Next year, audiences will see the end of the bloody chapter of Westeros’ history with Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Finally, the feud between the Starks and Lannisters will be resolved, and for better or worse, someone will ascend to take the throne. It’s an ending that has been building up over the past seven seasons, but as it turns out, author of the Song of Ice and Fire novel series (the source material for Game of Thrones) thinks it could have gone longer, as he revealed to Variety on the red carpet during the Emmys.

“We could’ve gone 11, 12, 13 seasons, but I guess they wanted a life. If you’ve read my novels, you know there was enough material for more seasons. They made certain cuts, but that’s fine. We have five prequels in development that are based on other periods in the history of Westeros, so me of them just 100 years before Game of Thrones, some of them 5,000 years before Game of Thrones.”

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Martin was then asked how long he’s known that the end was coming to a close. Was it something he’s known for years or something he was called up one day and informed by executive producer David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

“David and Dan have been saying for like five seasons that seven seasons is all they would go. Game of Thrones. We got them to go to eight but not any more than that. There was a period like five years ago when they were saying seven seasons and I was saying 10 seasons and they won. They’re the ones actually working on it.”

I’m sure plenty of fans out there are giving off disappointed sighs upon hearing this news. While many seem to be pleased with the past couple seasons, there are also plenty of folks who feel like the plot is moving along too fast, abandoning its trademark slow burn pacing that characterized the first few seasons.

Now, it seems to be barreling towards an ending, and while that’s all well and good, some are worried they’re rushing it too much, leading to a less-than-fulfilling experience.

Do you think they should have had more seasons? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: Variety