The producers of Game of Thrones are making up for this season’s super-short season (just seven episodes) by supersizing Sunday’s finale. HBO confirmed Tuesday that the final installment of season seven will run just shy of 80 minutes (79 minutes and 43 seconds for you time nerds out there), easily making it the show’s longest episode ever. While media reports (and advanced program listings) had hinted for weeks this season would feature a record-long episode, the network didn’t make the news official until today.
The biggest bit of brand-new information revealed Tuesday was the title of the finale: “The Dragon and the Wolf.†Those five words appear to be a reference to both the pivotal relationship between Dany (the Targaryen dragon) and Jon Snow (the Stark wolf, or at least that’s who he thinks he is), as well as Jon’s status — potentially — as the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Whatever the meaning, there’s a good chance the episode will end up as the most-watched GOT, if this season’s current rating trends are any indication. The show is now regularly averaging over 10 million same-day viewers and has set series-best ratings records three of the six weeks it has aired this summer. Sunday’s finale will go head-to-head with MTV’s Video Music Awards, but odds are, the dragon show won’t have any problem obliterating its competition.