HBO makes it official: GoT to wind up with season 8

HBO has finally addressed a much lingering issue about 'Game of Thrones' and that surely is not pleasant for the fans.

The network has confirmed on July 30 that season eight will officially be the last one, reports E! Online.

HBO president Casey Bloys, crushing the fans' dream during its summer press tour said, "They have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do. If I could get them to do more I would take 10 more seasons. But we take their lead on what they need to make the best version of their show."

The showrunners have also planned for the eighth season to consist of merely six episodes. On that front, however, Bloys said the exact number of season eight episodes is not yet final.

When asked about a Thrones spin-off to continue the valuable franchise, he said, "We've talked about it. It's something I'm not opposed to, but of course it has to make sense creatively. I'm not sure that [Benioff and Weiss] could really wrap their heads around it when they're just about to start production [on season 7]. It's a pretty intense production, they're about to start production soon. I'm open to it. The guys weren't opposed to it, but there's no concrete plans for it at this point."

GoT is one of TV's most watched shows with 25 million total viewers this year across all platforms.