David Benioff and Dan Weiss talk Game of Thrones’ odd rivalry with Breaking Bad
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 18: Winners David Benioff (C) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images)
“Battle of the Bastards” won big at the Emmys this past Sunday. Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss picked up an Outstanding Writing award for penning the episode, while Miguel Sapochnik got an Outstanding Directing statue for helming it. Then, in the afterglow of their wins, Benioff and Weiss made a strange confession to IMDb Live. As it ends up, these guys are just as obsessed with IMDb ratings as we are.
"After that episode (“Battle of the Bastards”) aired, we were talking to Miguel Sapochnik every hour, and all we kept doing ― we didn’t look at the ratings, we didn’t look at any of that stuff ― we were checking the IMDb episode rating. ‘Cause our friend Rian Johnson directed the ‘Ozymandias’ episode of ‘Breaking Bad,’ which was the 10.0, and we’re like, ‘We gotta get (expletive) Rian!’"
Rian Johnson, by the way, directed the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII. If Benioff and Weiss are interested in starting a feud with him, it could take them to interesting places.
As Benioff mentions, “Battle of the Bastards” used to have a perfect 10/10 rating, but it’s since dropped to 9.9/10. The same thing happened with “The Winds of Winter,” the Season 6 finale, which Sapochnik also directed. “Somebody screwed us,” Weiss said. “I think Rian opened over 25,000 IMDb accounts and just voted us down.” You’re safe for now, Breaking Bad.
Walter White, thinking he’s all that.
“I’m really, really happy for Miguel,” Benioff said later, lest this whole thing seem too petty. “He did such an incredible job with those two episode.” Both Benioff and Weiss were obviously joking around here, but it’s fun to think they were even a little bit rankled by IMDb ratings. Both “Battle of the Bastards” and “Ozymandias” are masterpieces of storytelling, and can happily coexist.
But if Benioff and Weiss want to keep the IMDb war going, there’s still Seasons 7 and 8.
Benioff and Weiss talked a little further about how they felt after winning their Emmys. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau chimed in as well. Watch the full interview below: