Game of Thrones will air its final season in 2019, but the author of the source material says that wasn't his call.

In an interview with Variety on the Emmys red carpet on Monday night (September 17), author George RR Martin said he could have seen the show going on for a whopping 13 seasons.

When asked why the show is ending, he responded: "I don't know! Ask [showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss] when they come through."

"We could have gone to 11, 12, 13 seasons, but I guess they wanted a life," he joked. "You know, if you've read my novels, you know there was enough material for more seasons. They made certain cuts, but that's fine."

"[Benioff and Weiss] have been saying for like five years that seven seasons was all they would go, and we got them to go to eight, but not any more than that," Martin said.

"There was a period five years ago where they were saying seven seasons, and I was saying 10 seasons, and they won. They're the ones actually working on it."

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But even though the series is ending, Martin doesn't want any spinoff series that are too close to the original. "I think this story ends when it is, and I know all the actors, as great as they are, are anxious to get on and play other roles," he said. "They don't want to spend their lives playing one role, and that's fine."

Martin said five prequels are in development based on other time periods in Westeros' history. He's working on other projects, including executive producing an HBO fantasy series based on the novel Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor, who joined him on the red carpet at the Emmys.

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