In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, HBO’s Programming President, Casey Bloys (pictured) suggested that the final season of Game of Thrones might not be out until 2019. Bloys confirmed that would it take show writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss “about a year and a half” to complete Season Eight, but that he would have a better sense of the timing when they were further along with their writing process. If Bloys is correct in his estimation, this means that after Season Seven this July, Game of Thrones will take a year off from television before returning for its final season. Although this approach is understandable, given the desire to do justice to the last moments of the show, this is a rather unusual move and is sure to rankle fans, who have already complained heartily about this year’s delayed, July premiere date. The decision to skip a year of Game of Thrones is also a brash one for HBO– the show is probably one of their most popular ones, and a year of radio silence might lead to lots of lost interest from casual fans and quite a few unsubscriptions from their cable service.It will be interesting to see how putting craft 
before cash pays off for HBO.
Bloys also confirmed that while the GoT prequels everyone has been abuzz about are in the works, they are very much in the preparatory stage–“I haven’t even seen outlines,” he said. It looks like it will be a long wait to get back into Westeros after Game of Thrones ends– perhaps a year long delay for wrapping up the show isn’t the worst thing after all. Bloys also confirmed that show-writers Benioff and Weiss will not have their names on the upcoming prequels: ” They want to enjoy the show as fans and don’t want to worry about the scripts or production issues. We were hoping to have their names on it out of respect for them, but we understand why they don’t want that.” It will be very interesting, in the years ahead, to see Westeros and its characters managed by different minds. We have a lot to look forward to.
What do you think of a year-long wait for Game of Thrones’ final season? Comment below!
