Game of Thrones' final season was incredibly divisive, and by that, we mean the vast majority of fans appeared to hate it. Many of the creative decisions made came under fire, including who ended up on the Iron Throne, Daenerys' death at the hands of Jon Snow, and battles that were so dark, no one could really see what the heck was going on.
While there are those who still naively petition for the season to be remade, our best hope for a more satisfying ending will be in George R.R. Martin's next book, The Winds Of Winter.
The author has already confirmed that his novel will greatly differ from the HBO series, and we may now know why. During an interview with The New York Times (via SFFGazette.com) to discuss House of the Dragon, Martin revealed that his behind-the-scenes involvement with the series diminished significantly during its final seasons.
After consulting on everything from scripts to casting during the first four seasons, "By Season 5 and 6, and certainly 7 and 8, I was pretty much out of the loop," Martin states.
This may go some way towards explaining why Game of Thrones lost its way, and when Martin was asked why he became estranged from the show, he responded, "I don’t know - you have to ask Dan and David" (both Weiss and Benioff declined the Times' request for comment; could it be that they felt they knew better?).
The writer has been heavily involved with the upcoming prequel series, though, and HBO's Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys made it clear that he remains a very important part of this world on television. "George, for us, in this process has been a really valuable resource," he says. "He is literally the creator of this world. He is its historian, its creator, its keeper. And so I can’t imagine doing a show that he didn’t believe in or didn’t endorse."
It's a real shame that Martin was frozen out of Game of Thrones in this way, but he's probably wise to distance himself from the show given how much it disappointed fans in those later years. The final season, in particular, was a major let-down, so fingers crossed House of the Dragon is a return to form for this franchise in live-action.
House of the Dragon premieres on August 21.