Game of Thrones

He may seem the obvious choice to you as a viewer with that knowledge, but he wouldn't to any of the other power-hungry characters who exist in the Westeros the TV show spent years carefully setting up. That's the problem. It doesn't make good sense in-world, because in-world we've seen that the politics of ruling is incredibly complex and dangerous, and requires far more political acumen to gather and keep the necessary support than Bran - distant, disconnected Bran, who isn't even sure that he is really Bran any more - has. His closest natural ally has just declared herself the ruler of an independent kingdom - which will have its own interests that may well oppose his. She takes all of his personally loyal family troops and retainers with her. That means he is going to be entirely reliant on the support of the other leading families of Westeros - which is an incredibly dangerous position to be in, politically. It's not like he has personal charisma on his side, either.

If he has to resort to threatening his allies with a dragon attack to keep them in line, then he has become Daenerys!

She's in The Last Kingdom, and I did hear a talk about her recently on Radio 4 (that Matthew Parris programme?) because someone has a children's book out on her in a Kings and Queens series, and they discussed the TV portrayal in that. The Runcorn railway bridge near us is properly titled 'The Queen Ethelfleda Viaduct' because one of its feet is on the site of one of her Mersey forts.

But it's a TV show, and we like 'tortoise and hare' stories. There have been nods to I Claudius in the series too, and that also ends up with the unlikely, disabled character as the last man standing - for now. Star Wars gave us a hopeful ending in the 80s, the good, surviving characters assembled on a dias, but the new films have it all going horribly wrong again. I doubt Martin will carry on the series at his age, but this might be something someone takes up a few years down the line. Even as it is, the series has never convincingly shown us new characters and powers springing up to fill the power vacuums left as, for example, Dany has moved her armies.

Btw, it hasn't really been picked upon in the commentary (a bit on twitter) but I thought a definite Robespierre thing going on with Dany - even her hair and face echoed his (not in any way an exact parallel but defo a strong element there). In a way the anger of elements of the fandom shows the story is working - people are drawn in to an attractive leader and a vision of utopia which by steps turns darker and darker, no liberty to the enemies of liberty - her rhetoric at the end was very 1974. I was reminded of the the way that scene worked in Cabaret - the beautiful blonde boy singing in the lovely beer garden drawing you in, and then you see where it will lead.

I was using 'we' in the sense that humans like particular types of stories (it's very clear that some people hated this series of GoT) - the line that there are a number of plots we as a culture find satisfying and we rework them over and over again. Unlikely character emerging as last one standing is one of those storylines, small / weak /marginalised character succeeding against overwhelming odds, the very optimistic idea that brain can defeat brawn.

Yeah but Alfred could write a story without ruining it and leaving lots and lots of plot holes

I'm sure that ink would have smudged.

Bit meh ending for me, so much of it was so clearly signalled that it was no surprise as yes in an attempt I suppose to tie everything up and give everyone a moment it ended in a way that surely yes signalled chaos to come and gave us twee little moments.

Now I may have missed this but was what the point of the night's watch now?
Who were some of those randoms at the choose a king session?
Poor Jon, fated to be pretty gloomy the whole way through. And Whilst it was nice to see Bron again, I wondered if he'd pop up for his money he was a bit too Bron. And could Pod look any more smug?

😀😀 quite: he was sadly never the buoyant, cheery one with a penchant for light showtunes. Although his delivery of “Go Westeros” in full Cersei drag at Night Watch Pride suggested he had the capacity for some moments of joy in his life.

I enjoyed the finale - for me it had some terrific moments (and I loved the scene around the table near the end), but it kind of fizzled out a bit. Of all the characters, I will miss Brienne the most. Loved her, and I liked her moments in the finale.

Whatever you felt about the last season, it is absolutely worth watching the documentary - The Last Watch

As an insight to what it was like to be part of the production, it is an interesting watch.

But it also made me cry. A lot. Seeing the people react to the end of a project that has been their lives for a decade was almost too much for me. Seeing the genuine love they have for their craft, the colleagues is heart-warming.

The ending was never going to satisfy everyone. But this isn't about the story, it is about people who crafted the most ambitious show in TV history. Their story has been told and their watch has ended.

I wonder to what extent it was hampered by the secrecy? Keeping a tight ship presumably meant normal production stuff like fresh pairs of eyes on scripts and test screenings were out of the question.

I liked the last series. I watched the documentary last night and it was clear nerves were frazzled by the pressure but this series has been unique in that fans had come to expect every episode to have the production values of a movie. And I think most people, being human, would be tired of doing the same thing over and over for so many years (look how bored the James Bond team seem to be, judging by press reports).

The last series had an issue in that all the main surviving characters were now isolated. This is presumably in Martin's plot, but on screen this makes it difficult as they have all lost their verbal sparring partners, sounding boards. People were saying 'it's not like previous series' but how could it be, when all those couples and groups whose conversations and relationships we enjoyed have split up, mistrusting each other or dead?

It looks like the proposed prequel isn't happening. A pilot was filmed this summer so it'll be interesting to see the reason why - fall out from the fan backlash to the GoT finale, or the quality of the piece itself? The ex-GoT showrunners have just left the proposed Star Wars series too.

So months after the fact, I still think the final episode should have shown us Dany being revived by a red priestess somewhere. I still think Drogon was MIA for a season or two because they were off laying eggs, and I think the Night King being defeated at Winterfell was an utter shambles, considering we’d spent a decade waiting for him to enter Westeros.

There’s still plenty of scope for a revival series down the line too, which I wouldn’t put past HBO and the cast once the hype around individuals dies down.

Dany could bide her time, raise an army of dragons in isolation. Sansa can make a power grab for the other six kingdoms when someone murders Bran and some of the houses have had time to rebuild and reestablish themselves, and Jon can go further north, explore the mythology of the world and be forced into becoming the next Night King in order to face Dany a second time.

Looking back, Game of Thrones Seasons 1-4 really were the peak when it came to television fantasy & drama. If any of these spin-off series can match the quality of those early seasons, it will be a huge success!

I am so glad House of the Dragon has been announced as a replacement for Bloodmoon. I always found the Bran/White Walker storyline to be one of the more dull aspects of the original series. A focus on the Targaryen dynasty/dragon lords of Valyria would certainly peak my interest!