Game of Thrones Fans Can Now Bet on if We’ll Get a Season 9

This past weekend saw the long-awaited ending to HBO‘s beloved series, as Game of Thrones finally wrapped up the eighth season. The finale has proven to be divisive, as some fans have critiqued the rushed storylines of the last episodes — so much so that some have even began petitions asking the network to redo the season with new writers.

That remake will never happen, but what about the potential for a ninth season? HBO and showrunners David Benioff and David Weiss have made it clear that there will not be another season, but one betting site is allowing users to make long-shot wagers on Game of Thrones Season 9.

UK site Boyle Sports has opened up bets on the possibility of HBO announcing a ninth season of the series with 50-to-1 odds. A spokesperson for the site told CNET that the popular petition for the Season 8 remake factored into the creation of this wager.

“All 1.3 million (and growing) people that signed the petition would be only too delighted to see a new (season) and for a different result,” said Boyle Sports spokesperson Sarah Kinsella.

Despite the lucrative payout, fans should not expect this to actually happen. George R.R. Martin’s series of novels that forms the basis of the series, A Song of Ice and Fire, is only planned to have seven entries; the plot of the final (unreleased) book was split into the seventh and eight seasons, and neither Martin nor Weiss and Benioff plan to extend the series beyond. HBO programming boss Casey Bloys backed up this decision during a recent interview with THR.

“Nope, nope, nope,” Bloys said of a sequel. “No. Part of it is, I do want this show — this Game of Thrones, Dan and David’s show — to be its own thing. I don’t want to take characters from this world that they did beautifully and put them off into another world with someone else creating it.”

He addd, “I want to let it be the artistic piece they’ve got. That’s one of reasons why I’m not trying to do the same show over. George has massive, massive world; there are so many ways in. That’s why we’re trying to do things that feel distinct — and to not try and re-do the same show. That’s probably one of the reasons why, right now, a sequel or picking up any of the other characters doesn’t make sense for us.”

While there will not be a ninth season or a sequel series, HBO is currently working on a prequel that will continue to explore the world of Game of Thrones.