‘Game of Thrones': George R.R. Martin Talks HBO’s 10 Season Goal, Potential Movie 

As the promotional campaign for “Game of Thrones” season five ramps up ahead of its April 12 premiere, author George R.R. Martin has taken to his blog to address speculation about the show’s future — specifically, reports that HBO is hoping that the show will run 10 seasons, while showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are aiming for seven.

“This discussion is nothing new, of course. I get asked similar questions every time I make a public appearance, do an interview, or walk a red carpet. My usual answer is a variant on, ‘I don’t know how many seasons the show will run.’ I

know. No one knows,” Martin wrote on his official LiveJournal.

Video:Daenerys Has Big Plans for Westeros in ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5 Trailer

“I do know that David & Dan have stated in interviews that they see the show winding up in seven seasons … I also know that HBO wants the series to run longer than that. I have known that since the very beginning… well, actually, since the day after the second episode of season one aired, when I had lunch with one of HBO’s top execs, who told me, ‘We want this to run ten years.’ I allowed that ten years sounded fine to me. I continue to hear similar sentiments from HBO every time I have meeting with them, be it in L.A. or New York,” Martin added.

The rumor mill began churning anew when EW posted an interview with HBO boss Michael Lombardo, who admitted that the possibility of ending the show at seven seasons was “horrifying” to him. “This is the hard part of what we do. 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,” he admitted. “We’ll have an honest conversation that explores all possible avenues. If they weren’t comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that’s the right decision — as horrifying as that is to me. What I’m not going to do is have a show continue past where the creators believe where they feel they’ve finished with the story.”

Video:Jon Snow and Brienne Consider the Future in ‘GOT’ Season 5 Clips

Martin also discussed the possibility of a “Game of Thrones” movie, which Lombardo seemed to nix during his EW interview. “When you start a series with our subscribers, the promise is that for your HBO fee that we’re going to take you to the end of this. I feel that on some level [a movie would be] changing the rules: Now you have to pay $16 to see how your show ends,” Lombardo said.

The author, naturally, had a slightly different view. “I see that this new crop of stories also raises, once again, the notion of concluding the series with one or more feature films. And in some of these stories, once again, this idea is wrongly attributed to me. Let me state, yet again, that while I love this idea, it did NOT originate with me. It was a notion suggested to me, which I have enthusiastically endorsed,” Martin clarified. “Sure, I love the idea. Why not? What fantasist would not love the idea of going out with an epic hundred million feature film? And the recent success of the Imax experience shows that the audience is there for such a movie. If we build it, they will come. But will we build it? I have no bloody idea.”

“Game of Thrones” season five premieres Sunday, April 12, at 9 p.m. on HBO.

See More:George R. R. Martin’s Original Plan for ‘Game of Thrones’ Revealed

Want Entertainment News First? Sign up for Variety Alerts and Newsletters!

Please keep it going as long as possible. This show has intriguing story telling and fabulous acting. I look forward to each season so fondly and with much attentionpation. It’s one thing that my hays and and I have in common. Please continue and stay for many more years. Sincerely, Mary Edwards.

5 seasons or 7 seasons, they are going to have to make up an entirely different ending from the books because GRRM won’t be done with the books in time. I guess it will be interesting to decide which ending is better.

If the show does indeed wrap up in 7 seasons and HBO wants more, a logical next step would be to create a prequel series of sorts. There is so much backstory in the Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones universe. For example they could do a one-season series that revolves around Aegon’s conquest (set 300 years before GoT) and another for Robert’s rebellion (set 20 years before)

This is why shows turn to crap and people are glad to see them die off than sad to see them end: they go on way too long because execs want to milk every last drop from the teat that they can. As a fan of the show, I’d love for it to end with 7 good seasons than to see them drag it out for ten or twelve or fifteen just so HBO can milk it until there’s nothing left. I can’t think of a single American show that ended just when it should have. I used to say “Arrested Development” was one of the only ones, but then they had to do that crappy fourth season which shows that you should really quit when you’re ahead.

the only problem with going 10 seasons and a movie is the kids are going to grow up way faster then they do in the books or on the show.

I feel your pain, but Firefly wasn’t on a pay subscription channel…

“When you start a series with our subscribers, the promise is that.. …we’re going to take you to the end of this. I feel that on some level [a movie would be] changing the rules: Now you have to pay $16 to see how your show ends,”

How about prequel about the mad king and the sack of kings landing?

Reblogged this on Will the real reality please stand up!.