It’s been over a year since the seventh season of Game of Thrones ended, and the eighth season won’t drop until the spring of 2019. Considering season 8 will only contain six episodes, some fans may deem that too long to wait. Appearing at last night’s Emmy Awards, where Game of Thrones won Outstanding Drama Series, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss explained the hold up. “The final season is taking a long time because it’s the biggest thing we’ve ever done,” Benioff told assembled members of the press.
"Even though it’s six episodes…it was nearly a full year in Belfast either prepping it or actually shooting it. I think it’s quite extraordinary what the crew and these actors have created, and I think when people see it, they’re gonna understand why it took so long. No one’s going on vacation. No one’s slacking off. It’s just, that last season is far beyond what we’ve ever attempted before, and it’s taking a really f**king long time, but I hope it will be worth it."
We hope it will be worth it, too.
Of course, the wait wouldn’t be so difficult if the show weren’t so compelling. Why does Weiss think Game of Thrones has become so popular? He goes wide. “The short answer is I don’t know, and I wish I did, that would mean we could do it again.”
"But the slightly longer answer is that Westeros doesn’t belong to anybody…Nobody is personally connected to it, and that means that everybody can be equally connected to it. And I think that that…touches on George’s genius. It was such that he took all of world history and condensed it into his world, and I think it’s a mirror in which everybody can see themselves and their people and their history."
That was a very existential answer. How different things would have been had Ian McShane fielded that question.
Kidding aside, Weiss makes a good argument.. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels offer a little something for everyone, as does Game of Thrones. It’s going to be very hard to say goodbye…when season 8 finally airs.
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