‘Game of Thrones’ SXSW Panel: Spinoffs, Sheeran, and Zombie Stark Sisters

Alex Logan

At the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss took the stage for a panel moderated by the Sisters Stark, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams.

Since the second-to-last season will premiere in July, the big question on everyone’s minds is: Will there be a spinoff — and if so, when? With which characters? And again, when? Well, the duo running the show seemed hopeful that it could happen, without giving any real details, of course. As Benioff put it, “The characters who maybe will survive — there’s always going to be this temptation to keep doing it … to do the spinoff show or do the sequel show and everything. And I think HBO might well do one.” But it doesn’t sound like he or Weiss will be involved: “I think it’s better for them to get new blood in with new visions.”

Weiss jumped in with a suggestion of “Zombie Stark sisters,” but Turner and Williams shut that idea down before it could gain momentum. None of this is quite the concrete confirmation that fans may have been hoping for. And there’s a good chance it won’t happen, as HBO programming president Casey Bloys recently told Entertainment Weekly, “We’ll take some shots at it. I’m not going to do it just to do it. It has to feel very special. I would rather have no sequel and leave it as is then have something we rushed out.”

So, for now, all we have to look forward to is the seven-episode seventh season, premiering July 16, followed six-episode eighth season that should return in 2018.

Oh, and a cameo from singer-songwriter-Rupert Grint doppelgänger Ed Sheeran at some point and for some unknown reason. Perhaps Benioff and Weiss thought “Castle on the Hill” was about Winterfell.

Game of Thrones returns July 16 on HBO.

WATCH: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7: A Surprising Return, Delays, and a Spinoff Update…

Tell us what you think! What’s your pitch for a Game Of Thrones spinoff? Or do you think they should end it after Season 8? Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below.