"Game of Thrones" season 6 ended with a finale that sets up the beginning of the end, and as reported by Deadline, the final two seasons of the show will have fewer episodes than the previous ones, with season 7 speculated to have only 7 episodes instead of 10 when it premieres early next year.
"From pretty close to the beginning, we talked about doing this in 70-75 hours, and that's what we'll end up with. Call it 73 for now," explained series co-creator and showrunner David Benioff. "What Dan says is really true, but it's not just trying not to outstay your welcome. We're trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end."
Benioff also explains that Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) finally sailing to Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms was the "first domino" that would lead to a chain of events building to the grand finale of the series. He further explains that as of the season 6 finale all of the key characters and events were in place.
In a separate report from Vanity Fair, Jack Bender, who directed the season 6 episosde "The Door," revealed that the current plan is for season 7 to have 7 episodes while season 8 will have 6. It is also explained that the showrunners have no intention of adding unnecessary fluff just to prolong the last two seasons.
"Game of Thrones" season 7 is expected to reveal the true name of Jon Snow (Kit Harington), the arrival of Daenerys at Westeros, the fall of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and the assault of the White Walkers on the land of the living.
Although HBO has yet to announce the official premiere date for season 7, it is expected that it will launch in April 2017. Given that it has fewer episodes it is likely to be completed sooner than the previous season and there won't be a show such as "Vinyl" to delay it further. This may change depending on how complex season 7 is to film given how it is going build up the finale of the series.
