‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7 Will Get Less Episodes, But More Airtime For Characters, How Does That Even Work?


For fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones, news that the final two seasons would be shortened was devastating. However, it has recently been revealed that while the episode count will be shorter, the time on screen for some characters will be greater.

According to an interview several cast members did with Entertainment Weekly, their characters will actually get more airtime in the upcoming season, rather than less, like one would expect with fewer episodes overall.

So, how does that even work?

According to Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, she has more lines to learn this season than in other years.

“When I first read this season I thought: ‘Damn, I gotta learn some lines!’ We’re actually filming longer now. I don’t know how that’s happening.”

Although, considering her character is approaching Westeros in Season 7 of Game of Thrones, this statement is actually understandable. Daenerys will now be dealing with people such as Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and the Starks at Winterfell, so, of course, she will be spending a vast amount of airtime speaking to and getting acquainted with all these new people.

[Image by Helen Sloan/HBO]

Previously, Daenerys had only been involved with one group of people at a time, leading to less of a need for many wordy conversations. As a result, her story was confined to the one location. Now, as she enters Westeros, her storyline will likely expand to include several locations and characters, allowing for a greater length of time on air.

A fellow cast member who is also involved with Daenerys’ storyline in Season 7, Peter Dinklage, also commented to Entertainment Weekly about an increase in lines for his character, Tyrion Lannister, going into Season 7.

“I’ve worked more days this season than I have in quite some time,” Dinklage explained.

Once again, considering Tyrion is directly involved with Daenerys and their singular storyline, this statement is also understandable for the above reason involving Daenerys.

[Image by Macall B. Polay/HBO]

However, Game of Thrones showrunner Dan Weiss adds another reason as to why Season 7 characters will get more airtime.

“You kill a couple dozen characters, the people who are left by default need to carry more dramatic weight.”

This statement actually makes perfect sense. Considering, in Season 6 alone, according to The Independent, more than 30 major characters died, there is now plenty of room to include more time with those who are left alive in Game of Thrones. If you are wondering how many characters have died over the course of the entire run of Game of Thrones, Movie Pilot suggests the number is as high as 196 characters. This, of course, does not include all those nameless background characters who died before viewers even got to know who there were.

Now that so many characters have died in Game of Thrones, the characters who are left, will spend more time interacting with each other, leading to an increase in airtime — and, by effect, talk-time — with each other.

“As the worlds start to converge the characters who haven’t met each other before start to meet each other and there are more main characters together in each other’s storylines than ever before,” Weiss explained to EW.

For fans of the show, this means Season 7 will likely bring payoff to storylines that have been lingering since the very start. Of course, this also begs the question, “Will this mean Gendry will finally get some airtime in Season 7?” After all, the last time fans saw him, he was paddling away in a boat back in the Season 3 finale of Game of Thrones.

You can watch the official trailer for Season 7 of Game of Thrones below.

You can check out the breakdown of this Season 7 trailer via this previous Inquisitr article.

Are you looking forward to Season 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones? Let us know by commenting below.

Season 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones will premiere on July 16, 2017.

[Featured Image by Macall B. Polay/HBO]

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