Whisper it quietly, but the end of the thrilling Game of Thrones narrative is approaching its end.

With HBO confirming a conclusion to the show at the end of Season 8, there is growing concern by the series’ legion of fans about what the future holds…especially for their much loved characters.

At the start of season six, producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss made it clear that the show was entering its final stretch, with only a handful of episodes left until the conclusion of ‘The Winds of Winter’. Initially this sparked rumours that season seven may well be the penultimate act, but in a bid to satisfy an insatiable global audience, not to mention squeezing every dollar out of the hype, the show will roll on until at least 2018.

Inspiring a Global Franchise

This story has evolved into a global franchise, from the humble beginnings of a fantasy novel series written by George R.R Martin. A Song of Ice and Fire served as the inspiration for the Game of Thrones series, which began as recently as 2011 and will commence with a climatic eighth season in 2018. In this time, it has achieved both critical praise and huge global revenues, as well as stand out performances from some of the cast, some of which are up for the prestigious Emmy awards on 18 September.

The franchise is a business in itself generating a considerable amount of revenue for both HBO and other invested partners, such as Northern Ireland Screen. Spin-off merchandise is almost limitless, from board games to apparel, while online, fan art is rife, even helping to inspire a Game of Thrones casino slot.

From a television perspective, season four represented a particular highlight for the franchise. This not only has the highest Metacritic rating across all seasons at 97%, but it also saw its last two episodes screened in 205 IMAX theatres throughout the U.S. Incredibly, the show earned $686,000 during its opening day and £1,896,082 across the entire week, while it was also the first television series to air episodes in this way.

In addition to the merchandise, the series has been a source of inspiration for game developers. In addition to iGaming, there have been PC and console releases that have hit the international market.

Across the fields of television, literature and gaming, Game of Thrones has emerged as a truly seminal and lucrative franchise. The carefully timed ending of the television series should not damage the value of the brand, as other popular shows such as Breaking Bad have also underlined with prequel releases…a sure bet given the vast history of Westeros.