If you had any hope that with the recent news that there were only 13 episodes left of ‘Game of Thrones’ (7 in the soon to be released Season 7, and 6 in next year’s Season 8) those episodes might end up being longer than normal, you can let go of that hope now.
According to sources over at EW, that is simply not the case, for if they had enough material to want to make these episodes longer they would have just made more episodes, not just created longer episodes. (Plus, money wise, if they really wanted to make more of these episodes they would have, they are paid by the episode after all, so just making longer episodes would have made no sense, as they would only be taking money out of their own hands). Even the recent rumor that the Season 7 premiere was going to be super-sized has turned out to be inaccurate, as we have learned it is going to clock in around 58 minutes, which is about average for a ‘Game of Thrones’ premiere, shorter than some, longer than others, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Does this make me a little sad? Maybe, but the bright side is that this really hammers home the fact that the show-runners truly have a very specific story they are trying to tell, and they seem to know exactly how much airtime they need for it all to play out. With only 13 episodes running at normal length, it really feels like the series is going to be running at breakneck speed to close all of the remaining plots and characters out in time. This could make for some fantastic and amazingly fast-paced episodes, which I am very much looking forward to.
What are your thoughts on the recent news? Does it make you even more nervous about whether or not they are going to be able to pull all of this off in a satisfactory way with the short time they have left? Sound off in the comments below!
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
