on my way home from work and the airconditioner died

so you know, not happy about that. then leaving a stop light and some sputtering. oh man.. as i pulled into my neighborhood and the temp gauge shot up. it died before i got it into the driveway

. call local dealership their gunna fix it tomorrow. just wondered if you have any ideas as to what happened. i only have about 8000 mi on the engine. my guess is the thermastat blew a seal or something but i cant be sure because i overheated and theres alot involved with that. any ideas just let me know
thanks