Will ‘Game of Thrones’ Ever Really Be Over? Unlikely

God I hope so. I have already ranted and raved what a woefully exploitative, badly written, and gratuitously violent mess of pablum. If there is any kind of "sequel", it will be woefully worse. Forget it. Make a film that truly has meaning.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Richard Plepler left because AT&T would not let him keep creative control. That is what makes HBO the greatest TV/Media channel in history. It also sounds like Weiss and Benioff are moving on. And George R R Martin? What would be his imprint? I fear HBO'S days as Digital Shakespeare may be over.

I keep reading about the new powers that be -NetFlix, Amazon, Hulu et al- rolling out huuuuge budgets for concept and some early casting for projects THAT HAVE NO SCRIPT. As ever, the film and TV business rank the writer at the bottom of the food chain. It wasn't budget that fueled GoT. It was the foundation STORY by George RR Martin and then faithful and high-quality character-driven scripts that made it work.

I almost hope Martin never finishes the books. If he breaks with the GOT show runners and comes up with something different.....

None of these big brands will ever be over. They are too rare and too valuable. Just look at Star Trek and Star Wars - they pingpong all over the place in terms of quality, from very high to wretchedly low, but the owners just keep churning out content. Now that everything is moving over to streaming, with its insatiable maw and incredible pile of every type of content, big brands will be more crucial than ever. If Disney makes some new space opera series for Disney+, I'm likely to ignore it because there is just too much else competing for my attention. If Disney makes a Star Wars series, then I pay attention becausee I know what Star Wars is. I know what "Mandalorian" means, who "Cassian Andor" is and definitely who "Obi-Wan Kenobi" is, should Disney decide to really go for the money-maker. The downside here is the paucity of new brands so that everything just seems samey samey. But I think the new Dune movie will be that rarest of animals, a new blockbuster franchise. And Avatar will be back in a big way.

You know what I'd love to see instead of GoT (or in addition?) The sword-and-sorcery stories that inspired GoT and the whole "gritty" non-LOTR segment of fantasy, namely Conan the Barbarian and before you all start groaning, I do not mean the silly movies with Ah-hold. I mean, go back to the original Robert E Howard movies and throw in some of the Marvel comics adaptation from the early 70s. Conan is actually a wonderful, expansive world for imaginative storytellers to play in, and the character is more than just a grunting monosyllabic moron. He's basically a man of a pure and unspoiled natural world who runs headlong into corrupt civilization and is very arch in his attitude towards it, especially sorcerers. Can't stand sorcerers. Done right, Conan could be quite the compelling character. He's got a sense of humor and a personality even.

My guess is that any prequel series will find itself cancelled within three seasons. I've never seen a prequel that was even half as interesting as the original. I mean, remember Caprica? And I liked Caprica too! Prequels always face the problem that we already know what comes afterwards. My suggestion would be that they consider a GoT aftermath...maybe even set hundreds of years after the current events in that universe. What HBO should do is talk to Dan Simmons and Bradley Cooper (who apparently owns the screen rights) and put the Hyperion Cantos to a TV serial. The final two books are almost perfectly framed for episodic television. GoT will be done, it's time to move on.

I wish George RR Martin would show some respect to his readers and conclude his book series in a meaningful way.

George RR Martin has already written 2 prequel books and the Fire & Ice series has two more to go, stopping at a “Spring” book. Goodness knows when he’ll wrap it up. This series only rivals “Outlander” in scope. But I’ll be waiting and rereading until the next book or the prequel com out. I now need to remember the differences between book and tv show plot. It’s kept me immersed for years though. Thanks Mr. Martin!

I think a prequel or spin-off of Games of Thrones would become more of an intellectual exercise - fitting the pieces together as if in a jigsaw - divorced from the pulpy, visual power of when you see these characters for the first time. It has become the same with most superhero movies. As far as the Avengers go, I may have some curiosity about where the story will go, but I don't care about the characters at all. Same with Star Wars. There's the knowingness of seeing how things fit together but it doesn't make up the drama and heart-racing excitement of the original version. The stories have become over-complicated as if that is an achievement in itself.

I always felt that GRR Martin was trolling (pun intended) the Fantasy genre with his books, only to find around the fourth book, that the Fantasy genre had ended up consuming him. The scenarios he'd set up originally were overwhelmed by the story that evolved, and he wrote himself into a corner he's yet to escape. The reason he's not finished it is because he can't -- he set out to troll Fantasy, and Fantasy ended up trolling him. The tropes of the Fantasy genre -- the magic of it, if you will, can't be as easily undone, no matter how grittily and bloodily you try to slash those bonds. When he'd first written A GAME OF THRONES, it was a bold statement, an anti-Fantasy work that drew a line in the sand with a bloody blade. But he didn't slay the dragon that is Fantasy, and the genre will ultimately outlive him, and the statement he was trying to make way back in 1996. And, when you factor in the media empire that's arisen around the franchise from the HBO series, then it's even more pronounced. The trolling will magically transform, become trawling for audience share.

I see George R.R. Martin has a net worth of $65million. I feel he should be worth a lot more, especially if there are prequels and sequels. I see George Lucas has a net worth of $5.4 billion, Steven Spielberg net worth $3.7 billion. Well, those 2 guys have sone a lot of PG movies, and Martin's are rated R or X. Perhaps that's the reason.

A GOT prequel could be even worse than the three part Hobbit.

Quit it with the shows. They're exciting and re-watchable (as I'm doing in preparation for the last ones), but when a story needs to be dumbed down, it's over. In my opinion, the best way for it to continue would be through virtual reality... imagine the options! Choose your house and fight at the Blackwater; read a fire with the Red Woman; hey, even ride a dragon -- whatever floats your boat.

I hope they just leave it alone. But you know they won't.

Loved the artistic integrity of GOT. Kudos to all involved. I read the series of books when they first came out years ago, and loved them. Folks, this is the end of the story. What comes after will all be about making money.

The end of Game of Thrones will coincide with millions of cancellations of the HBO "Now" app. That's the only reason it's dragged on for so long.

Put a life-size replica of the wall in a place with appropriate climate, and I'd go see it. How popular is GoT in China? Maybe build the wall in conjunction with the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival (which is already on my bucket list)?

I stopped reading the series when I realized (by the beginning of the second book) that they weren't actually fantastic literature but rather political thrillers, wearing the skins of fantasy books. Instead of introducing imaginative elements into the story, they just kept introducing more and more "gritty" characters. No wonder the show can never end! I'm probably old fashioned or something, but it's too cynical for me. Somehow fitting that they'll never be done milking this for the TV show.

Years ago I decided to start reading the Song of Ice and Fire books. I wasn’t expecting much. I ended up reading the series three times. I have a master’s degree in English linguistics and in the course of obtaining this degree I read Old English and Old Norse literature. As a result, I became very familiar with the early history, living conditions and customs of Britain and Scandinavia, the sources for much of Martin’s work. The last book Martin wrote in the series contained numerous cliff hangers. I eagerly awaited his next book. Now, of course, Martin will never write a sequel to his last GOT book. TV has inherent limitations compared to a book. It’s not really capable of handling a character’s inner thought. Details have to be deleted. The book has to be dumbed down. Martin has sold out. He turned what might have been a writer’s block into an opportunity to make big bucks. I can’t complain because it wasn’t serious literature. But, I am irritated. The consolation is that good writers do not allow Hollywood to take over plot and characters which they alone created. I am sure that Tolkien (professor of Old English at Oxford) wouldn’t have turned his work over to a movie producer in midstream.

When Charles Shultz died, a friend of mine commented that the syndicate would find somebody else to continue writing the scripts. But all that Shultz's heirs have permitted is one winding-up movie and reprints of old strips. Likewise, Susan Collins has refused to expand on her HUNGER GAMES trilogy, which in turn means the studios are forbidden to make more movies. Money can't control everything if the owners of the intellectual property refuse.