Can Game of Thrones Maintain Fan Excitement After the Long Night and SPOILER's Death?

Warning: This Episode Contains Major Spoilers!Game of Thrones aired its big 'Battle of Winterfell' [...]

By Kofi Outlaw

Warning: This Episode Contains Major Spoilers!

Game of Thrones aired its big "Battle of Winterfell" episode with the Starks and their allies battling The Night King and his undead White Walker army. That episode ended with the major twist of having Arya Stark spring to action and kill the Night King.

With the Night King now dead, and his White Walker army gone along with him, the major threat of Game of Thrones that fans have (mistakenly) come to view as the show's main conflict has now been wiped clean off the game board. With Game of Thrones' final season now halfway over, there's suddenly a major question looming over the show, perhaps for the first time ever:

Is there still enough excitement around Game of Thrones to keep the majority of fans invested in the finale?

On the one hand, it seems trite to quit the show now, when we're so close to the end; three episodes is not too much of a burden to hang in there until the end. On the other hand, the hangover from the Night King's surprise death has been extremely heavy for a lot fans - mainly those who invested a lot of time and care in theories that the Night King had more significant meaning to the characters of and mythos of Game of Thrones.

Here's how Comicbook.com's Brandon Davis broke it down the question of if Game of Thrones fans are still as invested in the show, during our recent ComicBook Nation Podcast (watch the clip above):

"I feel like no. I think I lost interest. I mean I'm going to watch it [the finale], but my interest was definitely peaking with this battle against the White Walkers, and I think that was a huge reason that I was very invested to this point. Maybe this episode 4 reminds me of why I'm so invested in the Cersei / Stark [conflict]... But when that episode ended I was like, 'Well can't the show just end now? Oh right they have other stuff to do."

For those who haven't been invested as heavily in Game of Thrones, the battle with the White Walkers was also a headlining event - but die-hard fans should remember, this is a show called "Game of Thrones" and not "The Walking Frozen Dead." The show's main intrigue has always been the politics and personal connections that result in delicious twists, betrayals, and hookups (non-consensual, incestuous, and otherwise), between the human characters. The White Walkers were just seasonal bookends for the first few years of the show, while the Stark vs. Lannister battle was the main event. With Cersei Lannister now in control of a full army and navy down in King's Landing, and the Stark army battered and worn from the Battle of Winterfell, it seems like we are right back to the same conflict (and its long odds) that we began with. How else to end this show?

Game of Thrones is airing its final three episodes Sundays @9/8c on HBO.

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