HBO’s Game of Thrones is still considered one of the greatest TV shows ever made, despite the divisive final season. Everyone would wait for a new season to drop and eagerly count the days till next week as the episodes dropped weekly. After a fabulous and complex narrative till season 7, season 8 infamously dropped the ball and ended the series on a sour note.
The final season delivered one of the most divisive endings of a series in history. Now, the creators of the series are reflecting on their original plans for the ending of the series and how they were not fans of HBO’s owners at the time who did not care for theatrical output.
HBO Rejected Game of Thrones Creators’ Plans to End The Series With a Film Trilogy
Game of Thrones infamously ended the series with a highly divisive eighth season that disappointed people and alienated its fan base. Fans were pissed with the illogical character arcs and anticlimactic ending of the season. However, it seems series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had devised a different way to end the series.
In an interview with WSJ Magazine, the duo revealed that instead of spreading the last 13 episodes over two seasons, they wanted to end the series with a film trilogy that would be released in theatres. However, Time Warner’s owners at the time, AT&T, reminded them that HBO means Home Box Office and were not interested in bringing the series to theatres.
They were all about streaming and even asked them whether the episodes could be shot vertically so that they could play better on phones. Understandably, Benioff and Weiss did not like how HBO handled the matter. WSJ Magazine wrote,
“Benioff and Weiss, who have been friends since grad school, weren’t crazy about HBO’s then-owners, AT&T, whose executives once asked whether ‘Game of Thrones’ could be shot vertically so it would fit on your phone. The company also openly discussed the idea of snackable mini-episodes of the series.”
Weiss blamed HBO for the dismal reception of the series’ final season saying “Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction”. The duo have now moved away from HBO to Netflix and are coming out with their next epic project 3 Body Problem.
Maisie Williams Felt Lost When She Did Game of Thrones
Maisie Williams made her acting debut, starring as Arya Stark in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones. Williams was only 12 years old at the time and landing such a big role proved to be nerve-wracking for the actress. She recently told The Times about how she felt lost while doing the series.
Williams revealed that she found it hard to process her identity within the series. While she found it incredibly nervous and pressurizing during the time, she states that she is comfortable in her own skin now compared to her early days. She said,
“I was so lost for so long and I knew that I was, and when I couldn’t pin down what I felt my identity was within that, it brought me a lot of discomfort. Now I feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin. It’s hard to even put myself back there and talk about how tough it was just because I think it’s done.”
The Game of Thrones lore has now found further success through its prequel series House of the Dragon which is set to return with its second season in mid-2024. Another prequel series titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight will premiere in late 2025. Fans can watch the original series on Max.
