House of the Dragon Ending Proves Game Of Thrones Mistakes Were Learned
The recent conclusion of House of the Dragon’s second season has been getting some criticism for how abrupt it was compared to what fans were hoping for. Since the series started, many have been a bit leery that the series might wind up in the same boat as Game of Thrones with a series finale that leaves many dissatisfied. However, the showrunners for House of the Dragon revealed a key difference recently that almost guarantees a better ending: they know exactly how many seasons they want the show to have.
Game Of Thrones Was Incomplete
Showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal recently shared that House of the Dragon’s ending as a series is already planned for the fourth season. This makes for quite the change-up from how Game of Thrones was conducted, going in essentially blind as to what the ending would be once they adapted the material from George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons, the fifth A Song of Ice and Fire novel.
Working Off Finished Source Material
Obviously, the Game of Thrones showrunners thought they would have more material to draw upon by the time they reached the story of A Dance with Dragons since it came out during Season 1 of the show. Nobody could have predicted Martin’s writing struggles would persist until well into 2024. Fortunately, House of the Dragon does not have this problem for its ending.
The source material for House of the Dragon was already published and completed before the show ever began, guaranteeing the showrunners knew its ending. This enables them to have a clear destination to write towards and spares them from having to guess what seemingly minor details might actually be extremely important later on.
Avoiding The Same Mistake
With Game of Thrones, once the showrunners had to start creating original material, many fans felt a dip in quality was palpable. It also revealed that there was not a clear endpoint in mind, as numerous storylines either never got resolved or were seemingly rushed to a conclusion. The show creators had been offered to work on Star Wars and made it clear they wanted to wrap up Game of Thrones to pursue new projects. Whereas with House of the Dragon, the announcement of the ending point now makes it clear there is a plan in place.
Stories Can End
One of the worst things that can happen to a show is when it keeps being extended due to its popularity beyond its natural conclusion. This puts the writers in the tough position of having to continue to create new ideas even if the show has already explored all of the character arcs that had been planned. Fans are no doubt reassured to hear that House of the Dragon has an ending already in mind, so the showrunners won’t be dragging anything out.
The Other Prequel Has An Old Problem
House of the Dragon has the advantage of being the only adaptation of a story from Westeros with an ending already written. Even the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms series will draw upon a series of unfinished prequel novellas. It is quite likely that, much like the conclusion to A Song of Ice and Fire, those prequel stories will also be incomplete for quite some time.
