Once Game of Thrones wrapped up with a final season that was universally beloved and no one, especially on social media and Reddit, had anything negative to say about it, co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss signed a $200 million deal with Netflix. They could have also kept making money from all future Thrones projects, including House of the Dragon and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, as producers. They wouldn’t have to do anything, other than have their names appear in the credits. But according to the Hollywood Reporter, “they turned it down. Nobody does this.”
Benioff told the outlet that “HBO was kind of confused. I remember their lawyer saying, ‘But it’s just money, we’re just going to pay you.'” Weiss added, “I don’t think there is such a thing as free money. For us, if our name is on it, especially that, while being completely detached and uninvolved, it felt like the strain that would come with that hands-off approach — with its success or failure or anything in between — was not worth it.”
Instead, they decided to make 3 Body Problem with The Terror showrunner Alexander Woo. “We work better focused on one thing,” Weiss said. “It’s the elephant strategy versus the sea turtle strategy. The sea turtle has a thousand babies and points them all toward the ocean and hopes 10 make it. An elephant puts two years into one baby and guards it with its life and is devastated if the poachers come knocking. There are people who do amazing-amazing stuff while overseeing many projects at once, and I respect their ability to do that. It’s just not what we’re good at.”
Netflix’s 3 Body Problem premieres on March 21. You can watch the trailer below.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
