Game of Thrones Season 8 is infamously one of the most disappointing finales in TV history. Is House of the Dragon doomed to repeat the same mistake?
Even through its few quirks and flaws, by the end of House of the Dragon Season 1, the consensus was that the spinoff series reignited the spark that Game of Thrones lost in its final seasons. Game of Thrones infamously took a colossal leap of misdirection in its final season, refusing to learn from its seventh season’s mistake of reducing the episode count down from 10 to seven. But it appears as though House of the Dragon is also turning a blind eye to these mistakes as well.
Reportedly, the upcoming second season of House of the Dragon will be shorter, running for a total of eight episodes, which cuts the regular episode count down by two. The reasoning is said to be because HBO wants the series to last for four seasons, but to do so, the seasons need to be shorter. On the surface, it sounds like writers are taking House of the Dragon‘s story into careful consideration to give viewers as much action and time with the characters as possible. But in reality, it’s only a tiresome replay of what turned HBO‘s greatest series into an international disappointment.
Game of Thrones Dropped the Ball in Seasons 7 and 8
The most apparent issue with Game of Thrones‘ final season was that it needed more episodes, not fewer. After the end of Season 5, showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss had the nerve-wracking task of writing completely new material for the series, having run out of original source material by George R. R. Martin. A Song of Ice and Fire wasn’t (and still hasn’t) completed, and their only guidance was their own imagination and what little they knew of Martin’s vision for the ending.
Being free of Martin’s guidance started off relatively strong, but quickly spun out of control when the last two seasons cut the journey short. After Daenerys Targaryen’s rash and out-of-character decision to burn the city of King’s Landing in the penultimate episode “The Bells,” there was nothing to be done to save the show. Matters were made even worse when Jon Snow murdered Daenerys and the least qualified candidate was chosen to be the next ruler of Westeros: Bran Stark. Out of context, these choices seem like passable qualifications for a good ending to a cultural phenomenon of a show. But the journey getting there was head-scratching.
Among some of the Season 8’s most mind-boggling developments included Jon and Daenerys’ rushed relationship despite having no chemistry with each other. Similarly, Daenerys showed inklings of inheriting the Targaryen “madness,” but nothing substantial to justify her actions in the penultimate episode. Jaime Lannister also had a poor excuse to run back to his sister/lover and Bran forgot that he said he “couldn’t be anything” when Tyrion Lannister suggested he should be king. There simply wasn’t enough time or episodes to reach each of these endgames, and the results gave everyone whiplash-induced headaches.
House of the Dragon Season 2 News Is Bad Déjà Vu
Four seasons are more than enough to capture the swift downfall of the Targaryen dynasty in House of the Dragon. Tragedy never took a break in the Targaryen civil war, and a short time span for the series is a perfect representation of how quickly things fell apart for the most powerful family in Westeros. Possibly, this might have been the reason for shortening Game of Thrones‘ last two seasons, even if in hindsight it was deemed illogical. Things happened quickly as winter approached Westeros and Daenerys grew impatient waiting for her reign to begin. However, each season of House of the Dragon requires wiggle room to expand on its original source material because of how little is told in the fictional historical textbook Fire & Blood.
House of the Dragon‘s first season managed to properly adapt the facts (or confirm the truths) told in Fire & Blood by giving each character time to develop the relationships that play a big role in the war to come. Nonetheless, even those efforts weren’t enough to save the series from its own source material’s faults. The first season of House of the Dragon utilized time jumps to tell a 20 plus year story, leaving out crucial arcs that would’ve addressed certain conflicts in the future. Just one of these examples is how Rhaenyra Targaryen grew from being a teenager who despised the thought of motherhood to being a mature woman who enjoys being a mother to six children.
Following the likes of Game of Thrones‘ shortened seasons will only further make the spinoff series more of a retelling of historical events and less of an adaptation that takes creative liberty. There’s a daunting worry that with only eight episodes to tell its second season, many crucial storylines will be rushed through just like Daenerys’ “Mad Queen” arc was. Blood and Cheese are expected to make a grand appearance in Season 2, whose actions set the stage for a morally complicated story for Queen Rhaenyra. It’s not something to be taken lightly, but Game of Thrones fans already know this. The question is, when will it be too late for House of the Dragon writers to realize this too?
Game of Thrones Seasons 1-8 are available to stream on HBO Max. House of the Dragon Season 2 is reportedly set to premiere in mid-2024.
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