Season 7 Fact Sheet: Episode Lengths, Directors, and more

Game of Thrones season 7 is almost upon us, and we’re here to gather the nuts and bolts info you need to know.

Let’s start with the basics. When are where does the new season air?

• You can watch new episodes of Game of Thrones on HBO (can also use HBO Now or HBO Go).
• The season 7 premiere airs at 9:00 pm EST on Sunday, July 16, and will air for the next six weeks at the same time.

As you may have heard, we’re getting fewer episodes than usual this year. Before this season, every season of Game of Thrones had 10 episodes apiece. This time around, there are only seven.

“No!” you shout. “But why?” To hear the producers tell it, that’s the number of episodes they need to tell this story properly — season 8, the final season, will have only six. However, there may be a silver lining. Yes, we’re getting fewer episodes than usual, but a lot of them have inflated running times. Check out the stats below, taken from HBO’s website.

• Episode 1: 59 minutes
• Episode 2: 59 minutes
• Episode 3: 63 minutes
• Episode 4: 50 minutes
• Episode 5: 59 minutes
• Episode 6: 71 minutes
• Episode 7: 81 minutes

For Game of Thrones, a 59-minute episode is on the long side, and as you can see, all but one of the episodes in season 7 is that long or longer. At 71 minutes, Episode Six will be the longest episode in the show’s history…until the week after, with an 81-minute finale that’s basically as long as a short movie. As Game of Thrones sound designer Paula Fairfield said at Con of Thrones, while there are only seven episodes in the season, “you’re getting like nine shows worth of material.”

Granted, at 50 minutes, Episode 4 is among the shortest episodes the show has ever produced, but we can’t have everything.

But who’s behind the camera for these masterpieces? We have that info, too.

• Episode 1: Jeremy Podeswa
• Episode 2: Mark Mylod
• Episode 3: Mark Mylod
• Episode 4: Matt Shakman
• Episode 5: Matt Shakman
• Episode 6: Alan Taylor
• Episode 7: Jeremy Podeswa

Except for Matt Shakman, all of these guys have worked on the show before. Podeswa directed moving hours like “Kill the Boy” and “Home,” aka The One Where Jon Comes Back From the Dead. Mark Mylod is the workhorse behind episodes like “High Sparrow” and “The Broken Man,” while Alan Taylor directed “Baelor,” the pivotal season 1 episode where Ned Stark is executed, and “Fire and Blood,” where Daenerys’ dragons are born. Shakman, is known for his work on stuff like Mad Men, Fargo, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Next: Crosstalk: Should Game of Thrones had included Lady Stoneheart?

As for the episode titles, HBO still hasn’t released most of them, but we do know the first three, complete with synopses.

Episode 601: “Dragonstone.”

• “Jon (Kit Harington) organizes the defense of the North. Cersei (Lena Headey) tries to even the odds. Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) comes home.”

Episode 602: “Stormborn.”

• Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) receives an unexpected visitor. Jon (Kit Harington) faces a revolt. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) plans the conquest of Westeros.

Episode 603: “The Queen’s Justice.”

• Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) holds court. Cersei (Lena Headey) returns a gift. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) learns from his mistakes.

As for the rest, we’ve been speculating wildly.