Maybe George RR Martin will get to catch up after all.

Ever since passing the Red Wedding, HBO basically ensured that Game of Thrones would run its full course. Yes, there were people at HBO who after the first season immediately said “It can run ten years.” But I think the public perception that this show was really here to stay came post Frey massacre, when HBO renewed it for two seasons at the beginning of Season 4.

It’s also when the producers stopped saying “We just want to get to the Red Wedding,” and started insisting “Seven Kingdoms, Seven Gods, Seven Books, Seven Seasons.” And they’ve been remarkably adamant about it over the last two years. This story would be 70 hours, once season 4 ended they insisted we were past the halfway marker, and in the last few months have even referred to us as going into endgame. Which is why it was so surprising to hear them waiver on the point in their latest interview with The Huffington Post.

Part of it turns out to be because things–though perhaps mostly set in their mind–are not set with HBO.

Is the endgame still seven seasons and that’s it?

Benioff: We’ve always said that, but we have to talk to HBO and come to an understanding. There’s a temptation to keep going with it because we’re still having fun, but you don’t want to ruin it by tacking on a couple of extra years.

HBO has replacement shows in development, including a show based on a book series by Margaret Atwood and another series from Martin. But those need a few years before they’re ready, and there’s no promise either will work. HBO will probably push to tease out an extra season. But can that really happen when the writers are so certain where they are in their storytelling?

Weiss: The big thing is, this is a show with a beginning, a middle and an end. We know what the end is, and we’re heading toward it now.

Benioff: We’re not sure whether it’s going to end up being, say, 70 or 75 hours — but it can’t be 100 hours. It would start to feel like a bogged-down mess.

So there is room to negotiate–unlike, with, say Sean Bean’s one season contract, which they discuss earlier in the interview. (“You guys sure you don’t need options here?” “No, no, we’re good, thanks.”) We could very well get a Season 8. Or a half Season 8. Or god forbid, a split season over two years, like we had to endure with Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Our perhaps those last few hours could be a couple of Peter Jackson-length movies. No, the show won’t run ten years–they’re not interested in stretching out the back half of the story just for money’s sake. But maybe that idea of the hard end in 2017 is coming a little faster than they’d like.