Game of Thrones season 8 episodes won’t be two hours long, confirms HBO boss. Yay?

What with there being a truncated Game of Thrones season 8 length, coming in at only six episodes to cap off all things Westeros, it’s not too unreasonable to expect feature-length episodes to help pack in all of the gore, guts, and goodbyes we’ll have to suffer through next year. HBO chief Casey Bloys, though, has tempered expectations by giving a pretty definitive ceiling to the amount of minutes we can expect each episode to clock in at.

When asked by EW about the possibility of two-hour episodes, Bloys answered definitively: “Not two-hours? Yes, they are not going to be. Not that I’ve seen, anyway.” So, that’s a no to a sextet of pseudo-Thrones movies, then. Boo!

For context, the longest current Game of Thrones episode is the season 7 finale at 81 minutes. If you can take Bloys at face value, it seems unlikely that anything from Game of Thrones season 8 will go much beyond that.

But enough about mega-episodes – what about a teensy-tiny sneak peek to placate the masses? Bloys, as ever, was keeping his cards close to his chest, but revealed that a Game of Thrones season 8 trailer is likely this year, stating, “I would guess so, but I don’t know.”

Here’s hoping HBO gets a trailer out of the door before 2018 is over and done with. Despite the final six episodes not quite reaching 120 minutes – and more than likely all being around the 90-minute mark – I think they’ll have no trouble cramming in scenes into a trailer or two before the year is out. Just a hunch.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.