Everyone’s been panicking about what will happen to the Game of Thrones TV show. First, there’s the problem of the quickly-aging cast of child actors who feature heavily in the show. Then, there’s the fact that author George R.R. Martin has still only written five of his seven planned books in the Song of Ice and Fire series; the HBO show could easily run into him. And then there’s a problem of scale: the universe just keeps getting bigger—perhaps too big for a TV show to contain.

Martin has told Vanity Fair in the past that he hopes HBO, which is entering its fourth season of Thrones this spring, will dedicate five more seasons to books four through six and then another one or two for book seven (and maybe a few seasons of prequels thrown in there as he stalls for time). As TIME’s James Poniewozik points out, there’s no way that HBO is putting out ten to fourteen total seasons of this high-budget show.

Now Martin has come up with another solution: a movie. “It all depends on how long the main series runs,” Martin told the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday during the season four New York City premiere. “Do we run for seven years? Do we run for eight? Do we run for 10? The books get bigger and bigger [in scope]. It might need a feature to tie things up, something with a feature budget, like $100 million for two hours. Those dragons get real big, you know.”

So fans of the HBO show would be forced to wait to see the conclusion to the tale on the big screen. Here’s betting they’ll make those dragons 3D.

He also suggested films could be made from the novella prequels he has penned, Tales of Dunk and Egg. “They could be the basis for [a film],” Martin said at the post-premiere party at the Museum of Natural History. “I have written these three stories, and I have about a dozen more.”

Let’s hope that Martin concentrates on churning out those last two books before he starts knocking on Warner Bros. door.

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.