HBO is planning to bring the curtain down on its Westerosi saga with two truncated seasons across 2017 and 2018 (?), that much we know, but just because Game of Thrones‘ last hurrah is expected to have fewer episodes doesn’t necessarily mean that those same episodes can’t run a little longer than average.
The always-vigilant fansite Watchers On the Wall has uncovered new details regarding Game of Thrones season 7 and, specifically, the length of its seven installments. According to these findings, HBO’s fantasy flagship will adhere to tradition during the opening stages, beginning with a series of episodes that fall in and around the one-hour mark. But as season 7 reaches its climax, the sixth and seventh installments will reportedly clock in at 71 minutes and 81 minutes, respectively, which is a significant bump up from the current record of 69 minutes – which belongs to last year’s show-stopping finale, “The Winds of Winter.”
All of this is yet to be confirmed, of course, and until HBO begin peeling the curtain back on Game of Thrones season 7 – both in terms of each episode’s length and their respective title – treat this rumor as just that.
Episode 1: 59 minutes
Episode 2: 59 minutes
Episode 3: 63 minutes
Episode 4: 50 minutes
Episode 5: 59 minutes
Episode 6: 71 minutes
Episode 7: 81 minutes
Should this report hold true, it wouldn’t be the first time that HBO has rolled out a super-sized episode for one of its many flagships. Both True Detective and the rather excellent Westworld included episodes that stretched close to 90 minutes in length – essentially becoming small-screen feature films in the process – and given the sheer scope of the fantasy saga, the network’s decision to delegate an additional chunk of screen time to Thrones is only fitting.
It’ll return with a seventh, penultimate season on July 16th, before the core saga concludes with Game of Thrones season 8 in 2018.
