HBO is gearing up to begin production on the eighth and final season of its epic fantasy series Game of Thrones, which is set to consist of just six episodes, albeit expanded from their usual runtime.
Over the past few months, there has been talk that the final season might not arrive until 2019, and the latest comments from Liam Cunningham seem to suggest that could well be the case, with the Ser Davos Seaworth actor telling TV Guide that filming will continue right through until the summer of 2018.
“[The episodes are] definitely going to be bigger and what I hear is longer,” said Cunningham. “We’re filming right up until the summer. When you think about it, up until last season we’d have six months to do ten episodes, so we’re [doing] way more than that for six episodes. So that obviously will translate into longer episodes.”
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As well as shooting longer episodes, the series is no longer able to make use of two different filming units, given that the majority of the characters and storylines have now come together. And of course, one would expect there’s going to be several enormous battle sequences, which will also increase both the production and post-production time required.
So, 2019 it is then?
