HBO execs were shocked when Game of Thrones showrunners asked to make the final two seasons shorter

Game of Thrones season 8 controversy is still fresh in the minds of die-hard fans. It’s been nearly four years since HBO’s money-making mint completed production, yet fans still can’t get enough of it. After all, the extremely popular and record-breaking series split its fanbase with a contentious and rushed-up final season. Even the HBO executives who first heard about the plan were quite taken aback.

Game of Thrones showrunners wanted to end the series with a pair of theatrical features

In his book Tinderbox, James Andrew Miller recounts his interview with various prominent HBO personnel, including programming president Michael Lombardo. According to the book, Lombardo was quite surprised when Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were hurrying to end the show, even before Season 8.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 19: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss attend 2020 Netflix SAG After Party at Sunset Tower on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Netflix)

“Lombardo was aghast,” Miller wrote. “He didn’t understand why the paying HBO subscribers who’d been faithful to Thrones for eight glorious years would be asked to forsake their living rooms for a movie theater (or two) to witness the finale. And how could any grand finale, one episode or two, or thirty-two for that matter, not take place at HBO, where the series was born, and had been devotedly supported, ever since?”

HBO execs knew fans won’t be satisfied with a rushed ending

In the same book, Miller reveals, “Key HBO executives already knew at that point that they’d be in for a strong dose of criticism one way or another. They had no doubt that many observers would be likely to complain that the final season was ‘too hurried’ and that what could have been the ending to end all endings would instead be a truncated semi-event.”

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