It looks like winter in Westeros is going to be longer than anticipated. According to Entertainment Weekly, Game of Thrones Season 7 will feature the series' longest episode to date. Clocking in at nearly 90 minutes, the unnamed episode is basically feature length with a whopping 13 more minutes than the previous longest episode title holder, Season 6's "The Winds of Winter."
Since news broke that Season 7 would have just seven episodes, fans have been preparing themselves for less Thrones goodness. However, despite the shorter episode count, time-wise the penultimate season is giving fans plenty to look forward to. The Game of Thrones fansite, Watchers on the Wall, shared a list of the alleged run-times for each episode — they haven't been confirmed by HBO — and if they turn out to be correct, this season will be seven hours and 20 minutes long. In terms of running time, that's the equivalent of eight episodes, so basically you're getting eight installments of Iron Throne machinations for the price of seven.
That's not bad for the show's shortest season yet. Watchers on the Wall's list indicates the final two episodes will be 71 and 81 minutes long, respectively, and that can only mean one thing — something big is going down at the end of the season. (Like maybe The Wall?)
Series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have been saying all along that the shorter episode count would lead to an increase in the show's scope, and this news seems to back their claims up. With a finale set to be the length of a film, Game of Thrones Season 7 has the potential to leave fans with an episode dense in both character drama and visual spectacle.
There have been plenty of hints dropped about what lies ahead this season including a potential Stark family reunion, Daenerys finally making it to Westeros, and the White Walkers becoming more than a threat. With the primary characters no longer spread so far apart, and precious few secondary characters left, there's every reason to believe the upcoming episodes will be more focused than ever before. That's good news for the story and the fans.
With just 13 episodes remaining in the entire series, Season 7 needs to push stories like the White Walker invasion and the impending clash of queens forward in a major way. By the time the feature length season finale airs, Game of Thrones should have all of the characters who are still standing maneuvered into place for the upcoming grand finale.
Thanks to the super-sized episodes in Season 7, Game of Thrones devotees can put off thinking about the impending end of the series for a little bit longer. For now, raise your glass to Weiss and Benioff for every extra minute these seven episodes will include, because I think we can all agree on one thing: the more Game of Thrones, the better.
