Winter is right around the corner. And with it comes war.
With just a few short weeks left until the Game of Thrones season seven premiere, anticipation over the show's return has reached a near fever pitch. We've obsessed over the photos, dissected the breathtaking trailers and now we're breathlessly awaiting the vague teases from the HBO hit's cast and crew. Ready to help in that department are the show's co-creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff.
If you've been concerned over the fact that, in its penultimate season, Game of Thrones' decreased episode count—totaling seven, down three from the usual 10—might mean a slighter-feeling season, you needn't fear. And not just because this is Game of Thrones we're talking about here, where nothing has ever been described as "slight" since the show's debut.
As the creative minds behind TV's biggest show admitted in a new interview with EW, these seven episodes will see a continued increase in the show's scope as a season that was once thought of as the necessary groundwork for the final season's all-out war quickly found itself stuffed with conflict. "For a long time we've been talking about 'the wars to come.' That war is pretty much here," Benioff admitted. "So it's really trying to find a way to make the storytelling work without feeling like we're rushing it. You want to give characters their due, and pretty much all the characters left are important characters, even the ones who might have started out as relatively minor characters have become significant in their own right.
"Things are moving faster because in the world of these characters the war that they've been waiting for is upon them, the conflicts that have been building the past six years are upon them and those facts give them a sense of urgency that makes them move faster," Weiss added.
Trying to fit all of that into just seven episodes means that we'll also be getting one of the series' longest episodes ever, the pair revealed. "There is definitely one that is considerably over 60," Weiss said when asked if we'd see any super-sized episodes this season. "We have two episodes over 60 minutes this year."
"One will be our longest episode ever," Benioff added. "We have one episode that's coming in around 90 minutes and another that's going to be our shortest episode at 50 minutes. Those episodes are better at those lengths..."
You'd think that, with our return to Westeros imminent, the pair would be able to take a breather before turning their attention to the final season, but no. As they revealed, they've already been hard at work writing those last few hours. "It's nearly completed," Benioff said. "Well, I shouldn't say 'nearly.'"
"I wouldn't go that far," Weiss added. "It's exciting but there's always pressure. You don't ever want to drop the ball."
Are you looking forward to some super-sized GoT episodes this season? Does that make up for the smaller episode count? Sound off in the comments below!
Game of Thrones returns on Sunday, July 16 p.m. at 9 p.m. on HBO.