‘Game Of Thrones’: The Final Season Will Not Consist Of Movie-Length Episodes

With the news that Season 8 of HBO’s Game of Thrones would only be six episodes long, fans were disappointed that the final season was not likely to be as epic, lengthwise, as previous seasons. However, there was some indication that these episodes could be presented as movie-length and fans were instantly excited about this prospect.

Movie-length episodes were merely hinted at by the executives at HBO, with the suggestion that some episodes may be longer than normal. However, an interview by the Mirror suggested that the 90-minute episode reveal had been originally made by Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington (who plays Jon Snow).

Since that interview, HBO has continued to maintain that each episode length will be determined by the final director’s cut for each episode and not as a result of the network wanting super-sized episodes just for the sake of it.

HBO’s programming president, Casey Bloys, reiterated this statement in an interview he did with the Hollywood Reporter in January of this year.

“It really will be dependent on when the showrunners get the cuts and what they’re happy with. Everything on Game of Thrones is driven by their desire to make the best show possible. When we’re going to air, how long the episodes are — we’re taking their lead on what they need.”

Now, with the announcement that Season 8 of Game of Thrones will premiere in the first half of 2019, fans are still wondering how long each episode of the final season will be. As a result, HBO has clarified once again that each episode will not be movie-length.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, with the Television Critics Association press tour for the summer season this week, Casey Bloys revealed that the premiere date for the final season of Game of Thrones could be narrowed down to the first half of 2019.

Along with this news, fans were desperate to know the episode lengths for the final season. When asked by Entertainment Weekly about whether each episode of Season 8 of Game of Thrones would be movie-length, Casey Bloys gave the following response.

“Not two-hours? Yes, they are not going to be. Not that I’ve seen, anyway.”

In the past, HBO has been open to longer episode lengths for Game of Thrones. The longest episode to date clocks in at 81 minutes in length. Therefore, while HBO is shying away from making every episode movie-length, there is still the potential there for some episodes of Season 8 to be much longer than normal.

The final season of Game of Thrones will premiere on HBO in the first half of 2019.