George R.R. Martin thinks that the Game Of Thrones TV series could have run for as many as 13 seasons. Pointing to his source material novels, the A Song Of Ice And Fire series, Martin believes the show could’ve gone on for much longer.

In reality, though, next year’s Game Of Thrones season 8 will mark the show’s conclusion, with a stack of just six episodes wrapping up HBO’s fantasy mega-hit for good.

Speaking to Variety on the gold carpet at the Emmys, Martin was asked why the show is ending now.

“I don’t know!” he said. “Ask [showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss] when they come through.”

“We could have gone to 11, 12, 13 seasons, but I guess they wanted a life,” he added, somewhat in jest. “You know, if you’ve read my novels, you know there was enough material for more seasons. They made certain cuts, but that’s fine.”

“David and Dan have been saying for like five seasons that seven seasons is all they would go,” Martin explained. “We got them to go to eight but not any more than that. There was a period like five years ago when they were saying seven seasons and I was saying 10 seasons and they won, they’re the ones actually working on it.”

Martin also mentioned the cast, saying this: “I know all of the actors, as great as they are, all the actors are anxious to get on and play other roles. They don’t want to spend their entire lives playing one role and that’s fine, that’s great, we had such an amazing cast.”

Here’s hoping that Game Of Thrones season 8 can live up to the show’s excellent previous seasons, when it finally airs next year, providing a satisfying end to one of the best series we’ve ever seen.

We’ll keep bringing you Thrones news as we hear it.