When David Benioff and D.B. Weiss accepted the position as showrunners of Game of Thrones, they were offered the keys to what would become one of the biggest properties around. George R.R. Martin's masterful fantasy epic, A Song of Ice and Fire, had proved a huge critical and commercial success, earning widespread acclaim for its realism and intricate storytelling.
However, when the award-winning HBO drama passed the events of the source material, many fans believed Benioff and Weiss failed to deliver. They made multiple changes that undermined the complexity of Martin's world, which culminated in a disappointing final season. However, any dignity the two might've had previously was undercut by their responses to a Q&A at the Austin Film Festival, which outright confirmed they had no idea what they were doing with Game of Thrones.
In a short space of time, Benioff and Weiss have gone from being praised for "creating" one of the biggest fantasy epics of all time to being two of the most divisive names in the industry.
Most viewers will likely agree that Game of Thrones' first four seasons were its strongest, but even as early as these episodes, cracks were starting to appear. When the show followed the plot of the novels, it excelled, in part due to Martin's brilliant writing. But Benioff and Weiss' alterations to the scripts left much to be desired.
One example -- of many -- is the way the series ramped up the sex and violence in ways that seemed wholly unnecessary at times. Most noticeably, the concept of the "sexposition," or sex scenes that took place during important information dumps. The books didn't have this. Even in the very first episode, a relatively minor change set the course for how the show would mistreat its female characters. In both the book and the TV adaptation, Daenerys marries Khal Drogo early on, and, as is custom, they are left to consummate their marriage. In the series, Drogo forces himself upon an unwilling Dany. In the books, Dany says "No," and Drogo, though he doesn't understand the words, respects her intention.
Later on, during Season 4, while Cersei Lannister is mourning her son's death, she and Jamie also have sex. In the book, it's consensual. In the series, it's an assault.
These are huge changes that don't align with the characters we see before and after these scenes. It was as if Weiss and Benioff didn't understand or care that sexual assault might affect the way the characters see their attackers. The romance we see between Dany and Drogo makes sense in the book. It makes far less sense in the series.
These early problems became even more apparent as the two ran out of source material to draw from. Characters who were introduced in later books, such as the Dorne group or Euron Greyjoy, felt hugely underdeveloped, especially when compared to their well-written and elaborate book counterparts. Conflicts, once solved with political ingenuity and strategy, were solved with one guy stabbing another guy. Characters joined forces and bickered with little motivation while supposedly cunning ones like Tyrion Lannister made uncharacteristically clumsy errors, such as failing to point out that putting people in crypts for safety against enemies who can raise the dead might not be the best idea.
Season 8 had a ton of problems, but Daenerys... Oh boy, talk about dropping the ball. Between "forgetting the Iron Fleet existed" -- a mistake so notorious it garnered its own memes -- to becoming mad overnight from evil genes, Dany's characterization and motivations from the previous seven seasons were abruptly switched up in order to bring the series to a specific end. Nothing she did made sense in the context of everything we'd learned about her thus far: Instead, she purely acted in service of the end goals Weiss and Benioff had for the series.
Oh, and there was also that Starbucks cup that was left in plain sight.
We could go on and on, but for many viewers and critics alike, it was clear from the handling of Daenerys alone that Weiss and Benioff just weren't putting enough thought and care into their characters in the final season. Others, however, defended the final season and continue to defend the show as a whole. After all, the early seasons -- which drew from Martin's writing -- were well-written for the most part. Surely Weiss and Benioff still deserve credit for that, right?
David Benioff and D.B Weiss recently made an appearance for a Q&A panel at Austin Film Festival and, thanks to a viral Twitter thread, the entire Internet became privy to the quickly controversial things the two had to say about their experiences making the show.
The biggest takeaway was their admission of severe inexperience when they were brought on to the project, describing it as an "expensive film school." Despite really wanting to write the show, they also weren't really sure how to: "We had never done TV and we didn't have any [bona fides]. We don't know why [Martin] trusted us with his life's work."
They also talked about the fact that the pilot was a mess of mistakes.
Another contentious point was their intent to remove as much fantasy from the fantasy series because they "didn't just want to appeal to that type of fan," which led to them going too far with the violence so they could, in theory, broaden the series' appeal.
They argued that the show was so big that, despite seemingly unlimited resources, they just didn't even attempt to adapt it. Instead, they focussed solely on an overriding theme of "power." And, if any fans had issues with that, they just didn't listen.
They wanted to adapt the books badly, but then... didn't really "adapt" them in the truest sense of the word. They were also averse to taking on feedback and didn't delegate enough of the workload to other writers -- notably, more woman and people of color -- despite HBO offering them the opportunity to, despite their own lack of experience. They focused exclusively on "power" without really understanding what power means. Yes, Martin's stories are about political intrigue, but that's not all that they're about.
The most telling proof that these two had no idea what they were doing is in the arc of Sansa Stark. In Season 8, Sansa admits she's "grateful" for all the awful things done to her because it made her a "stronger" person. This doesn't align with the character Martin -- or even these two -- created. People who are traumatically hurt do not "feel happy" about trauma just because "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." They're changed, for sure, but this over-simplification proves that these two were not the right fit for this project.
With a major deal signed with Netflix -- and, until recently, Star Wars -- it's probably best that Benioff and Weiss stop talking about Game of Thrones for a while before the show's legacy -- and their own -- goes the way of the Iron Throne.
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