From what showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss had previously said, we were all led to believe that HBO’s Game of Thrones had just thirteen episodes left before it comes to an end after two more seasons. Well, it looks as if that isn’t quite set in stone just yet.

As reported by EW, HBO’s Programming President Casey Bloys has revealed how the higher-ups at the network are still deciding just how many episodes will make up the eighth and final season. We already know that Season 7 will be a seven-episode run, and the previous word was that Season 8 would bring things to a close with just six episodes.

Bloys told the outlet, “They’re still figuring out the shape of the season, what they want to do. I’ll take as many as they want to do. If they give me eight, I’ll want ten. But it’s really up to them. They’ll let me know.”

On the possibilities of a prequel series happening, he added, “It’s such a big property we would be foolish not to explore it, but it’s a pretty high bar. We’ll take some shots at it. I’m not going to do it just to do it. It has to feel very special. I would rather have no sequel and leave it as-is than have something we rushed out.”

Explaining how a prequel series seems a more likely bet than any sort of spin-off show, Bloys explained, “A prequel feels like it has less pressure on it. gives you areas in which to say to a writer, ‘If you were going to do this, then go flesh it out,’ and we’ll what comes back. But I don’t feel any pressure that we have to have something.”

As for when Game of Thrones will be back on our screens, this year we’ll have to wait until the Summer for the Season 7 premiere. Usually, this genre heavyweight stars its new seasons in April, but the reason for this delay is due to how the production on this new season needed to start shooting later on in the year than usual in order to film the bleak, wintery locations needed for Season 7. After all, Winter is no longer coming – Winter is now here.