Is HBO Plotting Feature-Length Episodes For Game Of Thrones Season 8?

It’s been a long, meandering road – a road littered with bodies, treason, epic battles, and family feuds spanning all generations, but with only 13 episodes remaining, Game of Thrones is fast approaching its two-part finale.

Divided into two seasons – seven episodes in season 7; six episodes in the eighth – HBO’s fantastical adaptation is poised to return in two weeks’ time for its penultimate run, and all signs point to a truly epic showcase involving many of Westeros’ warring power players. Whether it’s the chilling Night King and his undead army closing in from the north, or the fact that Daenerys Targaryen has finally made land in her quest for the Iron Throne, Game of Thrones season 7 will see all seven kingdoms plunge into chaos and, frankly, we couldn’t be more excited.

Not unlike the network’s decision to release a super-sized finale to season 6 – “The Winds of Winter” clocked in at a record 69 minutes – it’s understood Game of Thrones season 7 will boast some of the show’s longest episodes to date. But at least according to series sound designer Paula Fairfield, the eighth and final season may go one step further.

Chatting to those in attendance at Con of Thrones (via Vanity Fair), Fairfield teased the possibility of feature-length episodes come 2018 – with the finale being 82 minutes – which would surely lend showrunners David Benioff D.B. Weiss the necessary freedom to orchestrate what is arguably the biggest series finale since Breaking Bad in 2013.

That being said, HBO’s Song of Ice and Fire won’t be silenced for some time yet, what with talk of multiple prequel series doing the rounds. They’re still in the formative stages of development, according to franchise mastermind George R.R. Martin, though viewers can seemingly look forward to a suitably epic conclusion to the show’s main saga.

Game of Thrones season 7 kicks off on Sunday, July 16th. The eighth and final season will then follow in 2018 – you know, providing HBO doesn’t choose to delay the show’s last hurrah. Stay tuned for more.