HBO’s popular adaptation of George RR Martin‘s beloved fantasy series is fast approaching its end.
Though fans are clamoring for new Game of Thrones episodes, the feeling will likely be bittersweet as we rapidly approach the series finale, due in just 13 episodes over two truncated seasons.
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But the showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are looking forward to the events that take the characters to the eventual end; Daenerys Targaryen, her army, and her dragons are finally in Westeros; Sansa Stark and Jon Snow have reclaimed their home in Winterfell; Arya Stark exacted bloody revenge against House Frey; and Cersei Lannister sits atop the Iron Throne.
Weiss and Benioff recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the final episodes and how fans should expect a much faster pace as the series approaches its endgame.
“What’s most exciting this season is being able to play interactions between various characters that for years we haven’t been able to play,” Weiss said.
As depicted in the trailer, the dragons have finally returned to Westeros and they’re wreaking havoc in large scale battles. But that’s just a small example of how their arrival is affecting the greater world.
“Dany in Westeros makes Game of Thrones a new show,” said writer Bryan Cogman. “It has this amazing ripple effect throughout every storyline that’s very exciting to explore. There’s a pace and urgency that’s very palpable. This is the end game.”
Though the upcoming seventh season only consists of seven episodes, don’t expect them to slow down to stretch out the story. Everyone is firing on all cylinders for what should be the most explosive slate of episodes in the series yet.
“We say it every year, but everybody steps up their game this season,” Benioff said. “It’s kind of astounding to us. In every department, from the acting to the effects, everybody constantly improves.”
Based on the popular book series A Song Of Ice And Fire, by George RR Martin, the hit Emmy-winning fantasy series Game of Thrones chronicles an epic struggle for power in a vast and violent kingdom.
The seventh season of Game of Thrones will see Daenerys Targaryen finally make her way from Essos to Westeros to reclaim the Iron Throne, while the Night King’s White Walker army marches south, bringing winter with him.
Game of Thrones stars Emmy and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Diana Rigg, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and Jonathan Pryce. Executive producers are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield. Co-executive producers are Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin.
Game of Thrones Season 7 premieres July 16 on HBO.
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