HBO’s Game of Thrones is approaching its end with its seventh season, releasing this summer, being the second-to-last one. And perhaps to some fans’ disappointment, Season 7 is also three episodes shorter than the show’s previous six 10-episode seasons. Unfortunately for those same fans, the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones shares a similar fate.
According to a report by ComicBook.com’s Jamie Lovett, Season 8 of Game of Thrones will be six episodes. Creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss announced the news at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.
“It’s only going to be six episodes for the final said,” Benioff said, per Lovett’s report.
Benioff and Weiss were joined by Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams at the event.
In Season 7’s most recent teaser, it appears White Walkers will figure more prominently than they have in past seasons. Stone figures of each house’s animals, including the Targaryens’ dragons, crumble in the eye of what is presumably a White Walker.
The penultimate season will be released on July 16, 2017.
