It’s just a couple of more weeks before fans around the world will be diving back into Westeros with the penultimate season of “Game Of Thrones.” The premiere will be running a substantive 59 minutes, and while it’s not one of the longest episodes we’ve seen from the series, it ranks up there. However, it may be dwarfed by what’s coming in the show’s final season.
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At Con Of Thrones, sound designer Paula Fairfield revealed that while season 7 will feature episodes that run around the one-hour mark (except for the finale, which will clock in at 82 minutes), season 8 is going to get super-sized. According to Fairfield, the final season may feature episodes that all run around 80 minutes or more — essentially the length of a feature film. That would certainly explain why even though season 8 will only run six episodes, it might not air until 2019. If this is true, HBO and co. are essentially making six movies to close out “Game Of Thrones,” which should make fans extremely happy, but also requires a helluva lot of time to put together.
Of course, none of this is confirmed just yet, but Fairfield is no doubt someone with some inside knowledge. But first, we’ll have to get through season 7 which launches on July 16th. [Deadline]