Get used to to having your nice ten week run of Game of Thrones because if one of the show's directors is to be believed, this will be the last season with ten episodes in it.
Vanity Fair sat down with Jack Bender, who directed this season's fifth and sixth episodes, to talk all things direwolf, Hodor and more and in the process revealed plenty of nuggets about the show, the biggest of which was the fact that this season marks the last time we'll get ten episodes of the show.
When asked if he'd be returning to the show for its seventh season, Bender said:
I don’t know the answer to that. They’re only doing seven [episodes], and they’ve got their regulars who have done it forever. I know that I had a wonderful experience doing the show and I know that Dan and David are thrilled with the shows, but I’ve got this series I’m mounting for the beginning of 2017 based on Stephen King’s trilogy of books, starting with Mr. Mercedes... But under the best of circumstances, schedule and everything, I had a great experience doing the show. If available and they wanted me to, I would love to do that.
This confirms previous comments from showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff that there would only be 13 episodes of the show left after season six ends in just over three weeks times.
So enjoy those final four episodes while you can, because it's going to be a very long winter before it comes back.
Via Vanity Fair