Game of Thrones, Marvel and Star Wars movies want the grand farewell, but they won’t pull the trigger. By now, we know that Game of Thrones will finally come to an end in 2019. (Sigh!) These seven seasons featured endless twists, deaths and nudity and now, the last season will finally reveal who gets to sit on the Iron Throne.
Except, is it really the ending? Not really. Even though the eighth season of Game of Thrones will end this year, we keep getting constant updates about the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel. Apparently, this prequel is going to revolve around Robert Baratheon’s rebellion. New casting announcements of the new Game of Thrones prequel are dropped every two weeks.
Is Game of Thrones alone in this?
Game of Thrones wants to have the cake and eat it too. Of course, it’s understandable. It is creating the momentum and the hype for the final season on one hand. And on the other hand, it is silently planning its replacement as well. But, is Game of Thrones alone in this game of comebacks? Definitely not. Sopranos (Another HBO hit) ended in 2007 and is now getting a prequel movie made. After 12 years! Whereas, Game of Thrones hasn’t even waited for 12 months before planning its next move.
The Star Wars spin-off
The Star Wars original trilogy was also a huge hit for the audience. Now, almost after a decade, Disney started making their films and produced even more movies. After December’s Episode XI, we might have expected the franchise to end or to take another long break. But, there are plans for two separate trilogies altogether. Game of Thrones bosses David Benioff and DB Weiss and Rian Johnson plan to explore to come up with multiple TV spin offs. The next movie is being billed as “the last chapter in the Skywalker saga” – a story strand that began with the original 1977 Star Wars.
The sheer determination with which LucasFilm is trying to force out new brand extensions is already harming their business model. The spin-off movie, Solo performed really poorly. This can be the result of fans getting over-used to or maybe even bored with Star wars. Mainly, because Disney minted out so many movies so fast. Hence, Episode IX becomes just another step on the road instead of the momentous final destination it might have been.
Marvel’s journey
Marvel Cinematic Universe, a.k.a, MCU is also not far behind in this race. No one expected the franchise to end. But, Avengers: Endgame and last year’s Infinity War were clearly shown as the end of an era, featuring real consequences for the characters. But, Marvel’s has already released a teaser for Spider-Man: Far From Home which spoils any kind of impact that Endgame was supposed to have. Spoiler alert – Spider-Man is alive. Even if nobody really believed all the heroes had died properly, it seems weird that we’re not even pretending the stakes are real anymore. We already know there is some twist and Game of Thrones isn’t going to be any different.
Do the spin-offs do well?
The TV industry is full of people who wanted to stretch the lifespans of their artistic piece of works. These characters and shows deserve their ends/breaks. Or the thing that made them successful in the first place actually leads to their doom. Here, we can take the classic example of JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts franchise which crumbled to the ground after its second movie, The Crimes of Grindelwald. It was pretty obvious that it could not compete with the Harry Potter movie success. So even though the Game of Thrones prequel isn’t even close to release yet, our bet would be that it wouldn’t be anywhere near the original masterpiece that GOT is.
But, why do movie makers keep doing it? For the money, of course. Obviously, we can’t jump to conclusions if the verdict of the upcoming shows will be good or bad, especially as far as Game of Thrones is concerned (a show, that has hardly ever disappointed someone). It will be good for everyone if these franchises give themselves a time out to settle and regrow. In that way, they can keep continuing whilst giving the fans what they want and enjoy.
