The Game of Thrones series finale has been nine years in coming, and that’s just for the viewers. For showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, it’s been on its way for even longer, possibly since 2005, when they first sat down with A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin and talked about the shape of the series over a lengthy lunch.

With the final season on the horizon, plenty of fans are speculating about what’s going to happen, and the rumors are flying. It may relieve fans to know that, whatever the show has in store for the final episode, it’s apparently been planned for a very long time. Talking to TV Guide all the way back in 2011, just over a week before the series premiere, Weiss assured people that, “We’ve talked through what the final episode, the final season will be.”

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Benioff gave his two cents as well: “We can’t wait to write that episode. Of the many different fears we have about the show, long-term momentum is not one of them. We’re very confident.” I’d say he was right on that count. Unlike some shows (*cough* The Walking Dead *cough*), Game of Thrones has grown in popularity with each passing season, as more people get caught up in a story that feels like it’s headed somewhere.

And even back in 2011, the showrunners sound mindful of their obligation to provide an ending worthy of that interest. “I think it’s a legitimate concern because it’s potentially 60-70 hours of your life you’re investing,” Weiss said of the ending. “It’s fair to want to know that there’s somebody at the wheel and that it’s going to lead you to a place where you feel that ultimately it was worth investing that time. George has proven through the discussions we’ve had that he’s always known in the rough, broad strokes where this is going to end up. And we think it’s going to end up in a way that is uniquely satisfying.”

Benioff, chiming in again, also assured fans that the ending wouldn’t be a cheat, using a pop culture reference that was more trenchant back then: “It’s not some ‘it was all a dream’ story,” he said. “It’s not an M. Night Shyamalan movie where there’s a massive twist at the end. It all actually makes sense. You can kind of feel in the roughest sense where it’s moving towards. It’s going to a fantastic place.”

If Benioff and Weiss seem on the defensive, it may because they were making these comments in the wake of the series finale of ABC’s sci-fi hit Lost, which famously divided fans when it failed to answer some of the mysteries brought up on the show during its run. Or at least, that was clearly on George R.R. Martin’s mind around this time. The same week as Benioff and Weiss talked to TV Guide, Martin told The New Yorker that he didn’t want to “do a Lost” and botch the ending to his series. “[My wife and I] watched it every week trying to figure it out… and then I felt so cheated when we got to the conclusion. I want to give them something terrific. What if I f— it up at the end?…Then they’ll come after me with pitchforks and torches.” (Sidebar: At the time, Lost creator Damon Lindelof got pretty salty about Martin’s comments, albeit in a good-natured way.)

Martin is still plugging away at the ending to A Song of Ice and Fire, but with the final season of Game of Thrones expected to follow his template, we’ll all know what he has in mind soon enough. Whatever happens, I take comfort in the fact that the people behind the show have been thinking about and planning the ending for years.

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