I think next season is supposed to be it, although it may be two more seasons. I'm not sure. There have also been discussions about depicting other parts of the timeline, given that there's a pretty rich backstory to the Seven Kingdoms. But who knows if that'll happen.
Martin will, at least, publish the next book, and I think it's likely he'll write A Dream of Spring. I'd be more concerned with him splitting the last book into two or something than I would be in him just not finishing it at all (and yes, I've seen the theory about getting it out of your system and how the show is basically doing that for him).
Yeah the show runners have said they wanted to keep it to 7 or possibly 8 seasons. They've also said that even though the seasons are typically 10 episodes, that the last season(s) most likely wouldn't be a full 10 eps. So even though the show is definitely winding down, who really knows how much time is left.
I think the show guys stated that they had it down to 23 episodes to finish the whole series. With this season being part of that 23. So next year could be the last season being made up of a 13 episode run. Yet HBO wants to push it pass that mark. It's something they better decide on asap since they have to looking to setting up the shots and locations for next season.
The production team has said on numerous occasions that they have things plotted out to wrap the story after 7 or 8 seasons. HBO, of course, wants to ride Game of Thrones until the horse is dead and a fine paste on the ground, so we'll see if they start throwing enough money at people to change their minds.
I have nothing to add to this conversation other than I just started the series last week and now I'm on Ep3 of Season3 and I'm happy that I waited this long so I could binge it all. Really looking forward to getting up to date, but I also don't want to think about having to wait weekly for the new ones :eek
You think waiting a week for a new episode is bad, try reading the books and waiting years for the next book to come out. I started reading them after the first 4 books had come out, I read through them all and waited years for book 5, when it finally came out I then waited about another year for the paperback to come out so that the price of the e-book would go down. Book 5 came out in March of 2011, it's now been over 5 years since it was first published and book 6 isn't expected to come out until early next year, at best. So, waiting a week for a new episode is nothing compared to waiting several years for the next book.
Or disappear, as often seems to be the case. GRRM loves introducing seemingly important characters, or at least hinting at their importance only to never read about them again after a certain point. Gendry & Edric Storm being a prime example of this, esp. Gendry where GRRM hints at something important about him only to completely forget about him after a while.
The production team has said on numerous occasions that they have things plotted out to wrap the story after 7 or 8 seasons. HBO, of course, wants to ride Game of Thrones until the horse is dead and a fine paste on the ground, so we'll see if they start throwing enough money at people to change their minds.
From what I've heard, that's generally the idea. The Dunk and Egg stuff is the most obvious choice, since it's been the most fleshed-out. Plus, it could ultimately lead into a true prequel series depicting Robert's rebellion. But they could take other points during the history and play them out, too. Options that I think would adapt well include:
- Aegon's conquest (followed by Aenys and Maegor's reigns, possibly up thru Jahaerys)
- The Dance of the Dragons (followed by Aegon III and Daeron I's reigns and up thru Baelor the Blessed)
- Aegon V's reign, up through the first Blackfyre rebellion. This would also dovetail into the Dunk & Egg stories.
Or they could do an anthology series, with each season being set during a different period in Westeros' history. There's tons of material to draw from. Anyone interested should check out the World of Ice and Fire book, which is fantastic for this stuff.
Personally, I don't see HBO having the show drag on interminably by delaying the end. I think, if anything, they'd want to push past it with an "And then what happened?!" approach, which would kinda suck I expect. But as I said, there's TONS of historical periods for the show to explore prior to the events of the main series.
Ugh....WHY?! Of all the dumb, idiotic things they've done(and D&D have done plenty over the course of the show), this is pretty close to if not the #1 stupidest thing. Just do one final season....
That's classic Martin. End a character chapter with them on the brink of death, only to have them find themselves perfectly fine the next time we see them. To be clear: I don't think Arya's in for a happy ending, per se. I think Arya is hell-bent on revenge, and will likely fall prey to that "You dig two graves" axiom. But I think in so doing, she'll be the one to end Cersei and maybe Tommen. But I really doubt her story ends there.
Almost doesn't matter, as long as Margaery is pulling his strings. Although, I wonder if Olena's gonna make it back to Highgarden after mouthing off to Cersei who is in full DGAF mode lately.
2. The Bear Island scene was great. Lucky that Ser Davos had previous experience with a strong willed little girl...
Yeah, I enjoyed it, but I a little concerned that the North realigning under Sansa (or Bran, or whomever) is not going to go as planned or will somehow fizzle.
3. Arya was paranoid, and rightfully so, but not paranoid enough.
On the contrary, I think she let her guard down too much. She allowed herself to feel relaxed and free for a moment, and it cost her. We'll see how she gets out of this one. Red priestess maybe? A gut wound like that should kill her, though.
4. I'm impressed that they got Ian McShane for such a relatively small part. He was great while he lasted.
The thing is, I found that whole storyline in the books -- along with the rest of Brienne's chapters -- to be ultimately pointless. Like, ok, she wanders around and sees stuff while looking for Sansa. Great. So what?
The show is making it seem like all of that is going to factor in to the larger narrative much more than it originally seemed.
5. I reckon that Sansa was writing to Littlefinger?
Could be, yeah. I honestly can't think of who else it might be. Maybe the Blackfish? She doesn't really have other allies. I think Littlefinger benefits -- maybe -- by having the North and the Vale be in some state of chaos, but to be honest, I think the Vale is probably the most secure region, and therefore one of the best places from which to marshal your forces only to march forth after the rest of the realm is engulfed in war and unable to defend itself. And ultimately, I think that's Littlefinger's goal.
Finally, Sandor is going to get back to what he does best.
I assumed Sansa was writing to the Blackfish since Little Finger had mentioned she would have his army at her disposal for some reason if she put out a call. Although I don't see the Blackfish just walking away from the castle with his army. Little Finger would make the most sense, especially getting the Knights of the Vale on her side
Although I'm a little confused why the Brotherhood without Banners would slaughter a group of "small folk". I always though they were protecting the common people from any forces preying on them regardless of which lord they might serve or which religion they might follow. Slaughtering a bunch of basically unarmed people doesn't really fit their Robin Hood type motives.
Sandor did mention they were from the brotherhood. If anything, I thought it would be more appropriate if it was Mountain's old posse.
I assumed Sansa was writing to the Blackfish since Little Finger had mentioned she would have his army at her disposal for some reason if she put out a call. Although I don't see the Blackfish just walking away from the castle with his army. Little Finger would make the most sense, especially getting the Knights of the Vale on her side
Although I'm a little confused why the Brotherhood without Banners would slaughter a group of "small folk". I always though they were protecting the common people from any forces preying on them regardless of which lord they might serve or which religion they might follow. Slaughtering a bunch of basically unarmed people doesn't really fit their Robin Hood type motives.
Sandor did mention they were from the brotherhood. If anything, I thought it would be more appropriate if it was Mountain's old posse.
1. We're pretty sure they're the Brotherhood for two reasons. First, the guy in the lead was wearing a yellow cloak, which is most likely a reference to Lem Lemoncloak, one of the main Brotherhood figures. Second, they say that they're defending "the people," which is pretty much the line that the Brotherhood tends to offer. They "protect the people," which all sounds great at first, until they're conscripting your forces and stealing your supplies, which makes them no better than the rest of the robber knights out there.
2. As for why they'd attack and slaughter these folks, two reason. First, it could be that they just wanted to make an example of them. It's a standard "protection" racket, really. You kill or harm people so that others will pay protection to you. Second, remember that Sandor's little hollow was a group of people who worship the Seven. The Brotherhood worships the Lord of Light. And we're seeing that the Red Priests and Priestesses are becoming bolder in their demands that people worship the Lord of Light specifically, and not the Seven or other gods (e.g. the Harpy). The Red Priestess in Mereen, for example, hinted that she'd want the city to be forced to convert to her faith.
I tend to agree with the theory that Sansa is writing LIttlefinger based primarily on the way they shot it, they made it seem she was doing it furtively and somewhat desperately too. I'm sure that if she were writing the Blackfish we would have seen her mentioning it to John and Ser Davros, but we don't, we just see her, apparently, get inspiration from seeing caged ravens and then start to writing, this suggests that she's writing Littlefinger because he's literally the last person in Westeros she'd want to ask for help from but she's desperate and her desire for revenge against the Boltons, Ramsay in particular, and recapturing Winterfell is obviously overriding her disdain and mistrust of Littlefinger.
