Although Game of Thrones originally aired live on HBO, its streaming home has always been directly tied to the various platforms connected with the studio that adapted George R. R. Martin's beloved literary saga. However, for the first time ever, Netflix subscribers could soon be granted access to every season of Game of Thrones and its spinoffs.
As confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix is set to acquire Warner Bros. in a deal worth a staggering $82.7 billion. Because HBO falls under the Warner Bros. umbrella, the studio is included in what Netflix will receive, which means functionally means a change of ownership when it comes to who holds the rights to the Game of Thrones franchise. The plan to acquire Warner Bros. has been labelled by Netflix's joint-CEOs as "Project Noble."
'Project Noble' makes it incredibly likely that Game of Thrones will land on Netflix
It's currently unclear what kind of restructuring moves will be made following this historic merger, including whether HBO Max will continue as a streaming service. Even assuming for a second that it does, it would make sense if Game of Thrones also became available to stream on Netflix in the near future, as well as remaining on HBO Max. After all, a lot of money has just changed hands, so why wouldn't the franchise's new owners want to flaunt one of the biggest properties they've acquired?
Should this happen, then expect Game of Thrones to go through a sort of popularity renaissance. While the saga itself is still active via projects like House of the Dragon and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Netflix is an international entity, whereas HBO Max is only available in certain countries. That's not to say that Game of Thrones isn't available on other platforms outside the US, but Netflix is very arguably still the market leader among its competitors.
Besides, there are plenty of examples of older shows finding new life when they land on Netflix for the first time, and with Game of Thrones already existing so prominently in the zeitgeist, those who have a Netflix account and have just never gotten around to giving the epic fantasy show a try, are about to have even less of an excuse not to dive right in.
Considering what the Netflix deal means for Game of Thrones' future is another matter entirely. Mergers such as this can often result in project cancellations if they don't align with current interests or if they don't hit updated benchmarks. Thankfully, we don't anticipate that being the case with the current Game of Thrones properties. House of the Dragon is expected to conclude with season 4 which has already been ordered, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has already been renewed for a second season.
Netflix's streaming library could also balloon outside of Game of Thrones
Warner Bros. doesn't just hold the rights to Game of Thrones, but also other huge, multi-installment franchises. Some active examples include the upcoming Harry Potter TV show and James Gunn's rebooted DCU, but the original Harry Potter movies and the various Snyderverse installments also now belong to Netflix. So, expect all of this and more to be available someday soon if you have a Netflix subscription.
For a platform that has had huge successes in years gone by with original shows like Stranger Things and Squid Game, there's something that seems a little backwards about the possibility of flooding Netflix with so much content that was made by other studios. It would be a logical move, of course, and Netflix has always hosted shows that it had no hand in making, but the ratio could be about to shift in an unprecedented way when (or if) Games of Thrones and its Warner Bros. cohorts make the jump over.