So, what more can be said about the Game of Thrones Season 6 Finale that the Internet hasn't already spoiled? Yeah, this is one of those shows that everyone is talking about, so if you haven't watched it yet, prepare for a recap of the Season 6 Finale with spoilers, as well as the future of the epic series, including the release date for Season 7.
Without going into too much detail about the Season 6 finale, the final images include Daenerys finally coming back to Westeros, Jon Snow King of the North, Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne, and the Night King looking out for all of them. We might as well address an issue that the fans of the show are talking about: how much life does this show have left?
Well, the book series that it is based on, The Song of Ice and Fire, is still not done. In fact, the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter (which was the title of the Season 6 Finale), was delayed, and there is a seventh book called A Dream of Spring which will hopefully be done quickly, as the series has caught up with the books.
Yes, fans of the books cannot be ahead of the show anymore, and there is a report from iO9 saying that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the Game of Thrones showrunners, have confirmed that there are only about 15 episodes left of the show, at most. It is probably going to be less, even though it is a huge cash maker for HBO.
It is possible that HBO could make some mandate to extend the show, but the showrunners really don't want that. They have a vision of a show that is one cohesive story with a beginning, middle, and end, and by tacking on more to it would prolong the show longer than it needs to be.
Now that the book series is not complete, chances are very high that the show could really screw up the end. Most of the great shows that start well and have a huge following inevitably "jump the shark" and go out with a whimper and not a bang. Do I need to remind of the too enigmatic ending of Lost?
So, when is Season 7 of Game of Thrones coming? Well, it is planned on being released in April 2017. So that is ten months, and hopefully, The Winds of Winter book will be out then, and fans will devour it and prepare for the show to go off-book when it does. Assuming that the show does its typical ten episodes, that is more than half of the allotted 15 episodes for Season 7.
Then George R. R. Martin will really have to write like a cheetah to get that last book done before the final Season 8. Yeah, considering there have been so much delays on the book front, that probably won't happen. So will the last episode of the show actually be shown before it is told in book form?
