13 is always an unlucky number. . . .
Throughout season 6 for Game of Thrones, the main complaint of many fans we saw, was how slow main story lines were told. The writers took their time at preparing fans for the what to expect in its final two seasons, with outlining a slew of events and changes within the seven kingdoms.
However, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss revealed this week exactly how many episodes were left in the original HBO story. Last April, Home Box Office hinted to fans that seasons 7 and 8 would be condensed to avoid a similar situation of this year, as a two-part split of 73 hours.
With Jon Snow finally sitting at his rightful chair as the King of the North, Daenerys embarking back to Westeros, Cersei Lannister becoming Queen of the Andals and the First Men and the Night King preparing to attack when least expected, anywhere between 70-75 hours of content is the plan.
In comparison to previous 10 episodes orders each year, season seven will consist of just 7 episodes, with season eight capping things off with just 6. Take a look at the breakdown below.
It’s two more seasons we’re talking about. From pretty close to the beginning, we talked about doing this in 70-75 hours, and that’s what we’ll end up with. Call it 73 for now. What Dan says is really true, but it’s not just trying not to outstay your welcome. We’re trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end. As Dan said, we’ve known the end for quite some time and we’re hurtling towards it. Those last images from the show that aired last night showed that. Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros; Jon Snow is king of the North and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne.
And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them. The pieces are on the board now. Some of the pieces have been removed from the board and we are heading toward the end game. The thing that has excited us from the beginning, back to the way we pitched it to HBO is, it’s not supposed to be an ongoing show, where every season it’s trying to figure out new story lines. We wanted it to be one giant story, without padding it out to add an extra 10 hours, or because people are still watching it. We wanted to something where, if people watched it end to end, it would make sense as one continuous story. We’re definitely heading into the end game now.
The Best Moments of “Game of Thrones” Season 6
[Source]