Revolution Was Supposed To Be Like Game Of Thrones
With Supernatural’s Eric Kripke, J.J. Abrams, and Jon Favreau as the creative forces behind NBC’s Revolution, genre fans had reason to expect big things. Unfortunately, the first 10 episodes of the show didn’t really live up to those expectations, and then the show dropped into a protracted hiatus. It ended up only lasting two seasons and was a major disappointment.
During Revoution’s first hiatus, the big question was whether any of the people who had checked the show out before would remember — or be interested enough — to tune in when it did return. Kripke hoped to entice viewers back by promising Revolution would be evolving into a very different show, even going so far as to compare it to HBO’s acclaimed Game of Thrones.
Speaking to TV Guide at the time, Kripke said that Revolution would be putting aside the smaller personal arcs of the first half of the season and finally launching the revolution in its name.
Fans of Revolution will recall that the hiatus left Monroe of the Monroe Militia with his hands on one of the mysterious pendants that can restore power within a limited range. When the show came back, Miles and the rest found themselves up against a newly emboldened Monroe Militia that now had functioning helicopters.
“I think we really look at the first 10 episodes as the prologue to the story … now it’s time for the revolution to start,” says Kripke. That’s all well and good, but if you waste half a season on “prologue,” it remains to be seen if anybody will return to see the main event, especially since the show’s been off the air since friggin’ November.
Kripke said the shift in focus will open up more of Revolution’s world, including the other nations occupying what used to be the United States. That’s where the comparisons to HBO’s hit fantasy drama came in. “We’ll see the Georgia Federation this season, we’ll see the Plains Nation this season — and they’re wildly different nations,” says Kripke. “We really want this to evolve into kind of an American Game of Thrones.”
TV Guide also spoke to Revolution actor Giancarlo Esposito, who plays the villainous Captain Neville. He said the show’s pace will be picking up significantly after the hiatus…good news to all of us who twiddled our thumbs through 10 episodes spent trying to rescue a character nobody gives a shit about in the first place. Esposito also says part of that increased pace will be answering some of the show’s big questions, including what caused the blackout.
Unfortunately, none of this came to fruition on a wide level. NBC decided to cancel Revolution after season 2, leaving the cliffhanger unresolved on television. Viewers were left to digest the nanotech’s ultimate goal of wiping out humans, setting up a continuation of the story that never materialized. Maybe they could have expanded the world and the intrigue even more, but it wasn’t to be.
There was major fan outcry after the Revolution cancellation, and in response Eric Kripke and the full writing team reunited in 2015 to produce a 4-chapter digital comic book series published by DC Comics. This was meant to be the official continuation and conclusion to the Revolution storyline. Was it a Game of Thrones-like ending? Not even close. But at least it was something.
