We’ve heard for quite some time now that HBO’s smash hit ‘Game of Thrones‘ almost didn’t end with a shortened final season but a trilogy of films. Now, “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R. R. Martin has confirmed that this was the case. It sounds like showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss wanted to take Westeros to the big screen and HBO was opposed to the idea.
According to Martin:
“At the moment it is not my place to decide because the movie rights for Game of Thrones belong to HBO. Besides from that, we actually considered this option: David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the makers behind the TV show, wanted to finish the saga with three big movies after Season 7. Game of Thrones was supposed to end in cinema. It was seriously discussed four to five years ago.”
While the idea is something that the showrunners were completely behind doing, it appears that HBO wasn’t:
“The executives said: We produce TV shows, we are not in the cinema business. And if HBO does make a movie, like the movie based on Deadwood, they only produce it to show it on tv – not on the big screen. Everything is changing at the moment. What is being shown at the cinema right now? Everything is mixing up. Nowadays, we don’t know where the lines between cinema, streaming services, and television are.”
I am not sure that three movies at the theater would have been the proper way to wrap up such an epic television series. Likely, the runtime would have been lower than the six episodes we did get, which all felt rushed as it was – even to those who liked where the character story arcs ended up.
Would you have preferred the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ to be told in a trilogy of movies? Do you think that it would have benefited the narrative, or would they have had to cram even more story into less screen time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
