Even 'Game of Thrones' Director Alan Taylor Agrees That Time Is a Little Hazy in Season 7

We've all noticed that this season of Game of Thrones has, to say the least, given us plenty of answers to questions we've wondered for several seasons. Yet, the speed in which we've gotten the answers has been polarizing among fans. Some love that there are so many payoffs in such a short time after devoting countless hours to these characters, while others have heavily criticized the show's pacing. After the action-packed episode "Beyond the Wall" was released last Sunday, director Alan Taylor offered his perspective on the show's timelines during an interview with Variety.

"We were aware that timing was getting a little hazy. We’ve got Gendry running back, ravens flying a certain distance, dragons having to go back a certain distance…In terms of the emotional experience, [Jon and company] sort of spent one dark night on the island in terms of storytelling moments. We tried to hedge it a little bit with the eternal twilight up there north of The Wall. I think there was some effort to fudge the timeline a little bit by not declaring exactly how long we were there."

With so many fans noting the pacing shift this season, it's nice to hear that even the directors have addressed the issue. Taylor also proved that he knows the fandom well, choosing to directly respond to this season's major criticism.

"I think that [it] worked for some people, for other people it didn’t. They seemed to be very concerned about how fast a raven can fly but there’s a thing called plausible impossibilities, which is what you try to achieve, rather than impossible plausibilities. So I think we were straining plausibility a little bit, but I hope the story’s momentum carries over some of that stuff."

Will there be more "plausible impossibilities" in season 8?

Even with the pacing concerns, fans across the board have been anxiously waiting for each episode. For the most part, many viewers are willing to give the show some leeway when it comes to getting characters from A to B, but last Sunday wasn't the first 'plausible impossibility' we'd seen this season. Many are still confounded by Ser Davos' journey from Dragonstone to Flea Bottom, and then from Dragonstone to Eastwatch, all within one episode - even for the Onion Knight, that's a pretty impressive trip.

This makes Alan Taylor's explanation a little hard to swallow because Game of Thrones had a well established sense of time throughout the first six seasons, with Arya's arduous journey from King's Landing to Braavos, Bran's journey north of The Wall and even Daenerys' trek across Essos to reach the Narrow Sea. Fans connected to the show's slow-burning approach to travel, and many want this storytelling technique to return for Season 8.

Plausible impossibilities or not, Game of Thrones has hit the apex of speed and many hope that it would slow down slightly so we can enjoy the story without being distracted by convenient time shifts. With the scripts for next season already written, we can only hope that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss can incorporate some of the fan concerns and deliver the most satisfying conclusion possible.