Game Of Thrones finally returned for its eighth and final season after a near two-year absence.

HBO’s hugely popular fantasy epic aired episode one from season eight simultaneously in both the US and UK, with British viewers having to stay up until 2am to watch.

READ MORE: Game Of Thrones returns for eighth and final chapter

 
 
Game Of Thrones season eightGame Of Thrones finally made its long-awaited return to TV (Alex Van Mecl/HBO/PA)

Fans are desperate to find out who will sit on the Iron Throne, with Kit Harrington’s Jon Snow, Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen and Lena Headey’s Cersei Lannister all in the running to rule Westeros.

Following the opening episode – the first new one to air since season seven wrapped up in August 2017 – fans lamented the fact they had to wait a week for episode two.

One tweeted: “Freaking out over that #GameofThrones episode!! So worth the wait! But why, why do we have to wait another week.”

Another commented: “Already waited a year and some change, how bad could another week be? #GameOfThrones :(.”

One tweeted: “It’s over just like that?! Didn’t they say the episodes were gonna be 90-120 minutes long… yhu (you) I can’t wait a whole week, someone leak the whole season pls.”

A fan said: “I can’t believe that’s it. That’s the episode. I really have to wait a whole nother week after that short ass episode.”

And one said: “Look I need like 3 hour long episodes, this 1 hour BS is not going to cut it. Waiting a week is rough.”

Episode one – which had a run time of 54 minutes – is the shortest of the eighth season while the third instalment is the longest, running to 82 minutes.

Game Of Thrones continues on Sky Atlantic on April 21.