Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams on the show’s upcoming finale

For the past five years, Game of Thrones has run for 10 episodes a season. For the show’s seventh, however, executive producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have confirmed that there will only be eight episodes, with the eighth and final season cutting it back to seven.

Benioff and Weiss explained that they had a very specific vision for how they wanted the show to end and they wanted to tell that story over 15 episodes instead of 20. When asked about her opinion on the shorter seasons by Variety, star Maisie Williams — who plays the third youngest Stark on the show, Arya — the actor said that although she could understand fans disappointment, it was the best decision for the show creatively.

"Too many shows start out about making a great show, and by season six it’s about making money and all they want to do is write more episodes and make more money," Williams said. "I really respect David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] for holding their ground and for HBO to be like ‘No… we’re gonna tell this story and we’re gonna end it and that’ll be final.’"

Williams added that "good things must come to an end or they’re not good anymore." The actor said that Weiss and Benioff have always had a very specific vision of how they wanted the show to end and with helpful input from author George R.R. Martin, they didn’t want to let the politics of television making get in the way of that.

"They started this with an end in sight, and so it’s exciting to be closing it," Williams said.

Game of Thrones will return a little later than usual next year, missing its April premiere date. The show will debut a little later in the year, but HBO hasn’t specified when that will be.