Game of Thrones ended after eight seasons with a conclusion that disappointed fans. But even the author of the books, George R.R. Martin, was far from satisfied.
Game of Thrones is one of the major series of the last fifteen years. It enjoyed extreme popularity for a long time. Only towards the end did fan enthusiasm wane, and the finale was so disappointing that the last season received only 30% (user ratings) on Rotten Tomatoes.
For comparison: Seasons 3 and 4 both received a proud 97%. The criticism is primarily directed at the two showrunners of the series, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. They did not think the finale would be received so poorly.
While they adhered to the author of the source material, George R.R. Martin’s instructions for the scripts of the first seasons, they departed from this starting in season 5.
Perhaps you will like the prequel series “House of the Dragon” better. Here you can see the trailer:
George R.R. Martin foresaw the disappointment
What does the author think about it? Just like the fans, George R.R. Martin was also dissatisfied with the end of the series. This was mainly because the showrunners no longer consulted him starting from season 5 and began to go their own way.
According to Paul Haas, a representative of the writer, he had foreseen that the end of the series would disappoint. Who would be sitting on the Iron Throne at the end could have been guessed through too many hints.
At the same time, Martin, according to his representative, avoids too many hints in the books to maintain suspense. The author had devised a good strategy on how he would resolve the plot.
However, the showrunners of the series wanted nothing to do with it and wrote their own finale. Paul Haas states:
George loves Dan and Dave, but after season 5 he began to worry about the path they had taken, because George knows where the story is going. He began to say, ‘You are not following my template.’ The first 5 seasons adhered to George’s roadmap. Then they deviated from George’s plan.
Paul Haas via The Independent
We have summarized how Cersei Lannister felt about the end of Game of Thrones here.
Were the author’s concerns justified? As mentioned at the beginning, not only was the writer of the source material dissatisfied with the final season. Fans did not like it either. Thus, Martin’s assessment was fulfilled.
A fundamental problem was, of course, that the author writes his books very slowly. The first book was published as early as 1996, five have been published so far, and two more are still awaiting completion.
It was already clear during the airing of the series that it would eventually overtake the books. The unfinished storyline must have prompted the showrunners of the series to write their own ending. Emilia Clarke tried to warn us before season 8, but no one listened to her.
