In our latest concrete sign that Game of Thrones will run until 2018, Deadline is reporting that the cast has signed on for an eighth season. And not only that, but the main cast who have signed on to stay have heading for “major pay bumps” when they arrive.
…mainstays Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) will all be paid north of $500,000 an episode for Season 7, which has been officially picked up, and Season 8, which is widely expected. HBO has not specified the size of the order for Season 7, but speculation has been that both Season 7 and Season 8 would be shorter than the standard for the show 10 episodes, possibly seven episodes (Season 7) and six episodes (Season 8).
As Deadline goes on to note, just because these five have signed on does not guarantee they will live. The Game of Thrones contract is structured so that everyone signs on to continue, and they only find out when the season starts filming if they make it all the way to end. This is just one of the ways the shows keeps spoilers under wraps. Also, just because they’re not listed here does not mean that Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and other favorites won’t survive.
HBO had been pushing since the upfronts last summer that the show will hopefully go two more seasons. David Benioff and Dan Weiss on the other hand have said they only had about “13 more hours” left of story to tell, suggesting that what an “eighth season” might really consist of was a “Season 7A” and “Season 7B,” much like popular shows of this age have done in order to maximize the show’s run. Both Mad Men and Breaking Bad have done that for their respective final seasons, for instance.
When Game of Thrones was renewed for next year, the press release avoided calling it “Season 7,” stating only that it would return for 2017. And when Jack Bender stated in an interview that he was under the impression that next year would only be seven episodes long, this fueled speculation that we were really not having a Season 8, but a split final season over two years.
It may very well be that we are only having two more shortened seasons, and that 2017 will only bring seven episodes and 2018 only six, as Deadline itself hedges. But for those who care about semantics, whatever we get in 2018 looks as if it will be under the moniker of “Season 8.”
Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/06/22/game-of-thrones-main-cast-signs-for-season-8/
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