Every episode of Game of Thrones’ final season may be over 60 minutes

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones may only be six episodes long, but it seems as though David Benioff & D. B. Weiss are aiming to push each of those episodes to the max. David Nutter, who has directed several episodes of the eighth season, took part in a Reddit AMA and answered a few questions, including just how long these final episodes will be.

Season 8 episodes will all I think be longer than 60 minutes. They’ll be dancing around the bigger numbers, I know that for sure.

As I'm all for getting every minute out of Westeros I can, this is certainly good news. In addition to teasing just how long these episodes will be, David Nutter dropped a few more tidbits about the final season, which he described as "Spectacular, Inspiring, Satisfying."

• On whether the Army of the Dead will be the only issue the characters will have to face: "The White Walker army will not be the only issue our characters have to face in season 8, they have to also face each other."
• On whether he's satified with how the series comes to an end: "I'm completely satisfied with how season 8 ends. I think that David and Dan did a tremendous job, and they took into consideration what the fans want, as well as what is right as far as storytelling is concerned. I guarantee there's going to be lots of surprises and shocking moments, but it’s really very compelling stuff."
• On whether the final season will have any Red Wedding-style twists: "As far as season 8 compared to the Red Wedding I just have to tell you – hang onto your seat cause it’s going to be special."
• On whether he's involved in the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel: "I’m not involved in it. I’m not sure if I will be involved in it right now but I wish them a lot of luck."

Although we still don't know exactly when Game of Thrones will return, a recent teaser confirmed that the HBO series will be back in April 2019. Just a few more painfully long months. As for what we can expect from the final episodes, we do know that one will be wall-to-wall action and is expected to be the "most sustained action sequence ever made for television or film." Miguel Sapochnik, who helmed the Battle of the Bastards episode in season six, directed that particular episode and it took quite a lot of time to pull off. It was previously reported that they had spent 55 nights filming the battle, which is more than twice as long as the 25-day shoot for Battle of the Bastards, but, the actual shoot was much longer. Those 55 nights were only for the battle's outdoor scenes on the Winterfell set, afterwhich the crew moved into the studio for more shooting which continued for weeks. This is going to be one intense battle, and Peter Dinklage teased that "it makes the Battle of the Bastards look like a theme park." The eighth season of Game of Thrones will debut on HBO in April 2019.