seem to be getting now, it hints at the producers losing interest and wanting it over and done with. 

Unfirtunately the story has a whole  lot more still to offer as we've still not finished with AFFC & ADWD material, even assuming things like Aegon are dropped. 

Season 6 can start off TWOW and the final stuff from the previous books that's relevant. Then S7 moves on to TWOW & starts ADOS. Finally have S8 end it all. That seems to work quite well I think assuming the final two books aren't going to be the size of ADWD each and need more time. Of course they aren't written yet but the basic ideas could exist within a framework they can use. 

A prequel would be nice but I'm thinking with the flashbacks coming perhaps we might not need to go down the Robert's Rebellion path, it opens up more options ft it I think. 

[ummester]

You have to determine where the middle of this saga is - or where the second act finished - to work out where it should end.

For me, the end of season 4 was the end of the second act.

S1 (book 1) put all the pieces in place and set up all the stakes - like any good first act.

S 2,3 & 4 (books 2 & 3) let all of those stakes play out and positioned the primary characters for the end game.

S5 seemed a little fast only because books 4 & 5 were a much slower pace than the previous books. There is nothing wrong with books 4 & 5 but, IMO, GRRM slowed down the pace too much for the build up of the 3rd and final act.

We'll have to see how season 6 of the show goes - if it feels slow, or too meandering, then they have lost the plot (books and show) and this saga is heading for a shitty ending. But, if it feels like the pace is quickening and the screws are tightening , then there is hope of a great ending in a 7th season.

I know - people enjoy the GoTs universe and the thought of it ending makes them sad but ending on a strong note is better than going sour and fading away. Do you want Sopranos or East Enders? Breaking Bad or Lost? Good stories know when to wrap up with the most impact.