Game of Thrones' final season was nothing if not divisive, leading to petitions for a remake. While it remains unclear how much George R.R. Martin's last book in the Song of Ice and Fire series will differ, he is thought to have given showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss a rough outline of his plans.
Even so, the death of Daenerys Targaryen and Bran Stark's ascension to the Iron Throne remain among the show's least popular decisions, and new details on Benioff and Weiss' original hopes for Game of Thrones could go some way in explaining why season 8 didn't work.
A new Wall Street Journal profile (via SFFGazette.com) confirms the duo did indeed plan to end the story with three movies instead of 13 episodes split in two. You may recall Martin first mentioning this way back in 2020.
According to Benioff, HBO executives had no interest in bringing Game of Thrones to theaters as their goal is to bring more eyes to the cable network, not earn box office revenue. He was reminded of that when they curtly told him HBO stands for "Home Box Office" and not "Away Box Office."
The piece sheds new light on Benioff and Weiss' decision to walk away from HBO for a deal with Netflix.
"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."
"Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction," Weiss told the publication. Benioff added, "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."
We're not exactly shocked they wanted out with executives pushing them for episodes of Game of Thrones made specifically for smartphones, not television or theaters.
Earlier this year, Benioff and Weiss were asked if they'd have done anything differently with the hit series which has since spawned a prequel series in House of the Dragon. Their answer was undeniably unexpected.
"One thing I know I wish we could have done is there’s the character Mord the Jailer," Benioff said. "It was a mistake not bringing Mord the Jailer back into it," Weiss adds. "We always talked about doing it.”
"And we had the scene for it. There’s a scene set in a tavern. Was it Brienne or The Hound?" he continued. "But we realized too late that Mord could have owned the tavern. We could have had that actor in the background acting exactly the way he did as a jailer, except now as a small-business owner. It was just such an obvious, no-brainer, day-after idea."
Do you think HBO should have made a Game of Thrones movie trilogy in place of season 8? And would those have really been any better if the ending was unchanged? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.