‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8 Episode Runtimes Revealed

HBO has revealed the runtimes for each episode of Game of Thrones‘ final season, and they are preparing for the Long Nights.

On Monday, the network updated its schedule to include the length of all six episodes of Game of Thrones‘ eighth season, with each episode aside from the premiere and the second episode set for an hour or longer runtime, Latino-Review Media reports.

The runtimes and their airdates are as follows:
• Episode 1: 54 minutes – April 14th
• Episode 2: 58 minutes – April 21st
• Episode 3: 60 minutes – April 28th
• Episode 4: 78 minutes – May 5th
• Episode 5: 80 minutes – May 12th
• Episode 6: 80 minutes – May 19th

For comparison, the first two episodes of Season 7, “Dragonstone” and “Stormborn,” each boasted 59-minute runtimes, while the third episode, “The Queen’s Justice,” had a 63-minute runtime. Episodes four and five, “The Spoils of War” and “Eastwatch,” both ticked in under an hour, and the final two episodes, “Beyond the Wall” and “The Dragon and the Wolf,” featured the longest runtimes of the season at 71-minutes and 81-minutes.

Meanwhile, the final three episodes of Season 8 will practically run the same length as a feature film, which HBO’s CEO Richard Plepler had teased in January.

“It’s a spectacle. The guys have done six movies. The reaction I had while watching them was, ‘I’m watching a movie,’” he said. “They knew the bar was high. They’ve exceeded the bar. I’ve watched them twice without any CGI and I’m in awe. Everybody’s in for an extraordinary treat of storytelling and of magical, magical production.”

In all, fans will be tuning into 410 minutes, roughly the length of two full-time movies, of Game of Thrones in its final season.

The schedule has also revealed that the season premiere, which is rated TV-MA for its violence, sex, and nudity, has not yet been given an “Adult Content” label, which typically appears alongside each episode of the series. All following episodes boast the “Adult Content” warning.

The release of the final episode runtimes follow the release of the official Season 8 trailer last week. The nearly 2-minute long clip gave away few details, keeping in line with the secrecy surrounding the final season, though it did tease the “longest consecutive battle sequence ever committed to film,” the Battle of Winterfell, as well as which characters will be putting their lives on the line during the final battle.

Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres on Sunday, April 14 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.