“That was a definite mistake”: David Benioff Admitted His Huge Blunder With ‘Game of Thrones’ Years Ago But Its Not What You Think
- David Benioff and D.B. Weiss totally understand if a lot of people did not watch Game of Thrones.
- David Benioff watched one episode of Game of Thrones with his mother and regretted it.
- The creators added they have stopped googling things about them.
HBO’s biggest and most successful fantasy drama series, created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Game of Thrones remains one of the best fantasy drama series. The show is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, and it first premiered in 2011 and concluded in 2019. The show had a large ensemble cast, and the story followed their respective characters’ arcs throughout.
However, one major arc of the story is who sits on the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms and thus follows a web of political conflicts among families to claim it. Upon release, the show garnered record-breaking viewership on HBO and received praise for its storyline, complex characters, performances, and more. However, the violence and nudity were not quite appreciated, and the creators’ addressed just that.
David Benioff admitted to making a mistake with Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones is without a doubt one of the best fantasy show series of all time. Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the show has every element that keeps viewers hooked on their TV screens, and despite the backlash for the final season, no other series has reached the success and popularity of GOT amongst audiences.
During an interview with Westeros, the creators were asked what was the biggest challenge they faced while adapting the story for the screens, to which Benioff said the scale of it. He explained,
The books are so massive; there are so many storylines and so many characters. We have ten hours, which is great—when George’s agent sent the books to us, he was suggesting features. This was the agent’s suggestion, not George. We immediately realized that wasn’t possible. Still, even with ten hours, there’s so much that we can’t do. If we tried to shove every single character into the story, we’d have about 45 seconds per storyline per episode.
Upon asking what they love about the book, Benioff said for him it’s the characters and recalled that when he read the scene where Bran was pushed out of the window, it felt like something very different. He added one becomes so immersed in the characters and develops such affection for them. He described George R. R. Martin as a ‘ruthless god.’
However, violence and nudity remain one of the topics of discussion for the audience. Addressing one such question, David Benioff shared during an interview with Idaho Public Television. He said they understand that some people aren’t going to want to watch a story in which humans are doing horrible things to humans. It has violence and nudity, which can be too much for a lot of people, so they understand.
The interviewer asked the creator how he would describe the show to their grandmother. D.B. Weiss said both of his grandmothers have passed away, but one of them would have loved the show because she has read the book. Benioff added,
My grandmothers are not around anymore. I did make the mistake of watching one episode with my mom, and it was Joffrey, the evil prince, doing something horrible to a prostitute. And I would say, you, that was a definite mistake. But you know she loves the show.
The creator added that her mother is obviously biased, but it’s been fun to see people like their parents, who are in their 70s, love the show.
Creators of Game of Thrones addressed Season 8 backlash
In a cover story for THR in 2024, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss addressed the backlash over the final season of Game of Thrones. Benioff said,
You always hope everyone’s going to love anything you do, and it would’ve been great if 100% of people loved it, but they didn’t. You can get so bogged down in public opinion that you spend your whole life googling things and trying to find people who feel one way or the other way.
Weiss added that even super positive feedback makes one feel weird and teeth-grinding and on the edge. He noted that there was a drug quality to the feedback, and as soon as they went cold turkey, the ambient stress level in their lives dropped by about 50% overnight.
Fans believed that the creators rushed into finishing the series off to show an early conclusion, plus they were not happy with the ending as well. The fans also assumed that the creators may have ditched the show to make more money with some other project, which is also not the case.
Both of them turned down the chance of being guaranteed producer credits on all future Thrones spinoffs. They shared that they believed that there is no such thing as free money and, with their names on the Thrones spinoff, felt like it was a strain to them, so they decided to turn down the opportunity.
Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO.
