More details about 'Game of Thrones' final season and possible prequels revealed
— -- Even more details are coming out about the much-anticipated final season of "Game of Thrones" and what will come for fans after the series ends.
HBO confirmed in July 2016 that season 8 of the dark fantasy drama will be the last one. The last season is set to begin filming in October, according to star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Coster-Waldau, who portrays Jaime Lannister on the series, told Collider, "We go back in October," referring to the series' production start date.
Season 8 will have only six episodes — one less episode than season 7 and four fewer than previous seasons — but that shouldn't be a surprise to some fans. "Game of Thrones" co-creator David Benioff revealed that the final season would be shorter than usual at the SXSW festival in March.
The news of when the final season of "Thrones" starts filming comes amid more talk about a prequel or several prequels.
Screenwriter Jane Goldman, who is confirmed to write one of several possible spin-off series, all of which are still in development, opened up — slightly — about what fans can expect.
"I think as a book reader or as someone who watched the series, you would say, 'Oh, that! OK,'" Goldman told IGN of the direction of her project. "Yeah, it would be recognizable as a past event, but I think that's probably as far as I can go."
Goldman also revealed she has met with "Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin to talk through the possible prequel.
"I think I can comfortably say because George did mention this in his blog that, yeah, I've had the pleasure of going to spend some time with him and working on things and talking about ideas, and that was an honor and a pleasure," she said. "He's a great guy, and we've had enormous fun talking about ideas and characters and all sorts of interesting things."
Martin detailed on his blog in May that he's been "involved" in creating "successor" shows for HBO, noting that it has committed to developing five scripts.
"I can't tell you what the shows will be about (well, I could, but I won't), but I will tell you a couple of things they WON'T be. Which will disappoint some of you, sure, but better to do that now than later, I think," he teased.
