'Game of Thrones' Fans Still Demanding Season 8 Re-Do Amid 'Iron Anniversary' Celebration

Michael Hein

04/05/2021 08:19 pm EDT

On Monday, HBO announced "The Iron Anniversary" — a month-long celebration of the 10th anniversary of Game of Thrones. The fantasy series premiered on April 17, 2011, and was the preoccupation of all TV fans everywhere for nearly a decade. However, many fans now remember it only for its widely hated ending.

Game of Thrones Season 8 is widely considered the worst ending to a TV series of all time — not least of all because the first few seasons were so beloved. The blame typically falls on the duo of writers and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who made the decision to end the show early and cut the last two seasons short. However, some fans also blame HBO itself for accomodating those writers instead of replacing them. Either way, the ending was so different in quality from the earlier seasons that it completely distracts from any memories of the show as a whole.

Game of Thrones is based on the novel series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin — a colossal work with one of the most detailed fictional worlds ever laid out in high fantasy. However, Martin developed writer's block as the show gained popularity, forcing the series to forge ahead with an ending that had no source material. While each of Martin's books has gotten longer and more complex, the showrunners chose instead to shorten their seasons and end it early.

Even with nearly two years between now and the ending, fans are still bitter, and the ending still consumes any thoughts they have of the show. "The Iron Anniversary" will include marathons — or "MaraThrones" — as well as cast engagement, product cross-overs and fan giveaways. In spite of all this, many of the comments were preoccupied with the ending of the series itself.

Some fans are still calling on HBO to remake Game of Thrones Season 8 — or even Seasons 5, 6, 7 and 8. Their case seemed stronger than ever this week after the success of Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max. So far, HBO has said that it is unlikely to take on such a project, but that hasn't stopped fans from asking. Scroll down for a look at the responses to "The Iron Anniversary" from bitter Game of Thrones fans online.

Deserve

Fans say that they "deserve" a different ending, whether it's already been filmed or needs to be re-shot. Knowing that HBO intends to lean heavily on the franchise in the years to come, they believe a re-make is worth doing.

Choose-Your-Own Ending

Many fans joked that they would gladly watch the "MaraThrone" right up until the last few episodes, where most felt that the show went wrong.

Hard to Re-Watch

Others said that Game of Thrones is hard to re-watch at all knowing how disappointing the ending came out. Even the parts of the show that are well-made are hard to enjoy for some.

Re-Make

Fans announced that a re-make of the last season was the only announcement they wanted to hear from HBO about Game of Thrones. Anything else was no good to them.

Prequel Hype

Of course, some fans managed to maintain some excitement for Game of Thrones, if nothing else in anticipation of the upcoming prequel. The showrunners of the original series will not be involved in the new show, so many are keeping hope alive.

Defenders

Meanwhile, a few fans actually defended Season 8 and said that the complaints about it were overblown. Others argued that the first five or six seasons were still masterpieces, even if Season 8 was disappointing.

Memes

Finally, if nothing else the "Iron Anniversary" event gave many fans a chance to apply their Game of Thrones feelings to new meme formats, including photos of the blocked Suez Canal just last week. If nothing else, this might be the fandom's favorite use of the big event.

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