Seven Kingdoms. Seven hells. But 10 years of "Game of Thrones"? As you might imagine, HBO is loath to part with its hugely popular show. However, author George R.R. Martin is writing seven books in his "A Song of Ice and Fire" series and TV showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have said they're aiming for seven seasons of the show. Each new season has premiered in late March or April of its own year, with "Game of Thrones" Season 1 arriving in April 2011 and Season 5 set to premiere April 12, 2015.



So that would suggest that the game will be won - or at least over - in 2017.



However, Entertainment Weekly talked to HBO programming president Michael Lombardo, and he would rather see the story continue. "We started this journey with David and Dan," Michael told EW. "It's their vision. Would I love the show to go 10 years as both a fan and a network executive? Absolutely." He added that some conversations will be had to figure out the best course forward. "If they weren't comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that's the right decision-as horrifying as that is to me. What I'm not going to do is have a show continue past where the creators believe where they feel they've finished with the story."





What about a "Game of Thrones" movie or a GoT spinoff? The HBO exec isn't that excited about taking the story to the big screen - which is also not surprising, since that would leave HBO out of the game. There are multiple avenues they could take when it comes to spinoffs, but apparently those conversations haven't been had yet.



EW noted that a way to try and make both the GoT showrunners and HBO happy might be to extend the seventh and final season with more episodes or (please no) air half of the season one year and the other half the next, ala AMC with "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men."



But it's ultimately up to the showrunners, who (thankfully) know where they want this story to go and how much time they need to tell it well - without padding it for HBO or the viewers.