When ‘Game Of Thrones’ was successfully shown on television or via streaming, rumors arose that the fantasy series based on the books by George RR Martin would not end up on the small screen, but rather in the big cinema. There was talk at the time about a final film trilogy. Now, showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss confirmed that they actually had these plans for the end of ‘Game Of Thrones’, but their plans were thwarted.
In an interview with the The showrunner duo explained that they wanted to make three ‘Game Of Thrones’ films instead of the past two seasons with a total of thirteen episodes. But those responsible at HBO were against bringing the saga to the cinema. According to Benioff, they were told at the time that the network name HBO stood for “Home Box Office” and not “Away Box Office” – that is, for viewing “at home” and not “somewhere else.”
This way of dealing with their creative ideas led, among other things, to Benioff and Weiss switching from HBO to Netflix after the end of ‘Game Of Thrones’. There, the science fiction series ‘3 Body Problem’ was created under her leadership, which will premiere on March 21, 2024.
No films, but mini-episodes for your mobile?
In the detailed portrait of the two series makers in It is also said that Benioff and Weiss were not enthusiastic about AT&T, the then owner of HBO, for other reasons. AT&T executives reportedly asked them: whether they could film ‘Game Of Thrones’ vertically so that it would fit better on a smartphone. The company is also said to have openly discussed the idea of ’snackable mini-episodes’ of the series.
When things don’t work, whether on an interpersonal or institutional level, that’s the most common reason projects go wrong, Weiss said in the interview. His colleague Benioff adds: “When you sign a five-year contract with a company, you want that company to remain stable and just leave you alone to do your job and not have to worry about being bought by a telephone company. .”
So there seems to have been a lot of sand in the making, at least according to the two showrunners, who conclude: “Finding the path of least resistance in this ocean was ultimately the key.”
We will never see this Game Of Thrones finale
Whether a ‘Game Of Thrones’ finale in theaters would have made fans happier is of course an open question. Ultimately, the two creators did not discuss the fact that they had changed the content of the much-criticized ending. And it wouldn’t have solved the problem of rushed story pacing – quite the opposite. If three films had actually been planned instead of thirteen episodes, there would probably have been even fewer hours of story time available. But of course, it’s possible that the entire ending would simply have been written differently if it were based on a cinematic trilogy. But we’ll never know.