Martin Talks Seven Plus Seasons and A Movie

Yesterday, as part of Entertainment Weekly‘s Game of Thrones-palooza week, an interview dropped with the HBO President of Programming in which he said what we all can guess–that on HBO’s end, they want Game of Thrones to run forever. Well, maybe not *forever.* But until, in the famous words of Troy McClure, “Until the show becomes unprofitable.” He also mentioned the possibility of it ending as a big budget movie, which HBO was not such a fan of until the surprisingly strong numbers at the IMAX box office back in January.

Benioff and Weiss, on the other hand, have been pretty clear on this concept when asked. Seven books, seven gods, seven kingdoms, seven seasons. Not eight, not ten, not six. Seven.

George RR Martin is a different matter. He personally would also like the show to run past seven seasons, but not quite for the same reasons the HBO execs do. He wants more time to get the books out ahead of things. (For the record, I did the math last year, and those calculations still hold true. Even if the show ran eight seasons now, instead of seven, Martin would have to be releasing Winds of Winter by this summer in order to have a hope of beating the show to the finish line. Not happening.)

But Martin is also a TV vet and he knows the fluidity of the medium. Last night he took to his blog to make sure fans had the fact straight on the subject. See what he had to say, below.

Martin first points out that this discussion is cyclical. His “seven seasons and a movie” comments were from this time last year.

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 don’t know. No one knows.
This is Hollywood, friends. As William Goldman wrote in ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, in Hollywood “nobody knows anything.”

Point taken. Martin runs through what we do know, which is Benioff and Weiss are still hardliners on seven seasons. HBO execs have been saying “This could run ten years!” since Game of Thrones Season 1, episode 2. But TV is fickle as hell. Right now, Dan and David don’t even have seven seasons confirm, though the running assumption is that will change as of the week after the April 12th broadcast, which is when HBO traditionally announces the next season is greenlit. But, considering last year they took the unprecedented step of greenlighting both Seasons 5 and 6, they might not announce anything. Or they might announce Seasons 7 and 8. Until the paper is signed and the press release in your inbox, nothing is certain, and sometimes not even then. After all:

A lot of things can happen between now and season seven, or eight, or nine, things that cannot be anticipated. Believe me, I’ve been there. I was on staff on an hour-long TV series that was pulled off the air and retooled as a half-hour show. I was on staff on another show that could easily have run five, six seasons… until our lead actress left, and took most of our audience with her. I had a pilot that was so hot that the network ordered six back-up scripts and all but guaranteed us a midseason slot… but without an actual production order, that meant nothing when the network underwent some big personnel changes, and new people came in. 

I am not saying that any of these things will happen with GAME OF THRONES. But they could. Weird stuff happens in television, and there are sooooo many factors involved. Budgets. Actors’ contracts. New shows in development. Ratings (though HBO does not weigh ratings as heavily as the broadcast networks, that does not mean they are unaware of them). Awards.… All of which is a long-winded way of saying what I said to begin with: no one knows.

Martin seems pretty certain he’ll be consulted as they go forward, “But mine will only be one voice among many, and there are all sorts of other factors that can come into play.” So, basically, you know nothing, GRRM.

Personally, I am not a fan of the idea of a movie ending, partly because movies are two-three hours, whereas a season is ten. I have never thought something as rich and complex as ASOIAF could or should work as a movie. I could see a prequel movie after the show finishes its course, based on the histories of Westeros, but that’s not the same thing.

As for whether I think the show should run more than seven seasons, I think we should defer to Benioff and Weiss on that score, since they clearly have a plan, and unlike HBO are not driven by profit margins and the need to suddenly find new content when GoT finishes. As for Martin, though he clearly would love his baby to run forever, he clearly recognizes none of this is his call, and he’s just happy to be along for the ride, as long as it goes.

I’m sure everyone has an opinion on this. More seasons? A movie? Seven is the perfect number? Sound off in the comments below.

• Published on 03/13/2015 at 8:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:06 PM CDT