The end of Game of Thrones is a terribly depressing thing to think about for fans. Thankfully a final season has yet to be announced, but that doesn’t mean that those involved with the show aren’t already thinking about when they’ll wrap everything up and try to stick the landing, so to speak.

HBO programming president Michael Lombardo and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have spoken on when the end of the show might come, and also on whether or not they would consider concluding the show with a last hurrah on the big screen instead of on HBO.

See what they had to say below.

It’s been said that Benioff and Weiss are aiming at the seven-season mark, and according to Benioff they definitely have a solid of idea of how long they’ll run:

If Lombardo had his way, however, Game of Thrones would run for ten seasons…something fans surely would be just fine with:

As much as Lombardo want the show to run for longer, when the time comes, everyone will get together and have a good chat about where things stand. Lombardo added:

This has a chance at being a win-win situation for fans. On one hand we could get eight, nine, maybe ten seasons if everyone decides the story can be stretched that long and/or if author George R.R. Martin’s currently unreleased next book hits store shelves and helps extend the show a season or two. On the other hand, it’s not the worst thing in the world to know the show won’t be forced beyond where they feel is the right time to end it just to milk it for all it’s worth.

Another thing that’s been talked about over the years has been possible Game of Thrones movies. Martin was asked about doing movies before and said it might be necessary to help wrap things up considering how big the books (and dragons) get. The show also recently had a surprisingly impressive run in IMAX, scoring almost $2 million on just 205 screens showing a pair of already seen episodes from the previous season (as well as the highly anticipated first trailer for season five).

But this doesn’t look like a route HBO wants to take, as it wouldn’t be fair to the fans. Lombardo said of the movie option:

Wrapping the show up with a movie would be the worst possible way to go, if you ask me. The MPAA would faint trying to figure out what to rate it, or it would be watered down so much just to get an R rating that it wouldn’t even feel like Game of Thrones anymore. Not at all worth it.

Entertainment Weekly thinks there’s a good chance HBO will simply end on a two-part mega-season, making season seven the final season but making it a lot longer than the usual ten episodes and splitting it into two parts. This option makes plenty of sense as it’s around when the show is expected to end and also allows HBO to stretch things a bit without having to re-negotiate more seasons with the cast.

Whatever is ultimately decided, the primary objective is to close the show out in the best way possible and not become another one of those great shows with a rocky ending:

The fifth season of Game of Thrones will premiere on April 12th.

[Source: EW]