Few things in pop culture have been as universally-loved as the early seasons of Game of Thrones *or* as universally-despised as the way the show ended. If you were one of the many, many GOT fans who felt personally victimized by the series finale then, first of all, you’re not alone (more on that in a sec) and second, you might have been struggling to feel anything more enthusiastic than “extremely cautious optimism” about the new spinoff, House of the Dragon—and that’s totally fair and valid.
The End of Game of Thrones Disappointment Society has some high-profile members. Emilia Clarke is at very least low-key in the club and George R.R. Martin, who writes the books on which GOT and HotD are based, also apparently had thoughts about some of the creative decisions that were made in the OG show’s final seasons (the TV show officially passed the books after season 5, meaning that the final three seasons of the series didn’t have direct source material to adapt).
“I had no contribution to the later seasons except, you know, inventing the world, the story and all the characters,” Martin said in a new interview with WSJ Magazine about the Game of Thrones legacy and HBO’s game plan for expanding the franchise. “I believe I have more influence now than I did on the original show.”
Plans for Game of Thrones spinoffs started after show’s sixth season, according to WSJ Magazine, when the original series’ producers, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, announced their plans to end the show. That plan, of course, ended up being for two additional short seasons (season 7 had seven episodes and season 8 had six, compared to the standard 10 episodes in each of the first six seasons). According to WSJ Magazine, HBO pushed the producers to keep Game of Thrones going longer and, FWIW, Martin was on the network’s side.
“I was saying it needs to be 10 seasons at least and maybe 12,13,” he said of his attempts to talk Benioff and Weiss out of their ending plan. “I lost that one.”
It sounds like Martin’s voice is definitely being heard this time around though, and the author seems optimistic about the direction House of the Dragon is taking and the larger future of the franchise (which will reportedly include a Jon Snow sequel series in the not-so-distant future).
“How many shows will make it to air? I don’t know, but I hope the answer will be several,” he said. “And we’ll have something akin to the Marvel or Star Wars model by the time it’s all settled.”
This is great, optimistic, big dreaming, but TBH, we’d just be happy with an ending that doesn’t actively alienate the entire fanbase at this point.
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