If Home Box Office (HBO) has shown one thing, it is that it can create incredible loyalty for its cable channels by making its own shows. The hit series “Game of Thrones” followed the wild success of the mafia hit “The Sopranos” and the vampire hit “True Blood.” “The Sopranos” came to an end even before James Gandolfini’s premature death, but this also marks the final season of “True Blood.” While “Game of Thrones” has been consigned for two more seasons, the reality is that HBO or Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) could in theory carry on this series endlessly.

As of now, there are two more seasons on the books for Time Warner and the HBO team to make. The possibilities here for “Game of Thrones,” and the earnings from it, could last for years or decades. The ratings have grown and grown, making it among the most popular of cable series ever.

Several issues make “Game of Thrones” much different from “True Blood” or “The Sopranos.” The vampire and zombie craze seems to have no end to demand, and ditto for the mafia film genre. Still, actors can only endure so many years of performing in the same series. After a while, those actors get bored, and they may find that they become stereotyped for a certain type of role.

The cast of “True Blood” has many of the original members, even into what will be the seventh and final season. Creating an offshoot is easily possible with a new cast of characters, but an obvious risk is that the venue change will just make it just another low-budget vampire series.

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“The Sopranos” was believed to have movies coming down the pipe after its run ended, or at least some rekindled character sequels. The death of James Gandolfini changed all that. Taking Tony Soprano out of “The Sopranos” would be like taking hamburgers out of McDonald’s or the pasta out of Italian restaurants.

Each “Game of Thrones” episode has been projected to average about $6.2 million for HBO to film. When you consider the massive number of sets, multiple countries of filming, the dozens upon dozens of repeat characters (many of whom are well-known actors) and the endless numbers of extras, $6 million or so per episode is a steal.

Before getting into a few details about the “Game of Thrones” series, the first consideration is the book series on which the show is based. The book series is “A Song of Ice and Fire” from George R.R. Martin. This series was started in the early 1990s, and the first book was not published until 1996. What was supposed to be a trilogy grew into seven volumes.

Now consider that the sixth book is being written now, and there has been talk of the series growing to an eighth book. These books are massive tomes, with dozens of chapters, and sometimes years between sequels. One book was 900 pages, and one was more than a thousand pages, not even with large print either. Even the audio books are more than 30 and 40 hours each. Imagine trying to cram tomes of this size into individual series for television. Many readers also have said that they need a separate character and reference guide (or a tablet for online references) just to keep up with the characters and timeline.

So, that was just the book effort that could keep the series underway for years and years. George R.R. Martin was born in 1948, so the only question that might come up is how many years a man in his late sixties and ultimately in his seventies can keep cranking out tomes for years or decades. This could be handled as a writing collaboration ahead, or it could be sold off or farmed out for countless future books — and ultimately countless TV or movie studio productions.

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What makes “Game of Thrones” so different from other series is how characters come and they go. The first rule to remember about “Game of Thrones” is that no character in the entire mix is sacred. It was a shock how many prominent characters from the start of “Game of Thrones” have been killed off, and how many new prominent characters are brought in only to meet a sudden and violent deaths. Other characters come and go in prominence based on twists in the story, only to return many episodes later, without so much as a hint that they will be included or skipped.

The fact that no character is sacred throughout the series gives HBO and Time Warner an endless opportunity here that is very different from its other successful shows. Sets used to film for television easily can be reused over and over. New actors and actresses through time can come with a risk, but they generally prove to be far more budget-friendly when it comes to production costs.

Even if HBO were to give up on “Game of Thrones” as a series for cable, there is simply no reason that Time Warner might not consider “Game of Thrones” as a candidate to be turned into movies for the big screen. Time Warner might even be able to directly see the earnings benefit if this turns into another Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter type hit film series in movie theaters. As with these and other great endless series, like Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, the film shelf life and future collaborative writing efforts can outlive their creators by a generation or more.

There are also opportunities for prequels, followed by future generations — just ask Disney why it paid $4 billion for the Star Wars property and rights, even after six films had spanned over four decades.

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The reality is that everything eventually comes to an end. That doesn’t mean that books, television series and movies cannot go on for decades, morphing through time. “Game of Thrones” could easily become one of those series.

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