The season premiere of Game of Thrones this year will be quite long, and apparently, we’ll see more of our favorite characters as well.
Game of Thrones, by virtue of being on HBO, doesn’t have to worry about silly things like commercials. As long as you don’t mind the little bumpers at the top and end of every hour, it’s pure, unadulterated Thrones once a week.
Recently, Entertainment Weekly also reported that some of the show’s most prominent actors have actually “worked more days this season than in quite some time.” It seems as though Thrones will also make sure that we get to see all that we can handle of Daenerys Targaryen, the remaining Starks, Tyrion Lannister, and more. Is it too much to hope that longer episodes of Game of Thrones become the norm instead of the exception?
As our sister site, Winter is Coming, notes, the longest episode is still “The Winds of Winter” at 69 minutes long. Somehow, we think the only episodes that might surpass it are the season 7 finale, the season 8 premiere, and the series finale at the end of season 8. Even then, they might not even clock in at more than say, 75 minutes.
Any longer and you’re getting into feature-length territory for a TV series that already cost $10 million an episode last season, according to Forbes. Granted, HBO might want to go out with a bang on the series that has captivated the globe, but how much is too much, especially with Westworld already demanding $100 million in its first season and looking to return in 2018? (The obvious answer as a fan is: “Money is no object, and please give me all the dragons,” but that’s why they don’t let me run HBO.)
Apparently, the first dose of season 7 will also be rather large as well, though. Thanks to a find by WiC, we know that episode 61 will clock in at just under an hour. They have it as 58 minutes, but our peek showed 59 minutes.
Next: Analyzing the Game of Thrones season 7 trailer
Will Game of Thrones have a few more minutes per episode? Hopefully HBO keeps releasing little tidbits here and there.