Well, we all knew it was coming. Game of Thrones will end after Season 8, HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys told the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Saturday. He discussed the delay of Season 7’s filming schedule as well, saying that it will indeed bump the show out of the Emmys race next year, but it wouldn’t be a problem, since awards are “not [their] main goal.” He explained, “The main goal is to do the best show for our subscribers and fans.… That’s just something we have to live with.”

The next two seasons of the show will also be shorter—creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss told Variety in April that they are planning possibly just 13 more episodes: 7 in Season 7 and 6 in Season 8. “It’s crossing out of a television schedule into more of a mid-range movie schedule,” Weiss said. Producing 10 more episodes a season with their usual filming schedule of 12 to 14 months, with an ever-increasing budget and a higher bar for quality every year, is probably not realistic.

But if you’re worried about sinking into a post-Game of Thrones funk after the culmination of the series, never fear. Bloys casually dropped word that a spinoff has at least been discussed: “It’s something I’m not opposed to, but it has to make sense creatively. I’m open to it. The guys aren’t opposed to it, but there’s no concrete plans.”

What could the theoretical spinoff be about? The War of Five Kings, Robert’s Rebellion against the Targaryen royal family, which preceded and set the tone for all of the events in the show? Or will they go deeper into Westerosi history, perhaps dramatizing the arrival of the Andals, or what happened with the Doom in Valyria? Or maybe it’ll focus on whatever the heck Gendry has been up to since he rowed away from Dragonstone in his little boat all the way back in Season 3. Whatever they choose, there is a wealth of material to delve into, as A Song of Ice and Fire is so dense, even George R. R. Martin himself needs a team of people to keep track of it all.