7 Years Ago Today, Game of Thrones Ended – And HBO Has Proved the Backlash Never Mattered

Seven hells, it has somehow been seven years since Game of Thrones came to an end on HBO. Seven years since Jon Snow killed Daenerys Targaryen, Drogo destroyed the Iron Throne, Sansa Stark became Queen in the North, and Bran Stark was named Westeros’ new king. And that also means it’s been seven years since one of the most explosive online backlashes to a TV series finale we’ve ever seen, with a level of vitriol aimed at Game of Thrones‘ ending that made Lost‘s finale seem popular by comparison.

Time heals many wounds, but it has not been kind to Game of Thrones‘ series finale. The ending, at least in terms of its online reputation, remains reviled. As other major genre shows such as Stranger Things and, more recently, The Boys have struggled towards their own conclusions, Thrones is consistently brought up as the example of how it can all go wrong. For years, it was said that the finale had killed all interest in the show, and the idea that “nobody talks about Game of Thrones anymore” has long been prevalent on social media. And yet, while the finale has not been forgiven, it hasn’t hurt the franchise at all.

Game Of Thrones’ Franchise Has Defied The Backlash & Will Keep Getting Bigger

In terms of one single show, nothing has yet come close to Game of Thrones. Season 8 averaged a whopping 46 million viewers per episode, established as the kind of watercooler event TV that no longer really exists in the streaming era, at least not where it’s sustained week-to-week (though something like Stranger Things can achieve it for a binge drop). Perhaps HBO’s Harry Potter will change that, and perhaps, eventually, the nature of how we watch TV will revert back, but the current reality is one where audiences are more spread out than ever because there are so many shows across so many platforms.

HBO’s Game of Thrones franchise is, in a way, evidence of that, and also of why the backlash to the series finale ultimately hasn’t mattered. Neither House of the Dragon nor A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has quite reached the event TV level of their predecessor, but both have been major successes. The former averaged around 25 million views per episode in the U.S. for its second season, while the latter has reached an audience of 36 million per episode, according to Warner Bros. Discovery. Thrones itself spent several years after the series finale topping lists of the world’s most pirated shows and trending on HBO Max, and that interest has clearly continued.

This was not a guaranteed thing. Major franchises like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings have suffered, to varying degrees, from backlash against films like The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, and The Hobbit trilogy, with waning interest and fractured fandoms. Had How I Met Your Mother‘s series finale not been so disappointing to fans, CBS might’ve been more prepared to take a shot at How I Met Your Dad (something that was eventually revisited many years later, only to be cancelled again, in part due to struggling to win back the audience).

As much as Thrones‘ ending let audiences down, there has remained a consistent investment in the world. That has largely, and wisely, been with prequels set long before the main show, but HBO also explored a Jon Snow spinoff set after Season 8, and other Game of Thrones sequels are in early development, with talk of a potential Arya Stark-centric series as well. That alone suggests a level of confidence that viewers would be prepared to return to Westeros and those characters, despite the response seven years ago. Several other spinoffs are in development, too, such as an animated Corlys Velaryon series and a show about Princess Nymeria of the Rhoynar.

That can also be seen in the big-screen plans for the franchise. Warner Bros. has confirmed Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest will be a movie, and given that it will need a hefty budget to realize three large dragons and a whole lot of action on screen, there has to be a belief that audiences will turn out enough to make it a box office success. In that sense, Game of Thrones‘ ending was really just the beginning: it’s only going to get bigger, and it looks like it’s going to remain just as popular. This is a rich world that offers up fascinating, complex characters, family drama, political intrigue, and incredible spectacle, and a disliked series finale clearly hasn’t changed that.

Game of Thrones itself, which turned 15 earlier this year, is much more than its ending. That’s part of its legacy, of course, but it should also be celebrated as masterful TV that gave us some of the greatest moments in recent memory and changed the landscape of what television could be. As time goes on, hopefully, that’s what it will be remembered for more.

Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are available to stream on HBO Max.

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