When people think of the words “Game of Thrones,” a lot of things probably come to mind. A show that changed TV with its commitment to complex storytelling and budget-busting effects, lots of sex and violence, platinum-blonde hair, dragons…and an ending that left a lot of people wanting.
In fact, at least in the short term, the lackluster ending may be what Game of Thrones is best known for; it’s even entered into the lexicon, as Insecure star/creator Issa Rae showed when she appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to talk about the upcoming fifth (and final) season of her series.
“We’re on HBO, which had another very popular finale,” Rae began, eliciting some titters from the savvy audience. “That people perhaps felt got dropped,” Colbert finished for her. “People felt strongly about that,” Rae continued. “And people come up to me like, ‘Girl I can’t wait for the final season, just don’t Game of Thrones it, okay?'”
To “Game of Thrones” something now means to end it badly
So if you subscribe to the idea that the measure of how a language is changing is how people use new words in everyday conversation, then to “Game of Thrones” something now means to end it badly. Hooray?
There’s no telling whether that reputation will stick; Game of Thrones did a lot more than end badly, after all, but we don’t get to choose what words mean!
Maybe to “House of the Dragon” something can mean to continue to a sterling legacy and raise it to the next level. We’ll see how that goes when the Game of Thrones prequel series premieres on HBO and HBO Max next year:
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