Game of Thrones fans might have someone new to blame for that lackluster ending.
While reflecting on the final seasons of the show, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss confirmed that the original plan was to produce three movies instead of the final 13 episodes that aired across two seasons. The writing duo told the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ. Magazine in a profile published on Thursday, February 22, that network executives at HBO allegedly shut down the concept.
“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 article claimed. “The company also openly discussed the idea of snackable mini-episodes of the series.”
Benioff, 53, also alleged that he was told HBO stands for “Home Box Office” and not “Away Box Office.”
“Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction,” Weiss, 52, said about the duo working with Netflix for their next project, 3 Body Problem.
Benioff said their past experience influenced their approach this time around, adding, “When you sign a five-year deal with a company, you want that company to be stable so you can be left alone to do your work and not have to worry about it being bought by the phone company. Finding the smoothest ride in the ocean was key.”
Game of Thrones, which aired from 2011 to 2019, was an adaptation of a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin titled A Song of Ice and Fire. After eight seasons, the show ended with Bran Stark becoming king and banning Jon Snow (Kit Harington) to the Night’s Watch after he killed Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). Sansa (Sophie Turner) was crowned Queen of the North, Arya (Maisie Williams) decided to travel west and King’s Landing went up in flames, which left many viewers less than thrilled.
Amid the backlash, Martin, 75, weighed in on how his book ending would differ. He claims the book series will end after seven novels, but fans have been waiting on the sixth book, The Winds of Winter, for more than a decade.
“The Winds of Winter is very late, I know, I know, but it will be done. I won’t say when, I’ve tried that before, only to burn you all and jinx myself … but I will finish it, and then will come A Dream of Spring,” Martin wrote on his blog in 2019. “How will it all end? I hear people asking. The same ending as the show? Different? Well … yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.”
He continued: “I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget. They had six hours for this final season. I expect these last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages between them before I’m done … and if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I’ll add them.”
Readers who are waiting on new pages from Martin have continued to get their fix with HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff series House of the Dragon. The prequel, which debuted its first season in 2022, took inspiration from Martin’s 2018 novel Fire & Blood.
House of the Dragon is set hundreds of years before the events of GoT and focuses on the ancestors of Daenerys Targaryen.
Emma D’Arcy plays Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, while Matt Smith brings the role of her uncle Prince Daemon Targaryen to life. The show also stars Eve Best, Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Fabien Frankel, Rhys Ifans, Sonoya Mizuno and Steve Toussaint. Season 2 is set to premiere later this year.
