Games of Thrones cast & crew say the pace will be much, much faster

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

GAME OF THRONES is known just as much for its lively discussions in exotic locations as it is sword play and gratuitous nudity. But the second to last season is almost upon us, and time for talking is over as war comes to Westeros. The war will be filled with dragons, stabbing with pointy things and full-on betrayal. The show needs to ramp things up, and ramp things up they did.

In an interview with EW, some of the shows stars, like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Kit Harington, were shocked to see how fast the show moved when they read the scripts:

Waldau:

I feel like I’d been lulled into a different pace. Everything happened quicker than I’m used to … a lot of things that normally take a season now take one episode.

Harington:

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. It’s quite exciting.

Showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff spoke about how war is here, and because of that urgency Weiss said characters need “move faster.” But they will still get their fair treatment story wise, with Benioff saying that coherent storytelling is still the name of the – ahem – game:

For a long time we’ve been talking about “the wars to come.” 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.

The show works just as well as a drama as it does a fantasy adventure, which means a lot of musings and long conversations about all manner of things. But as a fan of the show I never thought it moved slow, per se. The 10 episode limit (now seven for this new season) always keeps things moving quick, whereas a lot of cable shows stretch things out over 16 episodes or so. But more action is always a good thing, and after how long we’ve waited for some major dragon carnage all I gotta say is it better be glorious.

GAME OF THRONES season seven debuts on HBO July 16.

Source: EW

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