David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of HBO’s Game of Thrones, had the world at their feet for making one of the most popular television series ever. However, it cannot be denied that it also allows them to profit financially from the project’s success. This offer also came to the Game of Thrones co-creators and showrunners when they were finishing up the series with Season 8. As executive producers, they would show up on the lists of every future spinoff. But the two shocked HBO by removing their names, actually turning “free money”. But why?
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Benioff and Weiss talked about ending their involvement in the Game of Thrones franchise completely following the highly critical eighth and final season. They also discuss declining producer credits on all upcoming spinoffs, despite being contractually guaranteed to receive them.
Why Did Game of Thrones Creators Walk Away From Future Spin-Offs Worth Millions of Dollars?
Creativity is not something that can be bought. Of course, it is easier to say that if one is extraordinarily wealthy, and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are prime examples of that. The creators of Game of Thrones turned down the “free money” in exchange for having their names removed from HBO’s Game of Thrones upcoming spin-offs.
Given that Benioff and Weiss are credited with creating the Game of Thrones series, they are entitled to producer credits on any spin-offs that follow, going all the way through whatever HBO decides to do next. But they declined, much to HBO’s lawyers’ dismay.
Benioff informed The Hollywood Reporter:
“HBO was kind of confused. I remember their lawyer saying, ‘But it’s just money, we’re just going to pay you’.”
As for Weiss, he claimed that free money does not exist. Weiss and Benioff did not want their names to be attached to the series, even if they did not need to produce any more Game of Thrones episodes in order to get the royalties. The former added:
“I don’t think there is such a thing as free money. For us, if our name is on it, especially that, while being completely detached and uninvolved, it felt like the strain that would come with that hands-off approach–with its success or failure or anything in between–it was not worth it.”
Well, with a $200 million deal with Netflix (via THR) to produce content, Weiss and Benioff are doing well without the “free money” from Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones Creators Also Discussed Backlash to the Final Season
Game of Thrones fans were harshly critical of the show’s final season, believing it to be poorly written and hurried, while others thought it fell short of the high standards set by the previous seasons (per Screen Rant). Viewers, unable to handle the ending, started a petition titled Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss also talked about this critique. Although more people would have preferred the last season, the former stated that he is powerless to alter the fact that it was not enjoyed by many. He said (via THR):
“You can get so bogged down in public opinion that you spend your whole life googling things and trying to find people who felt one way or the other way.”
Positive or negative, according to Weiss, feedback has a “weird and teeth-grindy” quality. He continued:
“As soon as we went cold turkey [from looking at fan feedback to Season 8]–the last time I googled myself was in 2013–the ambient stress level in our lives dropped by about 50 percent overnight.”
According to Weiss, he has noticed that people were typically calmer when he met a few Game of Thrones fans who have been honest with him about their feelings. He noted:
“There’s something that happens in the transition from human interaction to online that pushes things in a specifically aggro direction.”
In contrast to the highly anticipated seasons that preceded it, season 8 garnered conflicting reviews from critics and presently holds the lowest rating on Rotten Tomatoes. House of the Dragon, an HBO spinoff based on Game of Thrones, is scheduled to return for a second season this year.
All seasons of Game of Thrones are available on HBO.
