Earlier this week, the curtain didn't so much fall on the final episode of season six of Game of Thrones - it was blown off the rail in a blast of green flame.
The dust had barely settled before the show's co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss spoke to Deadline to take stock of the most-watched (and most-pirated) series so far, and reveal just how much of a story was left to tell.
"Like President Obama, we want to leave while all the people watching this show are really into it," explained Weiss. "Get out at a high point and not have it be, well thank god that’s over."
"It’s two more seasons we’re talking about," added Benioff. "From pretty close to the beginning, we talked about doing this in 70-75 hours, and that’s what we’ll end up with. Call it 73 for now."
So, that's 13 more hour-long episodes, set to be divided between two more seasons. Neither Benioff nor Weiss divulged just how that divide would play out: an asymmetrical split of six and seven hour-long episodes? Or two seasons of six episodes, with two finales of an hour and a half?
"We’re trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end," said Benioff. "As Dan said, we’ve known the end for quite some time and we’re hurtling towards it.
[SPOILER ALERT]
"Those last images from the show that aired last night showed that. Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros; Jon Snow is king of the North and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne. And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them. The pieces are on the board now. Some of the pieces have been removed from the board and we are heading toward the end game."
We can't wait. But we'll have to. Better crack open the wine and start binge watching it all over again...
