HBO Seemingly Pulled a Game of Thrones Featurette That Was Meant to Air After the Series Finale

Despite wrapping weeks ago, internet super sleuths have uncovered a seemingly canceled featurette that was supposed to air after the Game of Thrones series finally. As pointed out by the eagle-eyed users of r/Freefolk, a sixth Inside the Episode was filmed and set to air after the finale, though HBO ultimately decided to pull the plug on it, presumably because of the massive backlash the premium network received throughout the season.

"They did make one. A week after the episode aired it showed on HBO GO in my country but it couldn't be played," u/vladtud said about the phantom episode. "It even had a thumbnail and a runtime of 11 minutes if I remember correctly. I contacted HBO about it and they told me that while both the Inside the Episode and Game Explained segments for episode 6 existed, they have been canceled and they won't be showed anymore."

Apparently the 6th inside the episode did actually exist but it was blocked out and eventually deleted. This tells me at least someone at HBO realized how much they fucked up and tried to do some damage control. from r/freefolk

"They couldn't answer as to why, and I didn't press it any further since the people in charge of the content on HBO GO in my country probably had no idea why either," the die-hard Game of Thrones fan continued. "The bottom line is that they did record it but I can only presume that either HBO or D&D themselves wanted to scrap it seeing as the previous ones were memed a lot. It's a shame, I really hope they leak somehow."

Inside the Episode was a Talking Dead-esque featurette that'd air immediately following every episode, breaking down what had just aired. While HBO has yet to release an official statement about the situation, it's very likely they decided to pull the featurette in an attempt to prevent any further backlash. HBO content chief Casey Bloys previously responded to the fan backlash immediately after the season aired.

"There's no way for [co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] to have landed this plane in a way that would have made everybody happy and they're not out to make everybody happy," Bloys shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "I think they did a beautiful job. You just have to accept that not everybody is going to agree with the choices. I'm paraphrasing Tim but basically for show this big, and this epic and this sprawling, they [Benioff and Weiss] have to make choices."

What'd you think of the final season of Game of Thrones? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are now available for streaming through HBO's various platforms, including HBO Now, HBO Go, and Amazon Prime Video.