‘Game Of Thrones’ Final Season Defended By HBO Boss; Teases Prequel At TCA
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Just like the stars of Game of Thrones did at Comic-Con this past weekend, Casey Bloys gave little quarter to fan criticism of the final season of the HBO blockbuster.
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“There are very are few downsides to having an immensely popular show. but one that I can think of is when you try to end it,” the premium cabler’s programming chief said today during the TCA summer press tour about the backlash to the record-breaking series and online petitions to have it redone.
“That just comes with the territory,” Bloys added, making it clear he was very happy with the way the David Benioff and D.B. Weiss executive produced GoT ended May 19 after a last and much hyped six-episode Season 8 run. “Thirty-two Emmy nominations is nice validation,” he quipped in response to the criticism to laughs from the media crowd in the ballroom.
As for that redo petition signed by over 3 million fans: “Wasn’t something we seriously considered,” Bloys asserted during the HBO executive session at the Beverly Hilton.
Weaving through a variety of shoes and topics from the controversy around Big Little Lies second season to the upcoming HBO Max streaming service, Bloys also offered a glimpse into the progress of the Naomi Watts-led GoT prequel. “Shooting has wrapped,” the exec said of the Jane Goldman-captained and George R.R. Martin co-written pilot for this first of potentially many spinoffs.
“Looks really good, cast is amazing,” the HBO programming president teased, adding that he didn’t have more to add about the prequel as it is now in editing and he’ll see how it ends up.
With all that, fan criticism was clearly in the minority as the final Game of Thrones episode, “The Iron Throne,” was watched by over 19 million sets of eyeballs. That’s an all-time high for the show and any HBO original series — surely nice validation on its own.
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