The running time of the first two episodes of Game Of Thrones season eight has been revealed.
HBO, the US network that airs GoT, has revealed its schedule for the coming weeks – including the fantasy show’s start date.
According to their schedule, episode one will be 54 minutes long, while episode two the following week will run for 58 minutes.
While the final season is set to have special extended episodes, the opening instalments look pretty standard for Game Of Thrones, so they are likely saving their feature-length episodes until later on in the series.
At just six episodes, season eight is set to be the shortest run so far.
Creators David Benioff and DB Weiss previously teased that the show will come full circle with a call back to the very first episode way back in season one.
The opening shot in season eight episode one will tease the start of a huge fight across Westeros, much like the beginning of season one did.
The pair revealed to Entertainment Weekly that season eight will kick off with Daenerys arriving at Winterfell with her armies to face off against the White Walkers.
This will reflect the first episode in season one back in 2011 with Robert Baratheon arriving at Winterfell to ask for Ned Stark’s help in King’s Landing…and we all know how that turned out.
The cast have been dropping hints about a ‘brutal’ battle in the final season that will overshadow Battle Of The Bastards.
Star Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion, told Entertainment Weekly: ‘It’s brutal. It makes Battle of the Bastards look like a theme park.’
Apparently the scene has involves ‘multiple’ characters who play out their final storylines with the battle – against the White Walkers – as a backdrop.
Benioff added: ‘We’ve been building toward this since the very beginning, it’s the living against the dead, and you can’t do that in a 12-minute sequence.’
Meanwhile Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, described filming the battle as ‘physically draining’.
It’s night after night, and again and again, and it just doesn’t stop. ‘You can’t get sick, and you have to look out for yourself because there’s so much to do that nobody else can do.’
Maisie confessed: ‘There are moments you’re just broken as a human and just want to cry.’
Game Of Thrones returns April 15 on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.
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