HBO's "Game of Thrones" cast is sticking around for a while.
The network has signed the bulk of the current main cast through a presumed seventh season.
The premium network has locked down the acclaimed fantasy hit's cast for another two years, sources say.
But according to reports by The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke the story, the seventh (and presumed final) season came at a high cost.
In exchange for agreeing to a seventh season option, the cast received "huge raises" for the currently shooting fifth season, along with the sixth and seventh.
The raises "will make the cast members among the highest paid on cable TV." HBO had no comment on the report.
Here is a list of actors reportedly included in the deal.
Readers wishing to avoid spoilers should avoid reading any further since the names strongly suggest which characters survive the upcoming fifth and sixth seasons (since the seventh season is merely an option, a character could in theory expire before then). The names include Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Natalie Dormer, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams.
Earlier this year, HBO renewed "Game Of Thrones" for a fifth and sixth season. Thrones' producers have frequently said that they want to make seven seasons total.
Since actor deals are typically multi-year agreements, and given that the negotiated option was only for a seventh season-instead of locking down a seventh and eighth-the seven-season plan now seems pretty well set.
