After last year’s two-season renewal of Game of Thrones for a fifth and six season, fans wondered aloud just how long the show would be on air. The producers speculated on seven, perhaps maybe eight, and on Thursday at the Television Critics Association press tour, HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo confirmed to all of us in the audience that there would be at least seven, if not eight (or more—if the network has their way) seasons of the series.

“Seven-seasons-and-out has never been the conversation,” Lombardo explained. “The question is how much beyond seven are we going to do. [Showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] are feeling like there’s two more years after six. I would always love for them to change their minds. That’s what we’re looking at right now.”

“It’s incredibly textured, dramatic storytelling,” he added.

As for those myriad conversations about spin-offs and prequels that come along with George R.R. Martin’s unbelievably expansive universe, Lombardo would only say that he would “be open to anything Dan and David want to do. It really would depend fully on what they want to do. I think you’re right—there’s enormous storytelling to be mined in a prequel. But we haven’t had any conversations.”

And of course the Jon Snow question was raised, to which Lombardo said—and I quote—”Dead is dead is dead. He be dead. Jon Snow is dead.” Whiiiiiiiiiich…. we’ll just send that answer up to The Wall for Melisandre to handle.

So there you have it, folks: we’re definitely getting seven seasons, probably eight of Game of Thrones. Or infinity if HBO gets what they want. Those 20 million viewers are a mighty tempting thing to hold onto, after all!

How many seasons of Game of Thrones would you like to see? Let us hear it in the comments.

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Alicia Lutes is the Associate Editor of The Nerdist and chilling (literally. It is so cold here) at the TCAs. Tweet with her about TV stuff @alicialutes.