'Game of Thrones' Creators Confirm Show Was Supposed to End With Movie Trilogy

Game of Thrones‘ controversial ending did not happen as originally planned.

The HBO series ran from 2011 to 2019, concluding with a final season that was received poorly by both critics and TV audiences.

Creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss recently confirmed author George R.R. Martin‘s claim that a film trilogy was supposed to take the place of Game of Thrones‘ final two seasons.

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In their new Wall Street Journal Magazine profile, David and D.B. revealed that they originally planned to film three movies instead of the season 7 and 8′s combined 13 episodes.

The showrunners elaborated on why their plans were shut down. David stated that HBO executives had no interest in Game of Thrones playing in theaters, as the network stands for “Home Box Office” and not “Away Box Office.”

D.B. explained how his and David‘s lack of freedom while working on Game of Thrones motivated their decision to work on future projects elsewhere.

“Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction,” he said. “When you sign a five-year deal with a company, you want that company to be stable so you can be left alone to do your work and not have to worry about it being bought by the phone company.”

The outlet also reported that HBO’s then-owners AT&T wanted episodes to be shot vertically so they would fit on viewers’ phones and broached the idea of shorter mini-episodes.

If you missed it, Maisie Williams opened up about how starring in Game of Thrones as a child impacted her mental health.