The biggest TV production of one of the biggest stories of fantasy world is about to get a little, well, bigger.
The Game of Thrones team is creating a ‘super-sized’ third season of the hit series.
With show creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss already rustling through content from the first half (roughly) of George R.R. Martin’s largest Song of Ice and Fire novel (A Storm of Swords), the writer-producer duo are delivering slightly longer episodes to the network. There’s still 10, but you’re gonna get a little more each week than previous seasons.
“There’s almost another full episode’s worth of extra minutes spread across the season,” Weiss says. “One of the great liberties with HBO is we’re not forced to come in at a specific time. We can’t be under 50 minutes or over 60, but that gives us a lot of flexibility.”
“A super-sized season, as befitting Storm of Swords,” Benioff adds. “Last year we had a lot of 52-minute episodes. This year is a lot of 56, 57.”
In fact, the third season finale is expected to run for more than an hour — a move that requires special permission from the network (previously, the show’s pilot episode and its second season finale exceeded an hour).
Episodes are still being calibrated so exact times could change, but HBO and producers are confident the season will be more satisfying than even before. As HBO says in a statement:
“All 10 episodes gained a minute or two from past seasons with the finale very possibly exceeding 60 minutes.”
“So for people clamoring for another episode, it’s in there,” Weiss says. “It’s just been cut into tiny pieces.”
Game of Thrones returns on March 31st, 2013 and stars Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Michelle Fairley, Emilia Clarke, Alfie Allen, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Jack Gleeson, Aidan Gillen and Richard Madden, while season two DVD will be out on February 19th, 2013.
