Game of Thrones to end after season eight

'Game of Thrones' will end after season eight. The fantasy drama television series - which recently received 23 Emmy nominations - is set to come to an end but a spin-off has not been ruled out. HBO programming president Casey Bloys said: "Yes, I think [the showrunners, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff] have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do. If I could get them to do more, I would take 10 seasons but we want to take their lead with what they could do and what the best version of the show is." While a spin-off is possible, nothing has been decided yet and it will only happen if it "makes sense creatively". According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bloys explained: "We've talked about it. It's not something I'm opposed to but it has to make sense creatively. I'm not sure the guys can wrap their heads around it when they are about to start production. We're open to it; the guys aren't opposed to it but there's no concrete plans right now." It was recently confirmed that the series has been renewed for a shortened seventh season, with just seven episodes, rather than the usual 10. The number of episodes for season eight, has not yet been decided, however producers plan a total of 75 episodes for the entire series. Season seven is expected in summer 2017, while the final season will air in 2018. 'Games of Thrones' is HBO's longest-running series, with the sixth season bringing in an average of 25 million total viewers to make it the most-watched show on the channel.