House of the Dragon, HBO Max’s Game of Thrones prequel, premiered Sunday night to a positive reception, but it’s still too soon to know whether it will be enough to sweeten the bitter taste left by the ending of the original series.
The much derided ending to Game of Thrones could have been avoided if HBO had listened to original creator George R.R. Martin, who said he wanted the show to run for “10 seasons at least and maybe 12, 13,” Martin told The Wall Street Journal in an article that appeared Sunday.
“I had no contribution to the later seasons except, you know, inventing the world, the story and all the characters,” said Martin. “I believe I have more influence now than I did on the original show.”
Game of Thrones was a record-setter for television, becoming the most in-demand show in the world and winning the most Emmy awards for a drama series. For HBO executives, it also has the unfortunate record of being the most pirated TV show. The hype and fanfare that built up throughout the first six seasons were blunted by awkward storytelling in the final two. The rushed final seasons rank as the worst in the series. Season eight even led to a Change.org petition demanding HBO remake the final season.
In the wake of the bitterness many fans felt toward Game of Thrones and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss toward the end of its run, the chief content officer of HBO and HBO Max seems relieved to have ceded more creative control to Martin.
HBO’s Casey Bloys told the Journal: “You can’t do better than the person who invented the world.”
