Game of Thrones’ sixth season hasn’t even premiered yet, but HBO is already looking towards the show’s future.
During the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Thursday in Pasadena, HBO announced that Game of Thrones will return on Sunday, April 24 at 9 p.m. It will be followed by the return of Silicon Valley and Veep.
HBO released a teaser for the new season in December and the season will push the show ahead of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Martin has already confirmed that The Winds of Winter will not be out before the show returns.
Martin will have to get moving on finishing that book, as well as the last book in the series. HBO programming president Michael Lombardo told Entertainment Weekly that the network is in talks to give the show a seventh and eighth season. Season eight could be its last and Thrones will not copy the split final season format of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad.
If the show is picked up for two more years, HBO will have to make new contracts with many of the shows stars (if their characters survive season six). The actors are only signed through season seven.
Game of Thrones’ fifth season won the Emmy for Best Drama Series.