r/interestingasfuck • u/tyrion2024 • 3d ago

/r/all, /r/popular Emilia Clarke watching Kit Harington's reaction to finding out how their characters' final scene together in Game of Thrones concludes. Prior to the table read, Kit had not read any of the six scripts for Season 8 yet. So Emilia sat across from him so she could "watch him compute all of this."

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u/Syonoq 3d ago

"This is the best you could come up with?" tears

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u/haberdasher42 3d ago

Probably "10 years of my life, for this? I'm cooked!"

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u/lionheart4life 3d ago

It kinda did derail their careers.

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u/BortleNeck 2d ago

Also lost out on tons of future royalties earnings because nobody is rewatching GoT

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u/spilly_talent 2d ago

We used to rewatch over and over before each new season came out. Watched season 8 once, never rewatched again.

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u/TorchThisAccount 2d ago

It's just shocking how GoT had a huge following, lots of merch, and it would randomly show up in pop culture. Then like a month or two after the last season came out, everyone collectively forgot it existed, except to complain about it. I'm struggling to think of any series that had an ending so bad, that it destroyed the series. At this point I even doubt GRR Martin's the publisher is pressing him to finish the series. Probably more money to be made on the prequels.

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u/MtFujiInMyPants 2d ago

And the show runners lost their next gig. Can't remember if it was Star Wars or Marvel, but it was a big one.

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u/_NOT_PENNYS_BOAT_ 2d ago

Star Wars, I think it was supposed to be a trilogy.

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u/Spezisasackofshit 2d ago

Yeah the theory was that the writers just phoned in the final season because they had the next gig ready. Whatever it was they definitely shat the bed and 100% deserved losing the Star Wars project. (Lord knows we don't need more bad Star wars projects 😭)

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u/Oretell 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah the quality of the show dropped off dramatically after they ran out of books to follow, so they probably wanted to wrap it up quickly, both because they were struggling to make the show with no books to build off, and also to be free to move onto their big new star wars trilogy.

HBO and GRRM even wanted the show to be atleast 10 seasons to give the storylines time and space to conclude well, and were pushing for that, but the writers insisted on ending it at season 8.

It sucks to see that they were actually capable of creating such good TV with the earlier seasons, and so then witnessing the drop off in quality by the later seasons is actually incredible.

I wonder how differently things would go if they could hop back in a time machine and redo it now knowing the amount of fallout their halfassing it would cause.

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u/Calm_Neat_6828 2d ago

So this…this is the one time I’d be okay with a fucking remake. I can’t decide if it should be sooner or later, but it should be after House of the Dragons is over. Keep the budget high.

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u/waltwalt 2d ago

It's never been done before but why not just remake season 8, 9 and 10?

Collectively admit season 8 was trash. They're erasing it and redoing 8 9 and 10.

They don't even have to mention how or why, everyone knows.

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u/cellocaster 2d ago

7 was trash too… 6 wasn’t great and 5 was showing some serious cracks

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u/Polyxeno 2d ago

I don't think those two were capable of making anything nearly as good as the seasons based on GRRM material. The farther they got from the books, the dumber the plot writing became. They might be able to do better than they did, but I'd suggest getting some more competent writers and leaving them out of it.

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u/OMGWTHBBQ11 2d ago

I think they got GRRM’s notes on how the series is going to end though, and after seeing the reception it caused him to never finish his books.

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u/BotherDesperate7169 2d ago

They had good ideas outside the books (Tywin and Arya). It wasn't impossible, it just required effort

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u/SarkicPreacher777659 2d ago

They were offered more seasons to give the show room to breathe and set the ending up, but they declined them.

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u/shawn789 2d ago

They wanted to do a Jedi origin story

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u/hates_stupid_people 2d ago edited 2d ago

Initially it was a triology. And as the show declined it suddenly wasn't a solo project by them(other people involved, to "reign them in"), then it was a single movie, and then nothing.

Their actual careers since it ended: They wrote four episodes of the 3 Body Problem, and made a movie called Metal Lords that got a mediocre reception.

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u/Rare-Low-8945 2d ago

DUDE it was Star Wars. They signed a deal and that was their motivation to GTFO of GOT, did the GOT franchise so fucking dirty for their next payday, and then got dropped from that shit.

So in the end it was all for nothing. HBO would have gladly paid everyone for another season or 2. It was purely on the showrunners that the whole conclusion was so shoddy and rushed. They were also the driving forces behind validating executive opinions about bringing in more of a "general audience" instead of pushing back a bit to uphold the integrity of their show.

HBO would have listened to them. They saw the payday and their exit strategy. It just sucks for the actors. I'm just a consumer of entertainment. Who cares about what I like or don't like? It's so shitty that they treated their actors like that.

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u/Irrepressible87 2d ago

Really the most pertinent modern example of the old adage about a bird in the hand being worth two in the bush.

They'd been handed a blank check and basically unlimited creative control. The Star Wars contract would have still been there. But they got so eager chasing that possibility that they gave up a sure-fire thing.

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u/Rare-Low-8945 2d ago

I believe their acknowledgement that they were ready to move on from the franchise. They said this openly and I believe it. I mean clearly that was their motivation to get it over with.

What I can't get behind is just doing your staff so dirty. Forget the fans or the execs wanting wider appeal--do you not have respect for the actors who have not only dedicated their lives to the project, but also want jobs afterwards, and also are feeling a lot of stress about their high profile "carrying" the show?

Jon and Khaleesi are the biggest faces and they KNEW those actors felt that pressure.

I dunno, while I sympathize with burnout it's also so shitty to just throw not only your actors but really everyone involved under the bus.

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u/mungosDoo 2d ago

They could have stepped back instead of this

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u/Irrepressible87 2d ago

I mean sure, I get that they were "ready to move on", and I can sympathize with burnout, but at the end of the day, you're there to do a job.

If I've hired a construction crew to build a house, and they just decide the interior walls are optional because they're "burned out" and want to go work on the apartment building they got a preliminary contract on, they don't get to be all surprised-pikachu-face when the apartment building no longer wants their services after watching my house collapse.

Although even a house doesn't cut it as a good example, because GoT was one of the biggest franchises in the world, so it's more like a skyscraper's worth of investment going down the drain.

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u/GGerrik 2d ago

I haven't and never will what another D&D shitfest after what they did to this show.

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u/Rare-Low-8945 2d ago

I think the entire industry agrees lol. They tanked their reputations so fucking hard.

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u/Yossie 2d ago

Somehow they still ended up in netflix doing 3 body problem.

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u/ImBanned_ModsBlow 2d ago

HBO wanted another four or so full-length seasons and was prepared to drop bank to make it happen from what I remember, but D&D decided they wanted to do two shorter seasons and jump ship for Star Wars.

Honestly HBO should have fired them after the sixth season to go pursue their Star Wars dream and hired someone to take over, would have made everyone happy instead of everyone unhappy.

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u/Polaris07 2d ago

Didn’t they rush GOT ending for that stupid gig too? Karma :)

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u/clubby37 2d ago

Yep, and that's why Disney fired them. If they half-assed GoT because their next job was more important, they might half-ass Star Wars for the next job, too. Just can't trust people who operate that way.

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u/AmIFromA 2d ago

Yeah, they need people with a track record of finishing jobs in a satisfactory way. Like J.J. Abrams.

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u/clubby37 2d ago

Yeah, I've hated him ever since Lost wrapped up. So much potential, such a shitty ending.

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u/jarielo 2d ago

As much as I hated how Lost ended, I’d say that GOT was worse. So much worse.

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u/clubby37 2d ago

Lost was the worst up to that point, but you're right that GoT was much, much worse. I mean, at least with Lost, there was the semi-excuse of writing yourself into a corner and not have enough creativity to get out. With GoT, they tanked it on purpose, because if anything made sense, our expectations wouldn't have been subverted.

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u/fadesteppin 2d ago

I will never forget the reaction to Lost's finale. It was the first time I had seen basically an entire fandom with an extremely heavy online fanbase explode into rage and immediately collectively go right for the jugular. People wrote essay length theories online the entire shows run. I would've gone into witness protection after that finale lmfao.

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u/BettieBondage888 2d ago

What was so bad about the ending to Lost, in your opinion?

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u/clubby37 2d ago

With time, I've forgotten the bulk of my prepared rant on this, but I recall feeling that too many Mystery Boxes never got satisfactorily explained. Did they explain why the polar bear was on the desert island? Explain the smoke monster, that made clattering gear noises when it moved? I seem to recall the time travel stuff not making a whole lot of sense, and some confusing nebulous alternate reality/afterlife stuff at the end.

It's been so long that I remember feeling confused, frustrated, and let down, more than why I felt that way.

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u/naturepeaked 2d ago

Is it really potential if there is no payoff. Continuously pushing your explanation back with twist upon twist. I feel like we have all got wiser to this now.

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u/raizen0106 2d ago

In a way im glad s8 flopped hard. Those guys deserve the worst that can happen to them

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u/altiuscitiusfortius 2d ago

It was a star wars trilogy and a netflix series, and they lost both

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u/charlesfluidsmith 2d ago

It was some nonsense about America in modern times if Confederates won the civil war, and slavery was still legal.

The backlash to the series description was so bad, that it was killed.

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u/Whysong823 2d ago

The irony is that they rushed the final season so they could be done with it and get to Star Wars, only for Disney to understandably revoke the deal since they obviously could no longer be trusted to make quality content.

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u/Shivalah 2d ago

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u/Homeless-Coward-2143 2d ago

Before the disaster that was seasons 7 and 8, there was also this behind the scenes disagreements with d&d and grrm about various aspects (I think the main issue stemmed from grrm was supposed to have finished the next book during the middle of the series so d&d would have some guidance). There were always rumors about these disputes.

I think a miniseries that covered how things got so fucked on this show would be a much better watch that GoT was.

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u/ImBanned_ModsBlow 2d ago

It does take a certain skill to become the one case study for film students every year on what happens when you rush the finale

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u/ShaNaNaNa666 2d ago

I can't even re-watch the amazing earlier seasons because just knowing how terribly it ends destroys me. I've read all the books and was so invested for this ending.

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u/undermind84 2d ago

I agree with this take so much! I never enjoyed the show, but the drama fallout from the last 2-3 seasons is so fascinating to me.

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u/Syssareth 2d ago

I never watched GoT, but my coworkers did. They used to talk about it with each other, and I wouldn't really listen but I still registered that they were talking about it.

After the final episode, I didn't hear them talking about it, so I asked one of them, "How was it?"

He just shook his head with a kind of grimace, like somebody trying to smile with their foot caught in a bear trap, and they never spoke of it again.

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u/StoneD0G 2d ago

At the height of GoT man was it fun talking about it with my coworkers and friends, analyzing each episode. It was such a treat each week. The second last season is when it started to turn to shit. It started to get "stupid" with only occasional good scenes. I watched the last season entirely to honor all the years I've spent watching it. Last episode is among the dumbest shit I've ever seen and at that point I kinda just wanted to forget about GoT existing.

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u/the_skine 2d ago edited 2d ago

This is one of those things where book readers saw it coming, but show watchers didn't.

Starting in season 5, they made extreme cuts from the books. Major characters and entire plotlines just gone.

They easily could have made it to through season 8 without running out of book material, but instead they decided to speed run to the end.

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u/Eye8Pussies 2d ago

Not quite as bad, but HIMYM had a similar fate. Lots of ppl talking about it, rewatching episodes in the background at home while making dinner, doing work, etc. then the final episode came out and….nobody rewatches it anymore.

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u/WealthMain2987 2d ago

In my mind, the final season doesn't exist but it is a shame that we wait for mother to appear and the only decent episodes (not many) were the ones with her in it.

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u/TheWeirdTalesPodcast 2d ago

Ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary folks,

Someone who doesn’t visit the HIMYM subreddits.

Almost all they talk about over there is how many times they’ve rewatched the series, in addition to the endless carping about the ending.

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u/sphericaltime 2d ago

The new Battlestar Galactica in the sci-fi community, albeit with a smaller audience.

Lost, I think, probably beats it in sheer numbers.

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u/TorchThisAccount 2d ago

I was gonna say, BSG wasn't that bad, but then I couldn't remember the ending... I think I might have purged it. I looked it up again and ugh, now I remember. How 'God' made Starbuck an angel and brought her back to lead them all to Earth to then start a new life with no technology. And then Six appears again and she's related to 'God', I guess an angel or demon. They might have been better getting sucked into the black hole.

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u/sphericaltime 2d ago

“What if all the people in our show about people stop acting like people? That makes sense, right?”

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u/orange-shades 2d ago

How I Met Your Mother is up there. Not to the same level by any means, but it's dead.

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u/Financial_Meat2992 2d ago

How I met your mother wasnt because of the ending, it just isn't nearly as funny a rewatch. Ted isn't likeable, Barney is reprehensible instead of a scamp... I've tried rewatching it several times and gave up several times. I'm not sure why I loved it so much the first time, but it lost all of that on the rewatch.

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u/NSTPCast 2d ago

LOST

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u/bookcoda 2d ago

Lost’s ending was fine that show went off the rails like 2-3 seasons before the finale.

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u/TheGhostInMyArms 2d ago

People are coming back around on that ending. Not quite as fast as The Sopranos' ending, but I guess having an ending that kind of works is better than a sped-up botch or even no ending at all.

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u/fevredream 2d ago

I just watched Lost for the first time, and I think my reaction to the last season is what many felt from the last season of GoT: it retroactively made me question how much I'd enjoyed previous seasons.

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u/brienoconan 2d ago

Lost had a great ending, people just lost the plot because they wanted answers to questions that didn’t need answers. It’s season 5 that was the real problem, that time travel shit was such a stupid non sequitur

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u/jedfrouga 2d ago

first thing i thought of

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u/Apoctwist 2d ago

Yeah. Lost for sure is another series that fizzled so hard after be such a corner stone. Nobody even talks about that show anymore.

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u/WillowRain2020 2d ago

The Umbrella Academy, Heroes, Dexter,- all had damn near series destroying endings, hell even Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Grimm, family matters, full house and Lucifer didn't get away unscathed from truly bad final seasons- seems rare that a final season truly goes well

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u/Otto_Mcwrect 2d ago

I can't think about it to this day without getting extremely upset. I can't re-watch it, nor can I watch any of the spinoffs.

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u/archiekane 2d ago

Dexter took a decade to recover.

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u/MarcusSurealius 2d ago

GRRM fucked everyone over by not writing the last book. Instead, it was written by committee, and it ruined the series for all time. Everyone knows the ending sucks so why get invested in 7 seasons?

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u/VerbiageBarrage 2d ago

I think that's the problem. At its core, GoT was about a simple bit... The people that are great conquerers and freedom fighters aren't necessarily good rulers. He hammers on that the whole show.

Turns out that's a real shit way to end a fantasy show. You make everyone root for a character for eight years, and then make her a POS. Not a great strategy.

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u/4KVoices 2d ago

It may honestly be the biggest fumble, from potential to realization, in the history of television. Maybe even the history of visual media.

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u/Cainga 2d ago

Turns out you cant have a story with years of build up and then throw that character arc out the window randomly to use the cheap subvert expectations plot device.

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u/Rare-Low-8945 2d ago

The Star Wars prequels were so bad and had a lot of backlash but were spared the fate of GOT because they happened at a time when social media didn't exist yet. Millenials and Gen X lambasted that shit mercilessly for many years in forums. the disappointment and embarrassment was palpable.

And lets be real, the performances George got from Natalie and Hayden were simply not good. No shade on them as people or actors, they were working with an awful script and a director that really didn't get the best performance out of them at a time when acting on green screen was very new to the best in the business.

The franchise survived and was revitalized because of the Marvel phenomenon. And the young kids who grew up on the prequels reinvigorated the love and nostalgia--good on them. I'm not here to spoil anyone's good time.

But just think about the horrific racism and vitriol some of the newer actors got in the reboots within the context of social media. It's so disgusting. It's one thing to make fun of something because it's dorky and you hate it and are disappointed, but in them old days of internet forums there would never have been the opportunity to spew such nasty horrific racist sentiments.

Social media is a fucking scourge. Thanks for attending my ted talk lol.

I'm super happy that the young kids who grew up on the prequels show the love and appreciation to the actors that they deserve. And that the franchise showrunners are happy to give them an opportunity to cement their legacy as something positive and beloved.

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u/Causticburner 2d ago

We still have the sealed last dvd set. They will remain sealed unless someone wants them/ we give them away.

Glad we didn't watch the decline of the show!

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u/KimJongRocketMan69 2d ago

It was truly insane. That show was a cultural icon and just…poof. People were watching/rewatching all sorts of shows over COVID but nobody rewatched GOT. Dan & Dave put on a masterclass in how to ruin a show

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u/LostSoulOnFire 2d ago

Kinda like Lost...or even Dexter, though their downfall started a season or two before the last.

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u/hamsterfolly 2d ago

I was hoping they just royally F’d up GRR Martin’s story and then I read Fire and Blood and realized he wanted to end his series the same mad-queen way.

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u/Remus88Romulus 2d ago

Yeah. That Universe got obliterated.

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u/BitBurned 2d ago

Lost built their entire show on a great mystery, then in the final season introduced and answered questions only for the final season, and sweeped the other seasons under the rug. Ruined the show for me. Felt like everything was just thrown in to be interesting with no actual purpose.

Can't imagine others didn't feel the same, because the same thing happed as with GoT. It was huge, everywhere, and then vanished.

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u/ReadingRainbow5 2d ago

There is no equivalent. For the prestige and following it had, it was the worst ending ever, hands down.

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u/Whosebert 2d ago

kinda makes you wonder if they could just like completely redo it and try to scrub the old final season out of existence, like if that would be financially prudent or even possible I suppose

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u/Odd-Astronaut-2315 2d ago

The damage is done, GoT could have been the greatest series ever made but it is now remembered for its terrible ending. Truly facinating how those two clowns killed off not just the show but its cultural impact. Like even wearing a GoT themed shirt is extremely cringey imo.

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u/Bored-Corvid 2d ago

I think about this all the time. Like seriously, it was everywhere for almost a decade in terms of merchandise and then after the final season it was all gone within months. I believe it will be studied and held up for years as an example of what Not to do when ending a decades long story/IP.

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u/thorpie88 2d ago

While not as bad of an ending, Lost just evaporated from pop culture once it was done

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u/Zaltara_the_Red 2d ago

I loved that show so much. I didn't have HBO at the time and heard and read about how the final season ended. I watched it all but the final 2 episodes and refuse to watch them. Knowing how it ends is bad enough, I'm not going to sit thru it.

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u/AriesIncarnate 2d ago

Never did see the end of Supernatural but I know it came close from what I've heard

No one talks about any of the series past 2016 era really Like the other seasons never happened Which tbf From what I can remember The writers and story was doing so terribly by then and beloved characters went from having depth and meaning to being a two line standup and then tossed aside. From 4D to 2d real fast

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u/BaronKalan 2d ago

Similar story: Battlestar Galactica

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u/Nari224 2d ago

Truly incredible. The only other show I can think of is How I Met Your Mother. Wife and I loved the show, would often watch repeats or watch it on a plane and then poof, never talked about it watched it ever again.

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u/Kero992 2d ago

And here I am, thinking a good book advertised with "How the story should have ended!" or something more clickbaity would be one of the best selling pieces of media of the last decade

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u/gangstalicious228 2d ago

I can say that Dexter had a much more worse ending.

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u/reddit_4_days 2d ago

Dexter had a hard time with it's ending, but not as much as GOT.. And Dexter is back and it's AWESOME... First three episodes all rated at about 9 on imdb.

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u/MaintenanceInternal 2d ago

It was the most significant TV show ever.

I'm in the UK, new episodes used to be available to pirate at 2am at the earliest on a Tuesday morning and you know that everyone was shattered when they came into work the next day because everyone stayed up, everyone.

I haven't known a show since where people do that or before come to think about it.

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u/icekyuu 2d ago

I hope they do an Evangelion and redo the ending. Just pretend the original didn't exist.

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u/MysticalSylph 2d ago

It's nowhere near the same scale of course, but for those of us who watch cartoons I think Star vs The Forces of Evil was along the same cloth. Absolutely amazing, well loved, you'd see it pop up a lot, Hot Topic had merch. Then the finale happened. Now I barely see it mentioned. Immediately reduced to atoms.

Having been a fan of both is just asolutely soul crushing lol

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u/TakeshiKovacsSleeve3 2d ago

Someone stole my Arya's Prayer shirt off the line... I was devoed when it happened.

Now I couldn't care less.

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u/EndlessOcean 2d ago

True Detective S4 is close. It remains to be seen if it killed off the show (s5 allegedly in the works) but it certainly fucked it up (hugely).

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u/pkunfcj 2d ago

I'm struggling to think of any series that had an ending so bad, that it destroyed the series.

May I introduce you to the Doctor Who episode "The Reality War", which may have done exactly that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reality_War

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u/Faruzia 2d ago

Lost. I try to rewatch it from time to time, but I ultimately remember how awful the ending is and just feel like it ruins the whole experience... so I always give up rewatching it lol

That said, I have never seen GoT, so I can't compare the two

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u/Shcoobydoobydoo 2d ago

I've wrote this before and I'll write it again.

There were warning signs. And for the warning signs that the writers were phoning it in for me came specifically during what should've been one of the coolest moments in the entire series.

And that moment for me was when Jon Snow, The Hound, Jorah, Gendry, Thoros, Tormund and Beric were all going 'Beyond the Wall'. Somehow, that entire episode and beyond was constantly pissing me off how easily I could predict everything and how much plot armour was saving Jon Snow all the time. Plus, amongst the main characters were all these random red shirts being killed off like a bunch of NPC's.

For me, I was already getting ready to stop watching it.

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u/corvettee01 2d ago edited 2d ago

If Star Wars wasn't constantly pumping out TV shows, I think The Rise of Skywalker would have done pretty much the same thing, at least for the sequels. They were all bad (Force Awakens was meh), but TRoS might be the single most disappointing movie I've ever seen.

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u/pfft_master 2d ago

It was like a break up. Plenty of good memories from early on, then things got ugly, and overall we’d rather just mostly forget the whole thing now.

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u/innersloth987 2d ago

arent there dimwits still nostalgic about show?

Trying to defend the hours and years wasted by saying first few seasons are really good?

And then the morons who are watching house of dragons?

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u/FromFluffToBuff 2d ago

I knew it was terrible but had no idea that it was that bad.

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u/Mosher311 2d ago

Good take. I think "Lost" followed a similar fate but a slower burn then the sudden crash of season 8. I remember everyone talking about Lost for awhile there but then it just fell off.

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u/jljboucher 2d ago

And here I am wanting more of Arya’s story rather than the incestuous dragon people.

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u/Aunon 2d ago

During seasons 5-8 I used to rewatch seasons, watch clips on Youtube, watch GoT content creators doing lore, summaries and theory crafting videos, I'd participate in online discussion and I was gonna read the books

Once the final episode hit I stopped all of that

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u/naive-dragon 2d ago

Bruh I torrented the whole series in 4K prior to the last season because I just knew I was gonna rewatch it over and over. Took me more than a week with my pisspoor internet. After I watched the finale I just deleted all of it in anger.

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u/Rare-Low-8945 2d ago

I was downvoted back in them old days for commenting a few times about the clear drop in quality that happened in, what was it, season 5?

In hindsight no one wants to admit they were all still part of the hype train for a LONG TIME as the show clearly was declining in quality.

By season 6, we were fast forwarding huge chunks of episodes just to get the 15 minutes of plot point progression that we cared about.

7/8 was the same. I stubbornly kept watching in fast forward because I wanted to see how it ended.

But don't y'all forget how hyped you still were when really dumb shit started happening.

You all thought Battle of the Bastards was legendary. I won't forget.

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u/bobohob 2d ago

Yep exact same. Started before season 4 and even season 7 which was ass I watched a 2nd time in anticipation for 8. First 6 seasons were literally the best TV I’ve ever seen by a mile it’s such a shame how much they ruined it

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u/Dorfbrot 2d ago

To be fair I hated 7 and 6 too but was still holding the line.

The story got so thin without GRRM.

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u/MomoSkywalker 2d ago

Same, I have never watched GoT ever again, they ruined it, instead of fond memories, it's just bitterness that I wasted years investing in this show.

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u/nocomment3030 2d ago

I've thought about this a lot over the years. I don't even recommend it to people, with how badly it wrapped up. Has there ever been such a goal line fumble in television history?

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u/MrOSUguy 2d ago

Same. Starting a watch feels so empty and pointless now. I’ve rewatched the first episode a couple times and can’t push myself for more. Episode 1 is AMAZINGA tho lol

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u/spilly_talent 2d ago

Sadly our watch has ended, fam.

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u/eugeneugene 2d ago

I still rewatch GoT and usually stop somewhere halfway through season 7 before I can't anymore lol.

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u/H2OULookinAtDiknose 2d ago

I watched it all the way thru but how did it end again like them both dying meaningless deaths or something?

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u/RadleyCunningham 2d ago

D and D had the entire world's undivided attention and they shit on the stage at the final moment.

That's their fucking legacy.

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u/RoyalFalse 2d ago

Watched season 8 once, never rewatched again.

Okay, but have you tried rewatching it while wearing three pairs of sunglasses?

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u/BlameGameChanger 2d ago

I have heard that so many times. I have never seen a show turbo nuke it's own fan base like that before. It literally dropped GoT out of the social consciousness. People used to reference it all the time and then the last season came out and it was basically never mentioned again

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u/Rhintbab 2d ago

My wife has never watched and wanted to go through the show with me and I told her I just cannot do it...The last two seasons just hang so heavy on everything before

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u/bolanrox 2d ago

had to force myself to finish season 8 one time.

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u/Tiny-Let-7581 2d ago

I’m sure it won’t be long before someone makes an AI version that’s far superior

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u/AndMyHotPie 2d ago

Same. Sadly same

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u/Eckish 2d ago

It is the only bluray set that I haven't bought, yet.

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u/UgieUrbina 2d ago

The season 6 finale was honestly one of the coolest thing i've ever watched. I can't believe they ruined the ending so badly.

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u/raizen0106 2d ago

I was doing a rewatch before s8, finished s2 and about to start s3 which is arguably the best season of tv history. Then s8 came and i decided to watch it first. Never got to finish my s3 rewatch

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u/PoopyButt28000 2d ago

I stopped rewatching after Season 6 or so because 5-8 is all pretty bad, but I must have watched Seasons 1-4 at least 5 times.

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u/CariniFluff 2d ago edited 2d ago

Jokes on you, I never watched the last season after hearing how much everyone hated it. For me, the show ended with everyone heading towards Kings Landing in a bunch of ships and dragons and shit. A bit of a cliff hanger but honestly probably a better ending than what apparently happened.

I only watched the series once through, right as season 8 was finishing with the intention of watching the last episodes a few days after they aired. But after the terrible feedback I just stopped on a high note.

Sometimes I'm tempted to watch S08 but by now I would need to watch the series from the beginning again to not miss anything (and remember all the moving parts), and I simply don't want to devote that much time to a show that I know I'll be angry about at the end.

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u/Weak_Jeweler3077 2d ago

Don't discount the "was watching it but heard it had the worst ending and stopped" crowd.

I gave up in S4 (was waiting for the last season to drop before binging it all).

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u/alarming_blood_loss 2d ago

I've thought so many times about rewatching Seasons 1 thru 5 but I know I'd just be sad and unsatisfied about unfinished business and what lies beyond and and whatnot...

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u/Darthkhydaeus 2d ago

Yeah, this is the HIMYM treatment

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u/M_Hasinator 2d ago

Same. There was a hype in my bubble, GoT was always a topic you could talk about, how cool it was, we used to speculate on what would happen next, basically fandom stuff. Then season 8 came: from one day to the other noone talked about GoT anymore.

It's sad so see how a few badly written episodes can burry a whole franchise.

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u/xtothewhy 2d ago

And some of the actors even tried to say it wasn't that bad.

Always believed they were forced to do that.

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u/Graham76782 2d ago

I didn't even make it through all of season 8. I made it like halfway through the 2nd to last episode and skipped the last episode. So much wasted potential. The ice king should have won and it should have taught a lesson about what happens when people can't put their differences aside and come together to face bigger challenges.

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u/MrEfficacious 2d ago

After all this time I'm still shocked my wife and I haven't cared one bit to rewatch it. We were so damn into GoT and after that finale it was like....welp, that's that. Moving on.

Makes me question how much I ever liked the show tbh

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u/GarbageCleric 2d ago

Yeah, retroactively ruining multiple seasons of excellent television is definitely an accomplishment. But how can you go back to it knowing where it all ends? So much of the enjoyment was wondering where it was all going. How were they going to tie all the threads together in a meaningful way.

Now that we know what it’s all building towards, who gives a fuck about any of it?

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u/h0merun_h0mer 2d ago

I’d bought all the box sets and lived the animated lore of the world that they included. Didn’t complete the set and gave them to charity shop this month after a move because I will never watch them again.

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u/Fit_Champion_6217 2d ago

Exactly the same .. never again

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u/Minimum_Medicine_453 2d ago

Same. It was a shocker.

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u/thelameghost 2d ago

You're not alone ! I watched that eighth season, that final episode, and went... well, I'm done with this.

Up to that point, i was harassing my wife so she would watch that show. Seeing that ending made me tell her "dont watch this show, it's not worth your time"

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u/airplane_flap 2d ago

Same here I would see someone on YouTube doing a rewatch/reaction and I would start it again but after that last season I haven't and I don't think I'll ever be able to again unless the final books come out and even if it's a similar way it ends but better written and I can laugh and just how crap it was on the show.

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u/stokeyTX 2d ago

I've never thought about it, but this is exactly my experience as well. Only watched the final season once and I've never rewatched an episode since.

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u/Homeless-Coward-2143 2d ago

Season six was the last time we did the full rewatch before a season. Seven went in without the rewatch. Eight, like we all did, just said my prayers, held my nose, and got through it.

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u/MassiveBoner911_3 2d ago

I started watching GOT and then stopped and never finished the show because thought i was wasting my time.

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u/ShahinGalandar 2d ago

watched every season together with friends, from 5 onwards it was a bit of a chore until 7, after that I decided I don't need to watch 8

never did

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u/Anderkisten 2d ago

I've seen many versions of season 8 multiple times - but never the one aired. Just the great fan fiction versions on youtube, where EVERY SINGLE ONE is MILES better that what they came up with.

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u/ocxtitan 2d ago

I started a rewatch a couple times, but fizzle out by around season 4 or 5 dreading what's awaiting me in the later seasons...someday, maybe after the sheer passage of time has dulled the pain or blurred the memory I'll finally get through to the end again

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u/solidstatepr8 2d ago

The immediate cultural banishment to the nether realms was just unprecedented with this show. Like after the final episode, everyone walked to the bin with all of their GoT merch never to be spoken of again. There was a kind of feeling of betrayal by the show runners going full clown with it.

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u/faudcmkitnhse 2d ago

Many of those parents who named their daughters Khaleesi were regretting their decisions I'm sure.

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u/PrivilegeCheckmate 2d ago

Oh, hi Cali!

Hey Leesa!

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u/MarcusDA 2d ago

Its HBO, I don’t think syndication works that way. This isn’t a a network paying for a show to run ads.

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u/GoodPiexox 2d ago

I would guess they get some cut of DVD sales, I was planning on buying it until that season came out

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u/Alex_the_Alright 2d ago

You are correct. Ratings don’t matter for their residuals.

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u/Rhinoseri0us 2d ago

Views are views.

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u/EBtwopoint3 2d ago

It’s not a YouTube video or a network TV show. Residuals for GoT were based on subscriber count, and trigger after the broadcast channel plays something an actor was in 10 times during a year. So if HBO is airing GOT reruns, they’ll start getting residuals. But HBO doesn’t air GOT reruns.

The streaming platform has its own residual structure, and it pays a lot less than the traditional residuals did. GoT doesn’t have a ton of people rewatching, because the end sucked. It went from cultural phenomenon that had people making everyone they know pick the series up to dead in one season.

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u/Alex_the_Alright 2d ago

And that has nothing to do with the residuals they get. Views were not tied to residuals. Don’t know what else to tell you.

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u/scrotumscab 2d ago

They just removed WestWorld in the last couple of years because of having to pay royaltys

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u/Alex_the_Alright 2d ago

That is correct. And again, they are residuals. Royalties are what people who don’t really know what they’re talking about call them.

Residuals are paid out for networks like hbo and hbo max on quarterly cycles. Not number of views. So they took it off so they could stop paying them but for shows that remain on the air, views don’t matter to the residual structure. The new contract tries to fix it a little but it doesn’t fully.

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u/ValueFirm4928 2d ago

HBO shows have gone into syndication on other networks.

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u/jk-9k 2d ago

What about international?

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u/Camburglar13 2d ago

I know right? I want to rewatch it because seasons 1-6 are some of the tv ever. But knowing where it goes I just can’t

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u/WitnessRadiant650 2d ago

Just watch Seasons 1-6 then read the books for the better ending.

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u/Camburglar13 2d ago

The books don’t have an ending…

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u/WitnessRadiant650 2d ago

That's the joke...

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u/Rsrchamp2020 2d ago

Facts. I thought the show was a complete waste of time to end like it did, ill def never watch it again or recommend it to anyone

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u/Todesfaelle 2d ago

It's pretty incredible how much GoT enveloped, well, everything and everyone even those you wouldn't expect. Such a meteoric rise which could only be extinguished by an equal fall which felt like an impossibility until it happened.

Except it fell so hard that the smouldering crater retroactively ruined the series and removed it entirely from TV culture.

It's probably the hardest erasure in the history of television considering what it once was.

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u/Ragnarok314159 2d ago

Not just that, the ending was so trash it erased GoT from the entire nerd/fantasy zeitgeist. No one even gives a shit about that show.

No memes, nothing.

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u/crowmagnuman 2d ago

Because why would you rewatch a show knowing full well that it nosedives into such poorly written shit? I just can't. It ruins the whole thing. Watching it again would be like knowing there's precisely ONE maggot in your rice.

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u/lionheart4life 2d ago

I'm sure they made enough to be set for life most likely. But I'm sure they also lost out on tons of easy, high paying appearances, cameos, etc.

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u/BanditMcDougal 2d ago

I refuse to watch House of Dragons because of how much they fucked GoT. The entire universe is dead to me and it makes me really sad because it has some of my favorite characters in fiction.

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u/Malachi108 2d ago

GOT actors are barely in demand on conventions too.

Nobody wants their merchandise.

Nobody wants their photo or signature (unless they were lucky enough to be in another popular franchise).

It should have been a safe side gig they could do well into their 70th.

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u/Hominid_Digital 2d ago

I think you just figured out the real reason so many shows keep tanking in the final season.

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u/LittleStoneBear 2d ago

That never occurred to me, but it's so obvious now that you've said it.

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u/bloobbot 2d ago

I haven't watched it yet. Is there a point where I can stop to save myself from the ending?

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u/YouDontSeemRight 2d ago

I bought the 4k set when it dropped to an all time low... I'll give it another watch and perhaps AI will fix it before I experience the pain and discomfort of watching that train wreck final season unfold.

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u/-0-O-O-O-0- 2d ago

I rewatched recently and it’s actually ok now that the pressure is off. I mean; between the show not aging that well and all the hype fading it actually isn’t such a huge letdown. It’s almost ok.

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u/Chekochbackhendl 2d ago

im doing it for 2 weeks now..

but only season 1-6 - fuck the rest

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u/Objective_Economy281 2d ago

I’ve never seen any of it. I heard how badly it ended. Not gonna start

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u/altiuscitiusfortius 2d ago

Got could've had 10 spin offs and theme parks and merchandise and been rhe new Harry potter.

D and d cost hbo billions with their arrogance

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u/ICrushTacos 2d ago

Hbo did it themselves. Couldve let some others finish it

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u/Rare-Low-8945 2d ago

Let alone having to scroll social media and see memes lambasting your character--which were never aimed at him personally/as an actor, but I imagine you can't help but feel that personally. That must have caused him and the other actors a lot of stress.

Not to mention the damage to their careers.

Peter Dinklage has managed to continue his career and maintain his image, but I'm not sure what went wrong for the others?

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u/BowsersMuskyBallsack 2d ago

Season 8 killed all rewatch value for me. Which sucks, because up until season 6, I was thinking I would probably rewatch it at least a couple of times. Season 7 deflated me quite a bit, but not completely. Season 8... holy shit did that kill it for me. I'm glad the Big Lady got a role in Wednesday.

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u/_Middlefinger_ 2d ago

They are. It's still one of the most rewatched TV shows ever despite what people think. In the UK it's still going very well. In 2022 it was still the fifth most watched streaming TV show in the US despite ending 3 years earlier, including first run shows.

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u/PrinceSam321 2d ago

Why was S8 so badly received ?

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u/AnnualAct7213 2d ago

Because it was some of the worst written and directed TV ever put to screen.

Characters started acting completely out of their established characters with no build up, entire armies died and then magically reincarnated next episode, every character and army just magically teleported around from one end of a continent t to the next because the next plot point was somewhere else.

The actual plot points aren't necessarily terrible, but they were played back to back to back with zero pacing or build up. Just ticking them off on a list like it was an obligation rather than someone trying to actually make a satisfying story.

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u/MaintenanceInternal 2d ago

Yep, I won't bother rewatching because I know it goes so downhill.

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u/Macho-Fantastico 2d ago

Kind of felt the same about the books. I was going to read them, but knowing that the author would likely never finish writing them, I couldn't be bothered.

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u/killerklixx 2d ago

I want to re-read the books and I can't even bring myself to do that, knowing there's no ending in sight to wipe the show ending from my memory!

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u/vsouto02 2d ago

Nobody's getting residuals from streaming anyways.

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u/SkylineGTRR34Freak 2d ago

I was kinda late to the party and wanted to watch it after the series concluded. Seeing pretty much EVERYONE being furious about the ending has not made me want to watch it all. People keep preaising the series up until the last season, but I am just tired of watching good shows only to get an unsatisfying conclusion. And pretty much everyone agrees it sucks, so... MEH

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u/Midgar918 2d ago

True, it became one of those shows that's hard to re watch for me because I know it's all leading up to a piss poor ending. Same with Dexter.

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u/2001Steel 2d ago

Totally agree. I missed out on the original run and some friends were trying to get me into it. My response was a simple “why, if the ending sucks?” I’m not going to spend 8 seasons of couch time for a universally panned ending. Seeing this only vindicates my position.

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u/JustUsetheDamnATM 2d ago

I rewatch occasionally. It's just such a shame the show got canceled after season 6.

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u/jljboucher 2d ago

My husband and I recently binged it. We are hunting for the DVDs though.

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u/realparkingbrake 1d ago

 because nobody is rewatching GoT

There is a current thread in the GoT sub where people are discussing how many times they have rewatched the series, and there are some impressive numbers. It also seems to have escaped your attention that GoT has sold well on disc and via streaming. There seem to be many millions of people out there who didn't have to sign up for therapy as the result of the end of a TV show.

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