Game Of Thrones final season episodes could be longest ever at two hours long
THE final six episodes in Game of Thrones could be up to TWO HOURS long each as producers cram as much content as possible into the last season.
Fans of the fantasy saga already know there is just one more series to go beyond the currently airing series before they'll have to say goodbye to the heroes and villains of Westoros.
But softening the blow somewhat is today's big news that each of the final six Game of Thrones episodes could be "longer" than the usual one-hour running time.
The programming president at HBO, the US network behind Game of Thrones, hinted at extended episodes during a recent chat the Television Critics Association's summer press tour.
Casey Bloys told that although two-hour episodes may seem "excessive" it was a possibility given the popularity of the programme.
"I imagine they'll be longer but … I'm not sure [how long]," he said.
"We haven't had that discussion yet because I don't know how long the episodes are going to be.
"Two hours per episode seems like it would be excessive,
"But it's a great show, so who knows?"
It will come as great news to those fans of the show who have already been begging HBO and Game of Thrones bosses to make the episodes longer.
While Bloys' remarks about the episodes' running time was good news for fans, he also delivered a bit of bad news for anyone hoping to see those proposed Game of Thrones spin-offs on screen any time soon.
HBO confirmed in May that it was exploring a series of spin-offs further delving into author George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy world.
But Bloys said the network's current priority is on delivering the final series of Game of Thrones before any spin-offs are looked at in detail.
Bloys said: "The No. 1 priority in all of this is the final season of Game of Thrones.
"That season will happen, and my guess is it would be at least a year before you saw anything else.
"What I don't want is the attention to be drawn from the final season, which I think is going to be epic and amazing, and somehow have the distraction of a new Game of Thrones airing right after that.
"It's best to separate it and that's what we'll do."
He previously hinted that any spin-off would likely be a prequel rather than sequel.
"It’s a big enough property that we would be foolish not to explore it. It’s a really rich world. We’d be foolish not to look at it.
“A prequel feels like it has less pressure on it than a spin-off…
"George R. R. Martin’s history of Westeros gives you area in which to say to a writer, ‘If you were going to do this, then go flesh it out,’ and we’ll see what comes back.
"But I don’t feel any pressure that we have to have something.”
Game of Thrones kicked off its penultimate series two weeks ago and it's been building towards the hugely-hyped meeting between Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow.
In the latest installment, viewers saw the Mother of Dragons issue an invitation to the King of the North to come visit her at Dragonstone, and next week's third episode will reveal what happens when Jon arrives.
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