Game of Thrones. What once stood as a a monolith in television, that had fans such as Presidents and famous celebrities all across the globe counting themselves as fans, now has a dogpile when it posts on Twitter. The finale to the show was considered the worst episode of the series, and the rest of the season wasn’t received well either.
Despite this, HBO is pushing forward with multiple spin-offs of the series, although the release date for these spin-offs hasn’t quite been determined. However, the very fact that these are in development begs the question: Can these spin-offs redeem Game of Thrones in the public eye?
If they can, they clearly have an uphill battle. Recently, the official Twitter of the show posted “Winter is Coming”, which immediately provoked hundreds of fans to express their displeasure with the last season. Many have even called for the series to have a remake to stick closer to the themes and storylines of the books, much like the anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood did. That might prove to be a hard task, however, as the books have not currently finished, and there has been an absence of new material for quite some time now.
The spin-offs might have a chance, however, if the writer of the original A Song of Ice and Fire books, George RR Martin, returns in an active presence. Many fans see him in a much more positive light than David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and if he is a part of the production, fans may give the newer series a chance.
Ultimately, however, given how little information we have on the spin-offs, it’s still in the air if the premise and story will be enough to hook people in. Maybe it won’t even be the shows that redeem the franchise, but original books everyone fell in love with all those years ago. Time will tell how Game of Thrones ages, but as of now, it still has a long hill to climb.
