Wife said that she read that while there will only be 7 seasons this year (pisses me off) that HBO says those 7 episodes will take as much to make as the normal 10 seasons. I've also read some interviews with the producers who say these final 13 episodes will be more like 13 moves in terms of scope, cinematography, huge battle scenes, etc.
We shall see. I'm not happy with them spreading 13 episodes over two years.