Another week has passed since the conclusion of Game of Thrones, and yet it’s another week of angry fans lashing out at the writers of the hit show — David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Some perspective on the matter: Somehow the Game of Thrones duo topped the internet search feed this week for being “bad writers” and to make things more interesting, a Reddit campaign kicked-off to get them removed from an upcoming Star Wars trilogy.
Both situations are said to be engineered by the subreddit group r/freefolk where both writers — now termed as D&D — are getting roasted by longtime fans of the series.
Outrage aside, the question that fans now ask is whether or not “D&D” deserve the chance to make a Star Wars property.
The context of how some fans believed that Game of Thrones fell apart at the end needs to be examined as well as if they should have the chance to make their trilogy.
Who is responsible for Game of Thrones falling apart?
HBO first greenlit Game of Thrones in November 2008, and at the time novelist George R. R. Martin had only finished four books in what was expected to be a six or seven-book series.
Before this, Martin was not known to be a fast writer, averaging a book every three or four years (only one novel had a short wait), with the first three outlined and published at a consistent pace.
It was not until A Feast of Crows that the wait became five long years and that is when HBO jumped on board.
Looking at the historical context, it took Martin the better part of a decade to release four novels, so it’s easy to see why HBO thought he could finish before the series finale — especially if he were already hard at work on book five, A Dance of Dragons.
But the symptoms of a struggle were already lurking with the 2000-2005 gap of A Feast of Crows, and A Dance of Dragons would not see publication until 2011.
That’s six long years. And at that point the series had already wrapped two seasons, giving Martin three more years to play catch up.
The rest is history. Here we are in 2019, and The Winds of Winter has no sign of a release date.
Not to mention, Game of Thrones finished its run on an alleged outline provided by Martin to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and the lack of a full body of work showed.
The last few episodes played like a summary of great moments without the foundations of a George R. R. Martin build up or payoff. It was like reading Cliff notes for an alleged great novel but not seeing how all those crucial moments were earned.
For example, Daenerys turning evil would be amazing in the hands of Martin if he had finished the story. But instead, it was rushed because David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are not George R. R. Martin and they have never been him.
So who is to blame for the final season of Game of Thrones? David Benioff and D.B. Weiss certainly have some blame for not trying to flesh out Season 8 more and giving the show three more episodes to earn its moments.
That said, the fault is not solely theirs to own.
Martin dropped the ball on finishing his epic story, and the show paid the price. If the outline for Season 8 came from Martin, the blame is also his to own.
Frankly, the blame seems misplaced on “D&D.”
Should D&D’s Star Wars trilogy be canceled?
Whether David Benioff and D.B. Weiss should make their own saga is a tricky question. As of right now, there’s no apparent source for inspiration that they are rumored to adapt.
At one time, it was speculated to be Knights of the Old Republic, but that story is now announced to be written by Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island).
So does this mean they are doing something entirely original? If so, that means they have a lot more flexibility to be creative rather than to burden themselves with someone else’s incomplete vision.
But as the subreddit commenters suggest, the rushed execution of Game of Thrones has warranted no faith from the fanbase.
With all of this analyzed and looking at the entire situation as a whole, the desire for them not to make a Star Wars movie might be overblown but not unfounded.
The blame for Game of Thrones is not theirs to own, but the end product was rushed to a fault.
And let’s be real, Star Wars fans are hard to please in general. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are already facing an uphill mountain climb the size of Everest as far as expectations are concerned.
Plus, given the toxicity of The Last Jedi backlash, even if they make something fresh, there’s almost no way it would be acknowledged.
The infamous duo that gave us an eventful decade in television should probably take the roadmap of Damon Lindelof.
After getting divisive reactions from the season finale of Lost and getting lambasted for his work on Prometheus, he took a step back into obscure material with The Leftovers and gained a lot of goodwill back from the online culture.
Now, he is tackling Watchmen, and that skepticism from fanfare seems forgotten.
Either way, it’s time to stop blaming David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for all the mistakes from Game of Thrones. It wasn’t just their fault. Until they can restore their faith in the public, though, it might be good to stay away from a galaxy far, far away…
No matter what happens, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which is due out December 20, 2019.