The coming end of the Game of Thrones saga will probably cause the fans some sleepless nights. For a long time the speculations about a Game of Thrones spin-off kept them hoping that 2018 will not be the show’s final end. And after a lot of rumours and even more suggestions about the future of the series, HBO recently confirmed talks.

But where fans were expecting a spin-off, the programming president of HBO, Casey Bloys, sees the future of the series in exploring the past – in a prequel.

In an interview he told Entertainment Weekly: “A prequel feels like it has less pressure on it [than a spin-off]. [Author George R.R. Martin’s history of Westeros] 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 see what comes back. But I don’t feel any pressure that we have to have something.”

“It’s such a big property we would be foolish not to explore it, but it’s a pretty high bar,” he added, “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 then have something we rushed out.”

What the prequel actually would be about remains to be seen.

The 13 remaining episodes of Game of Thrones will reportedly be split across two seasons with season 7 arriving, later than usual, in summer 2017. While there have been speculations whether season 7 will feature extra long episodes, Bloys also hinted in his interview that 2018’s season 8 could feature more episodes than expected.