Game of Thrones producers have apparently made a decision about how many episodes will comprise their final season.

We've known for a year now that the Primetime Emmy Award-winning fantasy series will come to an end in 2018 with a shortened eighth season — although the exact number of episodes has been up for debate.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO and producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss ultimately decided to make just six episodes next year to wrap up Game of Thrones.

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Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

That episode count had been the most common prediction, although HBO's programming president Casey Bloys expressed hope of more earlier in the year.

A six-episode final season is admittedly disappointing, but the good news is that the world of Game of Thrones probably won't be leaving our screens for long.

Game of Thrones' book series author George R. R. Martin is currently working on five different spinoff series with different sets of writers.

None of these spinoffs will be based around the current cast of characters, and will instead take place in various earlier eras in the history of Westeros.

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Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

"Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel," George R. R. Martin blogged this month.

"Some may not even be set on Westeros. Rather than 'spinoff' or 'prequel', however, I prefer the term 'successor show'. That's what I've been calling them."

For now, Game of Thrones season seven begins on HBO in the US from 16 July. The series premieres exclusively on 17 July on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV at 2am, repeated at 9pm on the same day.

Watch the brand new trailer below:

preview for Game of Thrones season 7 trailer

From: Digital Spy