Game Of Thrones Season 7 Finale Will Be 8 Billion Years Long

… All right, so we may have engaged in a bit of hyperbole in our headline there. But Game of Thrones season 7 is shaping up to be oversized in every way, from premiere to finale, from episode 1 to episode 7.

We’ve had plenty of speculation on what’s to come based on the sizzling teaser for Game of Thrones Season 7. Now we know that while the season may be the shortest one yet, the episodes will be longer and we’ll have plenty of time to luxuriate in all the drama, pathos and theatre of Daenery’s dragons, Jon Snow’s broody pouts and Cersei’s existence. Six seasons of setup are about to pay off, y’all - and fast.

“Things are moving faster because in the world of these characters the war that they’ve been waiting for is upon them,” showrunner Dan Weiss said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “The conflicts that have been building the past six years are upon them and those facts give them a sense of urgency that makes [the characters] move faster.”

“For a long time we’ve been talking about ‘the wars to come,'” showrunner David Benioff said. “Well, that war is pretty much here. So it’s really about trying to find a way to make the storytelling work without feeling like we’re rushing it - you still want to give characters their due, and pretty much all the characters that are now left are all important characters. Even the ones who might have started out as relatively minor characters have become significant in their own right.”

Actors Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Kit Harington (Jaime Lannister and Jon Snow, respectively) agreed, stating that the show has moved to a galloping pace. “Everything happened quicker than I’m used to… a lot of things that normally take a season now take one episode,” said Coster-Waldau.

“This season is really different than any other season because it’s accelerating toward the end, a lot of stuff collides and happens much much quicker than you’re used to seeing on Thrones… it’s so different than what everybody is used to,” added Harington.

Now that we know we have a long premiere and a long finale in a short, fast-paced season, here are the episode runtimes:

• 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

Game of Thrones returns to HBO on July 16. With many spin-off series in the works exploring the possibilities of the wide, magical, violent world of Westeros, Game of Thrones fans can be assured that they’ll be returning to the world they love shortly after HBO wraps up the main series.

Are you looking forward to Game of Thrones Season 7? Which plot’s resolution are you most excited about? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.