"Game of Thrones to go long?" Topic

It appears that HBO isn't all that anxious to have a major hit/cash machine end;

link

Without going into SPOILERS, they can do Dunk and Egg, Robert's Rebellion ("Promise me Ned!"), and Arianne and the War of the Iron Islands Succession (Greyjoys).
However, they would be … hiccups in the plot that Benioff and Weiss are weaving.

sorry. It has to have an ending. And I think HBO has done a good job of eliminating meandering filler.
Let them do "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", or … Bambi vs Godzilla instead.

It has to have an ending planned otherwise it won't have one… it'll just stop one day when it gets cancelled.

And there are LOADS more books out there to do series of this quality of.

Who, being honest, would have thought turgid million-page fantasy novels and niche culty zombie comics would suddenly become worldwide TV sensations? I'm hoping they'll encourage more risk taking by networks.

It is GoT, they are covering their bases as it may be 30 years before GRRM publishes the next turgid instalment.

GRRM and HBO have already said the series will end before the books. That much is obvious anyway. One can either assume the next book was not being heavily worked or was an editing mess, or both perhaps, but it is long overdue and has a release date of October of this year and it is not even supposed to be the last book. It could be years until the next book. It will have been 4 years since the last book, when the next one comes out.

This means that very soon, HBO will likely be into virgin territory with regards to what is published, and it means they will either milk it out as their own story (meaning they can drag it on and on if they want), or keep GRRM's ending in mind. But at some point, KatieL is right, it has to actually end.

And to be fair, in my opinion HBO has edited the series fairly well. There was a LOT of fat that was cut from the books for the TV series. Sure, sometimes they cut a bit much for my tastes (looking at you, Stoneheart) but overall I think they have done a decent job.

I am finding it more and more difficult to imagine GRRM ever finishing the books at this point (he is on the record now as saying he would like the series to be eight books, which at his current pace would have him finishing the series sometime around 2023), and have kind of made my peace with HBO doing it.

Well the six/seven seasons thing is always mainly to do with the way Hollywood employs actors.
You sign up for six seasons with an option on a seventh and you`re agent then haggles with the studio to get you a pay rise if it looks like its still running by season 6!
Since SF and Fantasy series are expensive to make they usually just pull the plug at season 7 rather than fork out more money to the cast.

With GoT though, while the series is US funded the production facilities are located in Belfast in Northern Ireland and the shooting takes place all over Europe.
Since most of the cast are British or European actors they are probably employed under the British contract system of working on a season by season basis so there is no reason to assume seven seasons is going to be the max.
About the only exceptions I can think of to that might be Peter Dinklage who is of course an American actor and Lena Hedley who`s English but mainly US based.
(Cersei and Tyrion die in season 7?)

The series will probably continue for as long as its profitable and if they run out of books they coud just get GRRM to write more key episodes to keep it in line with where he finally intends to take the story.

I can see a 8 season (with the last two seasons having two feature length episodes, and nine normal length episodes.. to wrap up the story..

I could see a spin off with a spring is coming, set a full generation after, with new challengers…

I mean it is all politics…

A Game of Thrones go long? Why would anyone think it could ever do that? /snark

"I could see a spin off with a spring is coming"

Sansa and Arya head off to college and have to deal with the problems of dorm life, all nighters, tests and . . . boys!

In Games of Thrones: A Different World.

Finally Jamie and Cersei are able to settle down together but then Brienne needs a place to stay, can they tell her no?

No way!

In Game of Thrones: Three is Company: Sibling Rivalry.

Bran is finally able to walk again after eating from the magic Baio Berry Bush. Now he is living in King's Landing attending school there but he has to look after some of the surviving Bastards of his dead dad's deceased friend.

In Game of Thrones: Bran in Charge!

My only hope is they don't finish the series without a satisfying ending.

I hope they won't go to the 'Movie franchise' option, where they make films to extend the defunct series! – these rarely satisfy!

It seems that HBO is planning (or hoping for) ten years;

link

Apparently with GRRM's approval. As a reader of the books rather than a viewer of the series I guess it means more books (which is good) but the question of whether I will live long enough to see them. I also wonder if 10 seasons will mean 10 books, I doubt it.

All the major characters are signed through seven seasons. There was talk of ending the series as a feature film. GRRM has also said that he is okay with that but HBO apparently is not, taking the stand that asking the viewers (and make no mistake, GoT is HBO's big hit) to see a movie to find out how the series ends is unfair. Altruism aside they may also fear that announcing plans to do that might hurt viewership. Of course, after 10 seasons (or seven or however many), the story of Westeros (after the current storyline ends) could very well wind up on the silver screen, ala Star Trek. GoT has crossed into phenomena status, with people learning to speak Dothraki, and cookbooks and figures and swords and Dragons to sit on the shoulders of those choosing to dress as Dany for Halloween and online discussion groups and all sorts of social media. Heck, even when a new trailer is released its big news.

Sopranos?

I thought the reboot of Stargate takes place in Westeros.

I think you can pretty much forget the books. The TV series is GoT now. Not a chance that he will keep up with demand given his usual release schedule. Plus I doubt many of the new fans from the TV series will want to wade through his writing style.
I can see a good opportunity for prequel type movies though. Silly not to cash in on the franchise while it is hot.

Game of Thrones is the TV series.

The books comprise the Song of Ice and Fire.