20 takeaways from Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon, behind the scenes of Game of Thrones

SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 25: Writer George R.R. Martin of “Game of Thrones” signs autographs during the 2014 Comic-Con International Convention-Day 3 at the San Diego Convention Center on July 25, 2014 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)

20. George R.R. Martin’s hope for the legacy of the show is being fulfilled, right now

Near the end of Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon, Hibberd asks what he calls “that traditional final question for when something popular and influential concludes.”

What is its legacy?

While there are several thought-provoking answers from the likes of Benioff, Weiss and Bryan Cogman, the one that really hit me in the feels was George R. R. Martin’s. Because, for all of the show’s brilliance and imperfection, GRRM’s hopes for its legacy are already coming to pass, right now.

I’ll let the man answer for himself:

"We were the most popular show in the world, for a time. We set a record for most Emmys, and that’s a legacy. But records are made to be broken, and twelve years ago there was another show that was was the most popular in the world and I don’t know what it was. I tell you what I hope for in terms of legacy: that we established adult fantasy as a viable genre on television. Now everybody wants “the next Game of Thrones.” Will anything be the next Game of Thrones? Even our prequels? I don’t know. If they all flop, then it will be another ten years before somebody tries a fantasy show again. That would be sad. I would like to see fantasy become a permanent genre, like lawyer shows or cop shows. There are good cop shows and shit cop shows, but there are always cop shows coming on. And it doesn’t matter if a cop show is good because there’s always another coming. That’s what I would like to see, every year a new fantasy show or two. That would be the legacy I would like to see for Game of Thrones."

We’ve talked a lot over the past year about those “next Game of Thrones” shows Martin mentioned. Shows like The Witcher, His Dark Materials, The Wheel of Time, and Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series would likely not have gotten greenlit — especially with the sorts of budgets they have — without the success of Game of Thrones. Whether that legacy will hold is the sort of thing that only time will tell.

For now, as the Streaming Wars rage and companies scramble to fill that cultural void left by Game of Thrones, it appears that the show is living up to the legacy George R.R. Martin hoped for. And that is a beautiful thing.

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