HBO wants ‘Game of Thrones’ to last for more than seven seasons.
The season 4 of Game of Thrones was watched by over seven million people. That is more than any True Blood episode or any episode of Lena Dunham’s Girls. Which means Game of Thrones is a massive hit, and HBO wants to milk the series as long as possible for as many seasons as possible.
“This is the hard part of what we do,” sighs HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. “We started this journey with David and Dan. It’s their vision. Would I love the show to go 10 years as both a fan and a network executive? Absolutely.”
So if the producers prefer seven seasons and HBO prefers more, what happens? A conversation…Like amicable spouses who avoid a sensitive area of disagreement, this issue is something HBO and the showrunners haven’t discussed thus far…“We’ll have an honest conversation that explores all possible avenues,” Lombardo says. “If they weren’t comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that’s the right decision—as horrifying as that is to me. What I’m not going to do is have a show continue past where the creators believe where they feel they’ve finished with the story.” (Via)
This is not really a surprise. With HBO announcing the streaming service, HBO Now, and the lack of other hit shows, HBO is going to try their best to make ‘Game of Thrones’ last forever.
However, HBO is not interested in making a ‘Game of Thrones’ movie.
HBO isn’t keen on a Thrones film even if it’s a potential box office blockbuster, however, because the format switch could be construed as snubbing their loyal subscribers. (The showrunners won’t comment on the matter.) “Certainly there have been conversations where it’s been said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to do that?’” Lombardo said. “But when you start a series with our subscribers, the promise is that for your HBO fee that we’re going to take you to the end of this. I feel that on some level [a movie would be] changing the rules: Now you have to pay $16 to see how your show ends.” (Via)
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