HBO Confirms “Game Of Thrones” Will End With Season 8

[Nytegard]

Yeah well some of the best series ever have been cancelled in their early life, while others far less deserving have dragged on for forever without actual reasoning.

But luckily I think by the time Rome was cancelled mid-season S2, they at least managed to sweep through rest of the intended storyline pretty smoothly in the very limited time they had (IMO the final episode showdown at Egypt was perfect) without it looking horribly rushed, or leaving it unopen.

I just wish they returned to it someday. But perhaps instead of continuing it where it left (the reign of Augustus) they'd go to say 2nd/3rd/4th century where the Empire is crumbling on constant civil wars and inflation, plus the Pagans persecuting Christians (or perhaps even Christians persecuting Pagans later on lol). Fifth century with the barbarian hordes and Western half of the Empire slowly collapsing into chaos could be interesting too

Rome just came out at the wrong time imho. It was too early in HBO's original programming for a large scale product with no previous fan base. Had it come out after Game of Thrones, I feel it would have done better.

That said, GoT ending should be celebrated, as other people have already stated. Honestly, good television should have you wanting more and feeling that it ran too short.

 

[nilepez]

^ the HBO series writers are making the story after passing the released books, so it could be as long as they wanted it. Wrapping it up in 2 more short seasons is reasonable.

The funny thing is how fast all the children grew up in the series. Many started out older than in the first book, then twice as many years have passed in real world time vs through the end of ADWD (book 1 to book 5 was about 3 years), making the differences even more striking.

Yes, but I think that Martin has clued them in on the general direction of things (and specifics from the book during this last season).

Nevertheless, it's a great series. I am a bit disappointed that the last 2 seasons combined are going to be roughly the length of a single season (maybe 1.5), but if it's good, then it doesn't really matter.

 

[thekipper]

As reader of the books, I'm gonna laugh my ass off if the show leaves the ending open. I've never been so pissed about a book series in my life. I would rather read Faulkner than go through a waiting game like I've experienced with these books.

 

[Advil]

You've got slightly rose colored glasses about B5. As amazing a premise as it was, it ended spectacularly badly. Just saying "fix the last season" pretty much takes it out of the best of all time list. But I do agree that IF the show had been handled properly at the end it would have been one for the history books.

As for the endless comments from fans about JRRM being a perfectionist? I was in that camp, until we hit 5 years without a book. He's a poser and a has-been now as far as I'm concerned. I don't see any sign that he's actually interesting in publishing more books.

There was a stretch in Wheel of Time that had a couple of the most boring books I've ever read. It started to pick up again eventually but the ending was not nearly as epic as it should have been. It was a GOOD ending, but the lead up to it was pretty bad. It lost it's way for several books.

Kind of like Sword of Truth... (we won't talk about the TV show, ugh) But the books just went BAD half way through and the ship wasn't righted until just before the end. You don't nuke all your main characters for extended stretches and expect people to remain interested.

 

[Stiler]

I still think it's a HUGE missed opportunity to end this entire thing with a huge blockbuster movie.

I mean it seems like a fairly common sense movie for HBO. End the series with a good high budget (150million or so budget) epic 2 1/2-3hr long movie to wrap up the series.

Push it into theaters the summer after season 8.

I can see series 7/8 revolving around all of the houses fighting for control of the throne, especially with Daenerys arriving.

Then at the end of season eight you have (finally) the entire white walkers finally making their way across most of the world and the movie could cover all of the houses having to finally man up and join together to fight (Hence fire and ice in the title).

Business wise I don't get why they don't seem to be going this route. I mean for how huge the show is and how popular it is in many other countires it seems like a no brainer in terms of making money.

 

[evilsofa]

I still think it's a HUGE missed opportunity to end this entire thing with a huge blockbuster movie.

I'm trying to think of a case where this was ever done successfully, aside from nostalgic film reboots being done many years later.

Keifer Sutherland has tried very hard to do this with the TV series "24" but appears to have failed completely. The X-Files did two feature films; the first was more like an extended episode set between two previous seasons, and the second was like an extended episode set between the old series and the new series, but did not feel at all like a finale and did not do well. Stargate SG-1 did two direct-to-DVD films after the series ended, but they flopped.

Oh, Firefly did it with Serenity, but that was after the series cancelled after just one season. The examples I listed above have far more in common with GoT, a series that we now know will last 8 seasons with the last 3 seasons not necessarily following whatever GRRM writes in the remaining books.

The film would have an audience limited strictly to a Venn diagram intersection of those who have watched the entire series on TV and those who have walked into a movie theater in the past decade. Anyone walking in not having seen an episode or read the books would be utterly lost without spending most of the film explaining what went before. People who watch series and movies on HBO don't go to movie theaters. Such a film would be doomed to failure.

 

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

so after watering down the novels story their not ending it prematurely? talk about trolling :/ why did they even bother?

i was hoping we could see more of sansa going around assassinating all the stark foes. o well :{

 

[Mistral]

You've got slightly rose colored glasses about B5. As amazing a premise as it was, it ended spectacularly badly. Just saying "fix the last season" pretty much takes it out of the best of all time list. But I do agree that IF the show had been handled properly at the end it would have been one for the history books.

The first half, or about 75% of season 5 was terrible and boring but I thought when they made it to the collapse of Centauri it picked up very nicely again. And the seres finale was always my all-time favorites, and one of the only episodes I cry to every time I see it. Still do. That single episode alone makes me justify the existence of that season oh and Garibaldi turning into alcoholic again hehe

B5 TV movies were all pretty lame, cheap and unneeded though. I rather not have those existing than Sesson 5. Except maybe the Gathering as you can't really wipe off Pilot of the series lol

 

[N4CR]

Good to hear they won't kill it by overdoing it.

Only recently got into GoTs but much prefer Vikings. Less CGI and more feasible. However my Nordic roots probably throw some bias in there

 

[harmattan]

My list:

1) The Wire
2) The Wire
3) The Wire
4) Game of Thrones
5) West Wing (S1-4)
6) Breaking Bad

The Wire remains uncontested as the best series ever, in my book, but I do understand how some people find it difficult to breach and it doesn't have the "draw of the fantastic" that other great shows like BSG, GoT, Rome, Deadwood, and Breaking Bad have/had.

My list of current favorite shows:

1. The Americans (if you're not watching this, you're missing out. It's definitely a slow-burn, but IMHO the best thing on TV right now by a wide margin with I dare say some of the best suspense and acting ever on the small screen)
2. GoT
4. The Knick

As for GoT only being 2 more (abbreviated) seasons, they're doing the right thing. Anyone who has read the books (and followed the most likely theories) knows generally where the story is going to end up, and stringing it out further would not be the right move. After, They could certainly do a spin-off with Dunk and Egg.

 

[Mistral]

Good to hear they won't kill it by overdoing it.

Only recently got into GoTs but much prefer Vikings. Less CGI and more feasible. However my Nordic roots probably throw some bias in there

I love Vikings too, but the historical accuracy of that one is way off the rails

 

[N4CR]

I love Vikings too, but the historical accuracy of that one is way off the rails

Lol this is true, at least they do well with the art department to keep it all looking in the zone. Really great series and I'm not a TV type - first one that I have got into really.

 

[raz-0]

I still think it's a HUGE missed opportunity to end this entire thing with a huge blockbuster movie.

I mean it seems like a fairly common sense movie for HBO. End the series with a good high budget (150million or so budget) epic 2 1/2-3hr long movie to wrap up the series.

Push it into theaters the summer after season 8.

I can see series 7/8 revolving around all of the houses fighting for control of the throne, especially with Daenerys arriving.

Then at the end of season eight you have (finally) the entire white walkers finally making their way across most of the world and the movie could cover all of the houses having to finally man up and join together to fight (Hence fire and ice in the title).

Business wise I don't get why they don't seem to be going this route. I mean for how huge the show is and how popular it is in many other countires it seems like a no brainer in terms of making money.

Dude, you REALLY, REALLY do not understand HBO's business model.

See they used to have to manage a subscriber base by paying a shit ton of licensing for the most desirable movie line up in order to justify the premium subscription price.

Then they discovered TV series that they make themselves.

THEN they discovered that as long as their TV series were compelling, they could drastically reduce the quantity and quality of their licensed movie lineup.

They drop mega movie budgets on TV shows because it keeps the subscription money coming in and retains a higher margin on their subscription rates.

Turning aorund and telling their subscribers fuck you, I'm going to make you go to a movie theater for the end of this would destroy that customer relationship. For a fraction of a movie ticket. Under the pretense that it would fare better than something like warcraft where outside of the fanbase, it's pretty much a no-name property of zero interest.

Your plan would be about as wrong as possible.

 

[Booyaah]

I was sad to see The Bastard Executioner get cancelled after its first season. Show had great potential...seemed almost like a sequel to Braveheart, post Longshanks era. Sadly they decided to use a stupid name for the show and had some bad marketing/advertising which led to low viewership.

 

[Litfod]

Still in shock they are not going the full 10 episodes per season for the final 2 seasons.

It's probably a good thing. For every Battle of the Bastards there's a lot of padding. Not least because the writers (including Martin, on his own path) seem to be having an increasingly difficult time getting characters synced up so that interesting things can happen. If the missing episodes are all the scenes that Bran would have been in, it would be a bonus.

 

[nilepez]

The Wire remains uncontested as the best series ever, in my book, but I do understand how some people find it difficult to breach and it doesn't have the "draw of the fantastic" that other great shows like BSG, GoT, Rome, Deadwood, and Breaking Bad have/had.

My list of current favorite shows:

1. The Americans (if you're not watching this, you're missing out. It's definitely a slow-burn, but IMHO the best thing on TV right now by a wide margin with I dare say some of the best suspense and acting ever on the small screen)
2. GoT
4. The Knick

Haven't seen the Knick, but The Americans is a great series and I'm going to miss it when it ends.

 

[MrTryfe]

Man, I completely forgot about "The Wire". That show's depth overwhelmed me at one point. The end of season 4 hit me right in the feels. The acting could have been better, but the writing more than made up for all of that. That tends to happen when the exec producer was on the ground to see many of these things.

 

[Raven88]

It's probably a good thing. For every Battle of the Bastards there's a lot of padding. Not least because the writers (including Martin, on his own path) seem to be having an increasingly difficult time getting characters synced up so that interesting things can happen. If the missing episodes are all the scenes that Bran would have been in, it would be a bonus.

You do make a good point. Could use less padding and fluff.