Showrunners praise Game of Thrones for blazing a trail for sci-fi and fantasy

The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards will air on September 17, and for the first time since it debuted in 2011, Game of Thrones will not be involved. That’s on account of season 7 airing later in the year. Over the course of its first six seasons, the show won more Emmys than any other drama in history, but this year, another show will have a chance at the spotlight.

Many of this year’s contenders happen to be sci-fi/fantasy themed, and their creators are very thankful to Game of Thrones for raising the awareness for the genre. Speaking to Variety, Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy said Thrones helped establish that “you don’t have to have a show that’s all about verisimilitude and realism to be able to forge a connection with an audience that’s very visceral.”

"You watch a great ‘Game of Thrones’ and as a woman you’re like ‘Go Khaleesi! Kill! Slay!’ There’s something so rousing and immediate about it. Allowing shows like that to get recognition critically gives credence to how metaphor and allegory, from the beginning of time, have been able to create really deep and lasting connections and are an incredibly valid form of art and literature."

Co-creator Jonathan Nolan agreed. “We referred back to ‘Game of Thrones’ constantly in terms of the ambition of it,” he said. “You could shoot all of that on a soundstage in Southern California with a green screen if you wanted to. I think that’s how most networks would’ve approached it. But with HBO there was a commitment to saying ‘It makes sense to shoot it out of Ireland, Iceland, Malta, Morocco.’ They really went for it. You feel it in the ambition and the scope and the scale and the beauty of the show.”

Since Game of Thrones came on the scene, there’s definitely been an uptick in ambitious sci-fi/fantasy programming. There have been successes (Westworld, Outlander, The Expanse) and failures (The Bastard Executioner, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, Of Kings and Prophets), but it’s hard to deny the show’s effect on the TV landscape. American Gods co-showrunner Michael Green said that Thrones, combined with an increase in demand for scripted programming, “gave a lot of second chances to a lot of things that were considered not filmable, too weird or too genre.” Basically, it’s a good time to be a fan of sci-fi and fantasy TV, and Game of Thrones has a lot to do with that.

Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer weighed in as well. “I feel like ‘Game of Thrones’ is the one that changed it,” he said.

"It opened the doors for all of us, especially relating to awards attention. To be considered best show of the year? When there are dragons and ice zombies? Now finally that doesn’t matter. [‘Thrones’] broke down that wall and made it possible for us to even be in the conversation."

Incidentally, Duffer also asked the Game of Thrones people for advice on how to prevent spoilers (not that HBO has a perfect record where that’s concerned). It just goes to show that, eligible for Emmys or not, the show’s influence is felt.

 

h/t Click 2 Houston