Season six hasn’t even premiered yet, but HBO is already getting geared up season seven!
HBO announced officially today that they are renewing Game of Thrones for 2017. The announcement was made by Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming.
Season six of of Game of Thrones will begin this Sunday, April 24th at 9PM ET.
In addition to the Game of Thrones news, HBO has also renewed today the comedies Veep and Silicon Valley.
It’s not surprising that Game of Thrones is receiving another season, but it’s a little bit of a surprise to be hearing it before the new episodes even begin! Hopefully we’ll hear more news in the near future about the network’s plans for future seasons, and the discussion over how many episodes will be ordered for each.
Hodor!!!
My First!
The suspense was killing me.
I’d have to think the episode count for Season 7 would be known by this point; if the show is going to go longer than the 13 episodes the creators seem to envision, it will almost certainly be by adding more to Season 8.
I figure at this point, it’s just D&D and the network going back and forth about the exact episode count.
Must admit I thought they’d signed off six and seven at the same time.
I thought it was already renewed!
Awesome news! I love this show!
On a sadder note, and OT, Prince has died. Another legend gone.
Great (if unsurprising) news! It will be nice if we get that episode count soon though just so that we know where things stand.
well, duh!
Bogden,
Five and six were renewed at the same time just after the Season 4 premiere, so it has been over two years since the last time GoT was renewed!
Once Game of Thrones is over, I don’t know if I’ll watch another show again….
Obviously it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to renew but now that it’s officially renewed, the next season can really get going and we’ll see things like casting notices within the next month or so.
fingers crossed for 10 eps!
I’m actually not even surprised that it’s renewed for 2017.
So I guess season 7 will be the last but in two parts. There wont be an 8th season if they havent anounced today.
biggest surprise ever! no one was expecting it… now let’s pray the old gods for 10 episodes.
Maybe that’s because the need more time to make season 7 so they have to start earlier than usually to have it ready next April.
What a surprise 😛
That’s great! Unsurprising as many have noted; but encouraging news nonetheless. I want to know if Season 7 will be split or if it will be counted as a whole season even with just 7 episodes; but I doubt the latter.
I have to clear cookies every time I enter the site to get new posts. I have tried Mozilla/Chrome with PC and Dolphin browser with my phone. The problem persists on every device I have tried. Hopefully you get it fixed at some point 🙂
H.Stark,
Uh, no, that’s not how it works. Multi-season renewals are the exception, not the norm.
And I expect the haggling over the size of the eighth season will be going on for a while yet.
Deesensfan,
Yeah, just saw that myself…I thought he was a good artist.
Another one down…
Awesome news!
Didn’t the show “jump the shark” last season and is going to be cancelled?
Just kidding. Great news, even though I expected this.
OT-I’m starting to suspect that George R.R. Martin is the author behind 2016.
A tweet by Carice
Sometimes it snows in april..
https://twitter.com/caricevhouten/status/723204871722274816
Deesensfan,
That’s a reference to the death of Prince (RIP).
Carice trolling!
https://twitter.com/caricevhouten/status/723204871722274816
Yep. Seasons 5 & 6 were renewed concurrently; I think the reason season 8 hasn’t been renewed as of yet is that the final episode count hasn’t been finalized, and probably the contracts for the actors have not been finalized as of yet (remember that all the principals, including Kit “I’m not in the show anymore” Harington, have been only been signed through season 7.)
Sean C.,
omg didn’t even think of that ahahha
I thought it was GOT trolling
I didn’t see this coming!!!
Jack Bauer 24,
Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
Maybe we will e getting some unexpected/or expected Snow this coming May and June 🙂
Also Rip Prince <3 we will never see his like again, and now his watch has Ended.
ash,
LOL!!
Hmm! I didn’t see this coming!!!
Sue the Fury,
Amazing news, can’t wait for this years casting call.
Really happy Thrones got renewed, makes the wait for season 6 all the more sweeter.
The wait is almost over, and our watch shall begin again this come sunday.
10 Sundays of non stop Thrones, can’t bloody wait.
I always forget the casting call and location scouting news begin coming trough in July or so. It’s basically non-stop GoT all year! The only drought takes place between the end of filming in December and whenever the first promos and trailers arrive.
Which was a 3 month drought this time…
HYPE
Rafael,
I have the problem in FF, linux version, it reloads to the top of the page, then I need to manually RL to get me back to where I left off.
Trying Opera for linux right now, see if I get the same problem.
And when will they announce how many episodes are left?
I’m so tired of this pointless discussion. Just say it already.
I’m not very happy with HBO right now. This is D&D’s story. They should let them do what they do best. It’s not D&D’s fault that HBO can’t produce another hit show.
Works fine in Opera.
Deesensfan,
Thanks tho actually that wasn’t mine, came off Facebook, so I can’t take credit. Still couldn’t resist posting it 🙂
Not that I was worried it wouldn’t be renewed, but as a Minnesotan the Prince news is particularly sad. This was a nice boost and I needed it.
D&D publicly said 13 episodes. It will be very bad for the show image to have much more in the end.
14 or 15 I can see, but something like 20 is impossible.
ash,
hahahaha its still good!
Not surprising, but congrats to GoT’s on the re-up for season 7…great news followed by saddening news….
“Nothing compares 2 U” RIP our Purple Rain Man…Prince. Gone. 57.
Did they announce the episode order for Silicon and Veep?
I think this maybe tied up with actor contract negotiations? Remember, none of the actors is yet signed up for a “season eight”.
I think “season 8” may end up being named season 7B.
This year we will be getting snow in May…spring is delayed.
Yeah, the wording is definitely interesting. I think there literally in a place where they haven’t decided whether they’ll do a two-parter season 7 or season 7 and 8, but they definitepy wanted to get the preproduction on it going so they settled on renewing it for 2017 which covers both options.
Contractually splitting season 7 means they don’t have to start sitting down with the cast again for season 8 (which isn’t in their contracts atm), and would save them a lot of money as well (the actors would naturally want a raise for the final season).
That said, from a production standpoint and all the beurocracy, it might not be so easy. Two full seasons would allow breathing room, a pause in the production and potentially more episodes per season.
Why didn’t they renew season 8 too?
Wasn’t the reason behind the double renew of 2014, the need to prepare everything in advance, especially the high cost of season 6?
I’m pretty sure Season 7 is the last one and will be split in two.
Using an Incognito window in Chrome works and saves having to delete cookies every time.
Jack Bauer 24,
That’s not trolling. That’s a Prince song.
Expected news, obviously, but welcome nonetheless. 🙂
As recently as about a week ago, I was wondering if this renewal would come before the season premiered, and if it would be for both Seasons 7 and 8, with the eighth having the ‘and final’ qualifier attached. But then that Variety story arrived with the information that Benioff and Weiss were looking at only 13 more episodes after Season 6, but the plan hadn’t been finalized. At that point, I let go of that idea. Clearly those negotiations are still ongoing, and probably will be for a while.
What I’ll be interested in is the contract specifications. Before Season 5, news leaked out that the principal cast members had renegotiated their six-year deals to give HBO an option for Season 7, in exchange for substantial raises. There was nothing in that story about network options for Season 8, however. Either that wasn’t reported, or HBO figured they would cross that bridge when they came to it, when they were fancifully hoping that the show might run for 9 or 10 seasons. I’d bet on the latter.
Once the precise number of episodes has been agreed upon, time will tell if HBO will try to brand the final 13-16 episodes as part of the same “seventh and final season” and split that season into two parts to avoid further renegotiations with the remaining cast members. However, because those episodes will be filmed in two separate blocks, I’m not sure that will fly.
I believe there are industry regulations about what can and can’t be termed full seasons, especially if the episodes are produced in different years. One of the primary reasons that we’re likely getting shorter seasons being that Benioff and Weiss no longer think they can produce 10 episodes in a calendar year and still maintain the same standards of production quality.
If that’s the case, those cast members who make it to the final six episodes or so might be in for yet another massive payday.
There are. Otherwise there’d be nothing to stop networks from ordering a single season of 100 episodes to be filmed over X number of years.
Other shows that have made the “split season” thing work could do that and keep a schedule because the production on, e.g., Mad Men is a lot more compact than Game of Thrones. In the case of this show, to qualify as a single season for contract purposes they would have to do the whole thing at once, which would make it impossible for the show to keep its customary April air date for the first part, and I doubt HBO wants that.
Jack Bauer 24,
The Hype almost never Stops at this point. 🙂
HBO CEO of Tits,
They didn’t renew season 8 because they don’t know if there will BE a season 8. Might just be season 7 part 2.
HBO CEO of Tits,
jentario,
A two-part Season 7 is unlikely, for the reasons that Sean C and I were discussing above. It will be 8 seasons, unless HBO is willing to delay Season 7 from its typical April premiere date so that all 13-16 episodes can be filmed at once, as part of the same production cycle.
I doubt that’s the way that either HBO or Benioff and Weiss will want to do it. HBO needs its hit show, and D&D need time to write, supervise filming, and do post-production on all of the remaining episodes. That will be easier to manage if they can focus on the first seven or eight hours, get them in the can, then move on to the final six to eight hours. Trying to make 13-16 episodes at once would be a staggering task, even with the benefit of additional time.
Cast renegotiations for Season 8 will likely cost HBO a pretty penny, even it’s for only 6-7 episodes. But they’ve proven that they’re willing to spend as much money as necessary to keep Game of Thrones operating at its usual high level.
Deesensfan,
Jack Bauer 24,
An instant classic tweet there by Carice…
The late artist’s name, the month, the song title, 3 days before the premiere of a potentially Snow-filled [excuse the pun] season 6…
This is a R’hllorcoaster of coincidences
Sean C.,
Yeah, the two most famous recent examples that people like to cite when talking about split final seasons are Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Neither one is a good model for what Game of Thrones is trying to accomplish.
I believe that Breaking Bad filmed the first eight episodes of its final season, then the production team took a short break in order to recharge and make adjustments. Then they resuming filming for the final eight episodes. They aired a year apart, but all sixteen episodes were filmed within the same year. That was an ambitious production, but not as ambitious as Game of Thrones because they didn’t have nearly as many locations or actors to manage.
Mad Men, on the other hand, just filmed all 14 of its final season episodes in a row, at which point AMC banked half of them to air the following year. Mad Men‘s seasons had always been 13 episodes, so producing one extra hour wasn’t that taxing. That show also filmed most of its scenes on indoor sets, in one city, and had far fewer actors to service than Game of Thrones does. Not much VFX work involved, either.
Game of Thrones, by contrast, films all of its episodes at once, feature-film style. They shoot completely out of sequence, and there’s a ton of post-production work involved. They’ve basically been trying to produce 10-hour movies of increasing scale every year. With the way the show has grown, even producing a 6-7 hour movie in a year will be a steep challenge. Trying to make a 13-16 hour movie in one production cycle would be ludicrous.
Whatever,
Thanks for the tip !
mau,
impossible, this is a joke? they can easyly do 40 episodes more if they want.
with only book 3 they made 2 seasons and a lot stayed out.
season 6 will have book 4, 5 and a part of book 6.
how the hell is impossible the rest of book 6 and all the book 7 have 20 episodes, since book 3 alone had 2 seasons? bullshit.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but books 6 and 7 do not exist as of yet. It’s quite difficult to adapt books that have not been published; and at the rate George is going, “season 8”, or 7B or 7 part II will come and go with The Winds of Winter still having no publishing date…
I’m fairly certain that for season 7 to be split into 2 parts and be considered ‘7a’ and ‘7b’ all the filming has to occur within the same calendar year. That’s a standard clause in actors’ contracts to prevent networks from taking advantage of them by claiming multiple years of work was a single season. And if that can’t be accomplished, than it doesn’t matter what the network claims, but 7b is actually 8, and the contracts need to be extended.
Considering how difficult it is to just get 10 episodes done in a year, I’m not sure how they could get more than that done; even if they didn’t do any post-production until all the filming was complete and than have 7a ready to air around September 2017 rather than April. So I think its more likely we get an 8th season. And maybe both seasons are shortened. Or maybe Season 7 ends up being a full 10 episodes, but Season 8 ends up being a 3-hour movie.
After Season 6 I’ll just go back to pinning my hopes on the Winds of Winter. Season 7 can wait lol.
If it is one extended season then I’d like it if they took another 4/5 months to film it and then aired it mid winter. I hate that split shit.
It’s the best ten weeks of the year but its in the wrong place 😛
Btw, I’d much prefer 20 and was all geared up for that. I no like when they complain about a lack of content having cut so much, but yeah, still love it. Just think they should get George back on board and do it properly pls
Where is Thoros when you need him? 🙁
I’ve said it before I’ll say it again- I think we’ll get another two full seasons 7/8. The story won’t be able to wrap up properly with only another 22 episodes. My guess is D&D are exhausted (rightly so) but they love this story and will wanna do it justice. And that’ll likely be difficult with what’s ahead plot wise, with the time/resources/budget they have. So I reckon all this is just a marketing ploy to create ripples in the fanbase/media and give them more leverage with HBO to throw as much cash at them as is necessary. And once the reviews (and ratings) comes in for S6 HBO will pay a visit to the Iron Bank.
Yeah, it sounds like with all the planned battles, they can have a fixed budget but so do them justice this will have to come at the sacrifice of overall screentime
On the other hand, they can have the same length of screentime (10 hours) perhaps but would have to up the budget
They take a long time to shoot as well (Hardhome was a month?) so there’s a practical issue of it meaning less time for other scenes etc
I’m OK with slightly less episodes in return for more Hardhome quality content rather than Stannis non-battles
So they can sign off on the season in general to get the actors on board with new contracts etc, then figure out the balance
Have to remember as a subscription network things work a bit different, eg it’s not like FTA where it is selling audiences to advertisers, it’s how many subscriptions they get/retain and 7 or 10 episodes may make no difference (especially if they throw memorial style breaks in so pad the broadcast span out to say, 9 weeks)
While I would go for less episodes in return for battle quality
I certainly hope you are right, hopefully we can get our cake and eat it too!
Obviously there has to be a Business case, eg will HBO get more subscribers in return for full length seasons with nice battles to justify throwing more money at it
I’ve noticed they would often confirm the next season shortly after the Premiere
I suspect/hope the decision would be made after the S6 Premiere, eg if there’s a 2 million jump again they will get the money.
Another factor is whether HBO Now take-up is successfully luring fans who want to watch online and so have to pirate, eg if the take-up is high and HBO are effectively monetising the Pirate fanbase in significant volumes then this can also lead to them getting the money even if there is no massive spike in the Cable viewership
Igor Thadeu,
You’re assuming the last two books are of the magnitude and quality of book 3, which they may not be- and if they aren’t they don’t merrit more than one season’s worth of episodes. You also have no clue, and nor does anyone aside from D&D and perhaps GRRM, just how close to the end season 6 will take us and how deep into TWOW and potentially ADOS the season will delve.
But I’m fairly sure that the decision to cut down on the last couple of seasons is a financial one, and one that serves to give the production more time. Game of Thrones has already escaped the “epic TV production” standards and entered “low budget blockbuster” levels in season 5, and every season keeps growing and growing in scale and complexity, which is very hard on the crew- which probably has a real hard time fitting all ten episodes and all the huge scenes into their schedule. Cutting down on the number of episodes per season will allow the crew to deliver episodes of much higher quality, lower the stress and give them some much deserved breathing room.
mau,
You know…they could very easily turn those final 3 episodes in a giant film…