HBO Exec on Prequels, Final Season

[Westeros]

James Hibberd at EW has an intersting interview with Casey Bloys, HBO’s President of Programming, regarding the final seasons of Game of Thrones, the potential successor shows, and the involvement (or lack of same) of David Benioff and Dan Weiss in those last. Definitely read the full article, but below are a couple of choice quotes:

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[Byfort of Corfe]

To me the major piece of news is that we may not see the finale of the series until 2019 or later.  That's a long time to wait for 6 episodes.

[RhaenysBee]

45 minutes ago, Byfort of Corfe said:

To me the major piece of news is that we may not see the finale of the series until 2019 or later.  That's a long time to wait for 6 episodes.

It's completely unjustified and straight up trolling the audience. The last thing I still respected in D&D and the show is that you can count on their in time delivery. Is that gone now too? 

[Clegane'sPup]

I read the information via Watchers on the Wall. The site had a link to the interview. I also read the site responses.

My first thought was, “Oh, shite.” “Damn, I thought I was going to get an ending next year.”

I haven’t looked at Reddit yet.

Me, in my way of thinking is that there is a ploy going on. Season 7 has a delayed opening and less but not longer episodes. Season 8 supposedly has fewer episodes than season 7.

I don’t watch the show as it airs. I read recaps & fan sites and buy the dvd’s when they are eventually released.

What plucks my nerve is Martin is well aware of the happenings. It takes meetings, meetings, meetings.

Martin sold his ASOIAF story incomplete with probable caveats that his books would be available or that Martin would provide material.

Again, my personal opine, Martin is the one who loses credibility. Does anyone remember?  I’m paraphrasing here; he was espoused to be the American Tolkien.

Martin’s books reached mainstream via HBO. He needs to remember that. The money generated allowed Martin to expand his interests in the arts and the creativity of artists.

If this bs about season 8 is true, and there is no release of the WoW during 2018, weeeeeeeeeel Mr. Martin can kiss his integrity and credibility to the curb.

But then maybe he is going to surprise me and release WoW and DoS simultaneously.  *LMASO*

[the tower of albion]

For a subscription based business that would be a real bad idea. Remember they wouldn't keep the actors under contract (and pay them a retainer) unnecessarily so if they start shooting late 2017 and have it distribution ready by April 2018 - then with hold it until 2019! they would lose a lot of subscribers who would quite rightly think they were being ripped off. Now AMC can get away with that sort of thing because they are basic cable - but would you tolerate it from HBO?

[Lord Friendzone]

6 hours ago, RhaenysB said:

It's completely unjustified and straight up trolling the audience. The last thing I still respected in D&D and the show is that you can count on their in time delivery. Is that gone now too? 

It is justified. Rather than rushed up ending, we'll get a top notch qaulity ending this show deserves. It's something for something kind of deal and season 8 will involve a lot of CGI.

 

[RhaenysBee]

9 hours ago, Lord Friendzone said:

It is justified. Rather than rushed up ending, we'll get a top notch qaulity ending this show deserves. It's something for something kind of deal and season 8 will involve a lot of CGI.

 

We need an extra year for a quality ending? Does that mean they admit the quality was crap so far because they didn't spend enough time writing the scripts? CGI isn't a guarantee card for quality, it just ensures cinematic visuals.  

[Lord Friendzone]

2 hours ago, RhaenysB said:

We need an extra year for a quality ending? Does that mean they admit the quality was crap so far because they didn't spend enough time writing the scripts? CGI isn't a guarantee card for quality, it just ensures cinematic visuals.  

According to them yes, they do. It does not signal that the show was crap but things are getting bigger and much complicated each year. The War of Dawn and The Long Night will be extremely hard to do, so to deliver the best quality ending this show deserves, they'll work even more on this. CGI isn't a guaranteee of quality but it costs a lot, there is a lot of work to do. See Hardhome episode for example how complex that sequence really was and probably Game Of Throns will operate with budget for two seasons and that could around 20m dollars if rumours about 10m per season are true.

[the tower of albion]

Doesn't take that long to do cgi - not in this day and age and the visual effects of GOT are run of the mill. They are not pushing the edge of the envelope trust me - not even close.

[StepStark]

On 6/3/2017 at 7:37 PM, Byfort of Corfe said:

To me the major piece of news is that we may not see the finale of the series until 2019 or later.  That's a long time to wait for 6 episodes.

 

On 6/3/2017 at 8:26 PM, RhaenysB said:

It's completely unjustified and straight up trolling the audience. The last thing I still respected in D&D and the show is that you can count on their in time delivery. Is that gone now too? 

It's as if writing the show without Martin's books to guide you is not that easy after all. It's as if Mr. Benioff and Weiss are little lost without Martin doing all the groundwork for "their" show. Who'd say, right?

[StepStark]

But the best parts of interview is where HBO exec says that D&D effectively chose not to receive exactly what they've been handing Martin all these years. They don't want their names on the prequels because that would suggest some "expectation and responsibility", which, presumably, they're not up for if they're not in full control. You have to love the irony of it. ARE THEY KIDDING US??? When did D&D ever think about Martin's "expectations and responsibility" for lending his name to their fanfiction? Did they think about it when they replaced Jeyne W with that Talisa chick so he had to ask them to change the name at least because it's a completely different character? Or when they cut out LSH because the actress is too good to play "a zombie" and their precious show is too good to have "a zombie"? Or when they turned Stannis into a whiny moron that burns his only child because of some snow? And so on. But in truth, I don't believe for a second that D&D were worried about their responsibility. I'm totally certain that it was HBO who axed them, and not the other way around. D&D are simply not respected, both in the industry and in HBO. Show fans may think they are, but they really aren't. Just wait and see how many good offers will go D&D's way once GOT is over.

[Clegane'sPup]

1 hour ago, StepStark said:

It's as if writing the show without Martin's books to guide you is not that easy after all.

That is part of the problem. No source material for a TV show about a uncompleted books series that Martin okayed. Martin is either collaborating or not. Which one is it?

[StepStark]

35 minutes ago, Clegane'sPup said:

That is part of the problem. No source material for a TV show about a uncompleted books series that Martin okayed. Martin is either collaborating or not. Which one is it?

Wrong question. You should be asking: were they willing to collaborate with Martin or not? And the answer is in the show itself: no they weren't. They were refusing his collaboration over and over again. They weren't telling his story, they were telling their version of it, which is a totally different story in some ways. And now they're lost.

[Clegane'sPup]

4 minutes ago, StepStark said:

Wrong question. You should be asking: were they willing to collaborate with Martin or not? And the answer is in the show itself: no they weren't. They were refusing his collaboration over and over again. They weren't telling his story, they were telling their version of it, which is a totally different story in some ways. And now they're lost.

Matter of opinion. Like I said earlier I don't watch the show as it airs.

On 6/3/2017 at 5:04 PM, Clegane'sPup said:

Martin sold his ASOIAF story incomplete with probable caveats that his books would be available or that Martin would provide material.

[StepStark]

6 minutes ago, Clegane'sPup said:

Martin sold his ASOIAF story incomplete with probable caveats that his books would be available or that Martin would provide material.

And why would he do something like that? Only a moron would put himself in such a position.

It's much more logical if the caveat was that they stay faithful to his story. After all, that's what they were promising publicly. But they failed to do that. So it's on them if the deal went wrong.

But anyway, I don't know why show lovers should be upset by the latest revelations. They'll get their ending. Little later than expected, but they'll get it. They're probably going to like it, too. It's just that, it won't have a lot in common with ASOIAF. But hey, that didn't bother show lovers so far, no reason to start now.

[StepStark]

10 minutes ago, Clegane'sPup said:

Matter of opinion.

Apparently it isn't. Look, Martin was very supportive to D&D, much more than I ever would, to be honest. And yet, he's not involved in the show anymore. But he's obviously already involved in the prequels. Do the math yourself, and you'll see that even Martin doesn't like the show anymore. They managed to piss even him, possibly the most understanding and forgiving source author ever.

[Clegane'sPup]

5 minutes ago, StepStark said:

And why would he do something like that? Only a moron would put himself in such a position.

Your words not mine.

 

5 minutes ago, StepStark said:

It's much more logical if the caveat was that they stay faithful to his story. After all, that's what they were promising publicly. But they failed to do that. So it's on them if the deal went wrong.

Were you present at the signing of the contracts or at the meetings, meetings, meetings?

 

6 minutes ago, StepStark said:

But anyway, I don't know why show lovers should be upset by the latest revelations. They'll get their ending. Little later than expected, but they'll get it. They're probably going to like it, too. It's just that, it won't have a lot in common with ASOIAF. But hey, that didn't bother show lovers so far, no reason to start now.

I'm basically a book reader not a show watcher, and as I said

On 6/3/2017 at 5:04 PM, Clegane'sPup said:

Martin’s books reached mainstream via HBO. He needs to remember that. The money generated allowed Martin to expand his interests in the arts and the creativity of artists.

If this bs about season 8 is true, and there is no release of the WoW during 2018, weeeeeeeeeel Mr. Martin can kiss his integrity and credibility to the curb.

But then maybe he is going to surprise me and release WoW and DoS simultaneously.  *LMASO*

 

[StepStark]

Just now, Clegane'sPup said:

Were you present at the signing of the contracts or at the meetings, meetings, meetings?

Funny, it was you who had all those ideas about caveats and everything. Hypocrisy much?

1 minute ago, Clegane'sPup said:

Your words not mine.

You don't think it would be stupid on anyone's part to make such absurd promise???

2 minutes ago, Clegane'sPup said:

Martin’s books reached mainstream via HBO. He needs to remember that. The money generated allowed Martin to expand his interests in the arts and the creativity of artists.

I think you got it all backwards. It's his story. There wouldn't be Game of Thrones without him. He doesn't "need to remember" anything. If that was his main goal, he could've "reached mainstream" long ago, by selling ASOIAF rights to all those big studios that made offers.

He refused all those studios because he didn't trust them. He sold the rights (probably for lesser money) to D&D and HBO, because he trusted them. He made a wrong choice there, but he doesn't have to stick with it forever. It's his story, after all. It's them who failed to remember that.

[Clegane'sPup]

3 minutes ago, StepStark said:

Funny, it was you who had all those ideas about caveats and everything. Hypocrisy much?

You don't think it would be stupid on anyone's part to make such absurd promise???

I think you got it all backwards. It's his story. There wouldn't be Game of Thrones without him. He doesn't "need to remember" anything. If that was his main goal, he could've "reached mainstream" long ago, by selling ASOIAF rights to all those big studios that made offers.

He refused all those studios because he didn't trust them. He sold the rights (probably for lesser money) to D&D and HBO, because he trusted them. He made a wrong choice there, but he doesn't have to stick with it forever. It's his story, after all. It's them who failed to remember that.

I am glad you are a loving fan of Martin's books. Cool.

 

[RhaenysBee]

21 hours ago, Lord Friendzone said:

According to them yes, they do. It does not signal that the show was crap but things are getting bigger and much complicated each year. The War of Dawn and The Long Night will be extremely hard to do, so to deliver the best quality ending this show deserves, they'll work even more on this. CGI isn't a guaranteee of quality but it costs a lot, there is a lot of work to do. See Hardhome episode for example how complex that sequence really was and probably Game Of Throns will operate with budget for two seasons and that could around 20m dollars if rumours about 10m per season are true.

Okay, so do they need more time because the CGI guys don't want to work overtime and get caffeine poisoning in front of their computers or they need Tim because they don't know how to spend 20 million quickly enough (give half of it to me) or they need more time because d&d can't or won't come up with a script on schedule? I'm just mad because the one reason I still loved and respected these guys was that they did their job and did it on time. 

14 hours ago, StepStark said:

 

It's as if writing the show without Martin's books to guide you is not that easy after all. It's as if Mr. Benioff and Weiss are little lost without Martin doing all the groundwork for "their" show. Who'd say, right?

One would think that wouldn't bother them after season 5 and 6. They didn't need help then. I would have been pissed off in their place, but they weren't and they made... something happen which is, in my book, still better than nothing. So if they could do it the last two years, do it now too. No last season could be good enough to fix the plot holes they piled up over the years so just go for it and write SOMETHING.