Game of Thrones: Here's Why HBO Hasn't Officially Announced the Final Season (Yet)

If you're nervous that HBO has not yet formally renewed the final season of Game of Thrones, arguably the best television series of our lifetimes and certainly the best television series involving dragons, take a deep breath: it will be made. And, it just might involve more episodes than you were expecting, SQUEEEEAL.

HBO's programming president Casey Bloys told TVLine that the formal Season 8 announcement has been delayed because showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are "working out how many episodes they want to do." Translation: Season 8 may include more than six episodes after all.

Benioff and Weiss announced last April that Season 7 would consist of seven episodes and Season 8 would consist of six but, according to Bloys, "They're still figuring it out because I think they're trying to get a shape of the season. They always do what they think [will yield] the best version of the show. It's all about how many [episodes] they're comfortable [with]. But I'll always take more."

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Benioff also said back in April that Game of Thrones is not just trying to outstay its welcome, it's "trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end. ...We've known the end for quite some time and we're hurtling towards it. Those last images from [the Season 6 finale] showed that. Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros, Jon Snow is king of the North, and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne. And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them. The pieces are on the board now ... and we are heading toward the endgame."

Who just got chills?! Anyway. Once the episode count is in, Season 8 will be made official.

Game of Thrones Season 7 will premiere this summer.