Game of Thrones To Likely End With Season 8

With a finite series of books, it was only a matter of time before HBO's megahit Game of Thrones comes to an end. That end looks to be in the next two years.

True, they're in the middle of filming the sixth season, but showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have stated before about their desire to keep the series around seven or eight seasons. Even HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo thinks the series will likely end in season eight.

"I think seven-seasons-and-out has never been the conversation," Lombardo tells the press on tour. "The question is how much beyond the seventh season are we gonna do? Obviously we're shooting [Season 6] now, hopefully discussing seven. I think they're feeling like there are probably two more years after six. As I've said before, I would love for them to change their minds, but I think that's over-looking right now."

Game of Thrones has become a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, making the cast of comprised of relative unknowns into stars and even making "Khaleesi" a popular baby name of the past few years, but nothing is set is stone just yet on how long it will keep going. HBO renewed the series for both seasons five and six after four premiered, so seven is still very likely, but not guaranteed.

EvenLombardo mentioned a possible prequel series in the works, but is focusing on the job at hand right now. "I would be open to anything that Dan and David wanted to do, about Game of Thrones or almost any subject matter. Really it would depend fully for us on what they wanted to do. I believe you're right, there's enormous storytelling to be mined in a prequel … at this point all the focus is figuring out the next few years with this show."

Readers, where do you see the series ending? Do you think HBO will go ahead of schedule if George R. R. Martin doesn't finish his books and do their own thing, or will it have a proper canonical ending? Do you think a prequel series could work as well?