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George RR Martin Begged HBO Boss To Do Game of Thrones Season 9 & 10
George R.R. Martin wanted Game of Thrones to be 10 seasons long and begged HBO’s former CEO for a longer run. The immensely popular drama-fantasy series ended in 2019 after eight seasons and a total of 73 episodes, the story of which centred on bloody wars, shocking betrayals and the unlikely alliances of nine noble families in the fictional continent of Westeros. Game of Thrones gained a huge following, with many of its stars, like Emilia Clarke, Richard Madden and Kit Harington, going on to become household names.
Game of Thrones is based on Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the first instalment of which, A Game of Thrones, was first published in 1996. Since then, a further four books have been released, with plans by Martin to write a total of seven altogether. During Game of Thrones' TV run, the author served as a co-executive producer and wrote one episode for each of seasons 1 to 4. He also provided series showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss with the plot outlines for the still-unreleased sequels, as the TV show started to outpace the source material already provided by Martin by Game of Thrones season 5. Recently, it was revealed that the author was "worried" about where the show's story was heading after season 5, and wasn't convinced that Benioff and Weiss were sticking to Martin's "template" as they created their own narrative outside of his novels.
Now, more has been revealed about what happened behind the scenes of Game of Thrones in a new book titled "Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers" by bestselling journalist, James Andrew Miller (via Insider). In it, Miller provides an oral history of the broadcaster using over 700 interviews, from everyone to Martin himself to HBO's former CEO, Richard Plepler. Paul Haas, Martin's agent, explained how the fantasy author would meet directly with Plepler and "beg him" to make Game of Thrones a 10-season series with 10 episodes each, believing there was even enough material to go up to 13 seasons. Read Haas' full quote below:
Quote:
"George would fly to New York to have lunch with Plepler, to beg him to do ten seasons of ten episodes because there was enough material for it and to tell him it would be a more satisfying and more entertaining experience."
After all, Game of Thrones' success didn't come without criticisms. Season 7 consisted of seven episodes, while the final season 8 had just six episodes, contrary to the 10 that had been a staple of Game of Thrones seasons 1-6. This caused some fans to accuse the showrunners of rushing the finale and, by extension, poorly concluding the arcs of many of the show's most important characters. The most controversial of these was Daenerys Targaryen's (Clarke) storyline, which ended with a divisive descent into tyranny. Many viewers were unhappy when the Mother of Dragons decided to mercilessly kill innocents without reason during the penultimate episode of season 8. Some saw this shift from hero to villain as too sudden to be palatable and believable, while others were quick to defend the writers by pointing out that House Targaryen, one of Westeros' nine noble houses, were burdened with a family history of madness and bloodlust.
It could well be that more episodes per season, and more seasons per series, would have given the showrunners more room to prolong and justify Daenerys' troubled ending, lessening the apparent handbrake turn in character psychology that she took at the end of Game of Thrones season 8. However, with a storyline that would inevitably outpace Martin's original source material, it's no surprise that some fans were left disappointed. The show had achieved critical success until its final season, but it's not uncommon for finales to fall flat. What Game of Thrones fans can rejoice in, however, is knowing that Martin still has two books left in his series to release, and can look forward to reading an ending that may satisfy where the TV show couldn't.
