It’s no secret (to viewers) that Game of Thrones fans (far and wide) weren’t thrilled with how much of Season 8 faltered (other than Arya, who simply rules, killing the Night King). They certainly weren’t alright with the show pushing Dany into utter insanity and setting Westeros on fire, and people were especially underwhelmed with (after all of that game playing) Bran Stark ending up on the Iron Throne. And although such a juggernaut of a show couldn’t have made everyone happy with a finale, people were still salty after a year and counting.
As the HBO franchise prepares to launch its first prequel, House of the Dragon, George R.R. Martin sounds like he’s had enough. The spinoff team already led up to this by declaring that they know that not all GoT viewers will sign onto a spinoff without question, but Martin does sound extra fed up. Is this understandable? Sure, he’s dealt with a lot of heat (and I suspect part of this grumpiness has to do with the still-unfinished Winds of Winter), but he’s also apparently steamed. Via the continuing feature rollouts from The Hollywood Reporter:
“The f*cking toxic internet and these podcasts out there saying that season eight left such a bad impression that people say, ‘Oh, I’m never going to watch them again,’” Martin says. “I don’t trust them anymore.”
Immediately after this declaration, THR notes that HBO Chief Casey Bloys gives his take, which is that this “was a social media backlash.” Bloys also stressed “that Twitter is not real life,” and he added, “There weren’t a lot of people walking around despondent or upset.” This appears to reflect a belief that the only upset people made up a small subset of viewers, and that the disappointment was only confined to Twitter. And that’s certainly a perspective, to say the least.
One can suggest that Martin and Bloys have their heads in the sand, or we can all forge ahead and watch House of the Dragon and let the bygones roll away. The full THR piece is well worth a read, although it’s worth noting that Martin does warn (of the spinoff), “There’s no Arya — a character everybody’s going to love. They’re all flawed.” Well, let’s watch this keep minds open for this prequel anyway. Dragons!
(Via Hollywood Reporter)