--- ---  # Here's Why You Have to Wait So Long for _Game of Thrones_ This Year ## Video: A History of Dragons [Watch (HLS stream): A History of Dragons](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aX3EGE0r.m3u8) (2:51)  _Published 2016-04-22. Professor Christopher Fee discusses the history of dragons in our culture and their relevance today._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 3, 2017 4:40 PM UTC  HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 3, 2017 4:40 PM UTC Although [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4429346/game-of-thrones-season-7-cast-news/)‘ [seventh season](http://time.com/4387823/game-of-thrones-season-7-directors/) will consist of only seven episodes rather than the usual 10, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have announced that it will air a “little bit later” in the year than previous seasons. While this was previously attributed to the fact that filming was delayed in order to [accommodate for the arrival of winter](http://time.com/4410857/game-of-thrones-season-7-premiere/) in the show, it seemed as though three less episodes would allow them to make up for that lost time. However, during a recent interview with [RadioTimes](http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-30/game-of-thrones-is-spending-as-much-time-on-the-next-seven-episodes-as-it-does-on-its-usual-run-of-ten), actor Iain Glen — who plays Ser Jorah Mormont — revealed why that isn’t possible. “They are taking the length of time it takes to shoot 10 episodes to shoot just seven this year, and six next year,” he said. “There are 15 more hours left in _Thrones_ as we understand it, but that may change, but that’s as far as we know. I think the scale and size of the set pieces, the world that is being created it’s just getting more and more extraordinary and they feel they need that time to shoot seven hours as opposed to 10.” The show has not yet announced an official return date. Read more at [RadioTimes.com](http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-30/game-of-thrones-is-spending-as-much-time-on-the-next-seven-episodes-as-it-does-on-its-usual-run-of-ten). Game of Thrones Season 7 Air Date Delayed, Interview ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620572/game-of-thrones-season-7-wait/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620572/game-of-thrones-season-7-wait/"},"headline":"Here's Why You Have to Wait So Long for Game of Thrones This Year","datePublished":"2017-01-03T16:40:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:36.659Z","description":"Even though there are fewer episodes","url":"https://time.com/4620572/game-of-thrones-season-7-wait/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","game of thrones","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0c5e20ddb63c57e/69889808fb4eac2a8188dee2/game-of-thrones-episode-9-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0c5e20ddb63c57e/69889808fb4eac2a8188dee2/game-of-thrones-episode-9-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Game-of-Thrones-Battle-of-The-Bastards-Jon-Snow","caption":"","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4620572/game-of-thrones-season-7-wait/","name":"Here's Why You Have to Wait So Long for Game of Thrones This Year"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A History of Dragons","description":"Professor Christopher Fee discusses the history of dragons in our culture and their relevance today.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aX3EGE0r/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-22T15:01:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aX3EGE0r.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4620572/game-of-thrones-season-7-wait/","duration":"PT2M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4620572/game-of-thrones-season-7-wait/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```