Winter is coming next summer and the end is indeed near for Game of Thrones. At the TCA summer press tour, HBO programming chief Casey Bloys confirmed that the popular fantasy series will end with season eight. He noted that ending the series was the decision of series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Bloys told reporters, “I think David Benioff and D.B. have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do… If I could get them to do more, I would take 10 seasons, but we want to take their lead with what they can do and what the best version of the show is.”

The HBO exec also confirmed that season seven will have just seven installments. Season eight’s number of episodes is still up in the air though its been rumored that there will be just six.

Production on season seven will begin later than usual — because storylines require colder than usual weather — and they will be shooting in Northern Ireland, Spain, and Iceland. As a result of the late start, season seven won’t start airing until next summer so the series won’t be eligible to compete for 2016-17 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Bloys still expects HBO to pick up plenty of Emmy nominations. He said, “Even if you took away Game of Thrones’ Emmy nominations this year, we’d still have more than anybody else”.

What do you think? Do you think Game of Thrones should end with season eight? Is 13 episodes enough to properly wrap up the series?