Game of Thrones is a legit cultural phenomena that has launched all of its actors into super-stardom, but even the best and most rewarding of jobs may start to feel old and repetitive after 8 years. Kit Harington has said he’s tired of the ‘incessant Bieber-like’ fame that comes with playing sexy Jon Snow. Arya actor Maisie Williams’ schedule has been tied up with Game of Thrones for the majority of her life, and she sees the post-Thrones period as ‘time for me to do whatever I want.’
Even Peter Dinklage, whose Tyrion Lannister is one of the best characters on television, sounds ready to move on.
“This is the final season, so it’s pretty long, it’s a long one,” he told Variety, looking weary. “We’re really taking our time with this one. It’s bittersweet. It’s time to move on with everything, so it’s the sad part of our business, we get pockets of great people for short amounts of time and then you have to move on and it’s always heartbreaking, especially when you’ve spent more than a couple months with people.”
“But yeah, it’s time. Storywise, not just for all of our lives. I think if they went any further … it’s the perfect timing to end it. Sometimes shows stay on a little too long. The jumping the shark thing.”
That’s always a legitimate fear, one that Game of Thrones fans have harbored since the first season of the HBO show turned out so damned well. Those concerns only grew once the TV series outpaced the books, and while we’re happy to report the show hasn’t jumped the shark, there were a few moments in season seven that hinted the show might be approaching shark infested waters.
Personally, I like to give the showrunners a decent amount of latitude with seasons six and seven … they had the difficult job of taking all of George R.R. Martin’s characters from across Westeros and forcing them together, a feat that the author has been struggling to accomplish for over seven years now. It takes time to do things perfectly, and that’s one of the big reasons I’ve begrudgingly accepted the delay of season 8 until 2019 … better to do it right than rush it.
It’s just the finish to one of the most complicated and popular fantasy series ever, being constructed before the books have even been written. No big deal. Fortunately, the cast and crew recognize the importance of what they’re doing. We should be happy that everyone involved is more interested in sticking the landing than dragging things out.
