Isn't It a Shame They Stopped Making Game of Thrones After Season 6?

These past few Sundays, I’ve found unexpected comfort in the familiar static and hum of the HBO intro before The Last of Us. It brings me back to a simpler time — a time when that iconic logo was immediately followed by Ramin Djawadi’s unforgettable Game of Thrones theme. What a golden era of television that was.

It’s wild to think HBO just... stopped making Game of Thrones after Season 6. No warning, no final bow — just six (mostly) spectacular seasons and then radio silence. A shame, really. Especially considering Season 6 featured the breakout performance of Bella Ramsey (a.k.a. Ellie in TLOU). It’s hard not to wonder what could have been.

There was clearly more story to tell. George R.R. Martin still has two books on the way — “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring” — and the show itself still had plenty of major characters, unresolved plotlines, and at least three seasons’ worth of material left on the table from my estimations. But alas, due to the sudden halt to the series’ production and George’s snails pace of writing, we may never know how it all ends.

On the bright side, at least the show went out on a high note. They didn’t cave to studio pressure or rush to the finish line. They didn’t gloss over key character arcs or abandon political nuance in favor of hollow spectacle. And they certainly didn’t butcher the geography of Westeros by having characters teleport across the continent between episodes. No sir — Game of Thrones ended with dignity, discipline, and narrative cohesion. The Battle of the Bastards. The Winds of Winter. A mic drop of an ending.

It’s enthralling to think about what might’ve happened in future seasons, had they continued. With the chessboard finally set and the major players converging, the possibilities were endless. We could’ve gotten more of the patient, long-form storytelling the series was known for, honouring the character work we’d invested in for years. We could’ve had a thoughtful, tragic, bittersweet ending worthy of the series’ legacy. We could’ve had closure.

Instead, we’ll just have to dream. But hey — at least the two Davids are off to write their Star Wars trilogy. I’m sure that’ll go well.

No Plot Armour in Westeros

If there's one thing Game of Thrones has always taken seriously, it's the danger. The world is cruel, random, and utterly indifferent to your protagonist status. Characters have always existed to serve the story rather than the story being crafted serve the characters — that commitment to narrative integrity is exactly what made the Red Wedding such an impactful and iconic cultural moment. Surely, in the final seasons, that principle would remain ironclad.

Characters in Game of Thrones often fail to achieve the impossible when faced by it, because it’s just that — impossible. A non-combatant like Sam being caught under a dogpile of half-a-dozen wights? Sorry buddy, even prime Jaime Lannister’s not getting out of that one. That is, unless they were to just cut away from the action any time a character was in danger and then cut back to them later having miraculously and inexplicably survived.

Speaking of Jaime, imagine if he — wearing a full suit of armour and a solid-gold hand suctioned to his stump arm — were to be thrown into a deep body of water? That dude is sinking like a rock. He wouldn’t even be able to tread water, let alone be safely dragged several hundred feet downstream underwater by someone like Bronn.

That being said, Arya did get shanked in the gut and immediately tumbled into peepee poopoo water, only to completely heal up days later without any complication whatsoever, but that was probably just a one-off lapse.

Political Intrigue and Careful Strategy

The soul of the show has always been in its quiet rooms: whispered alliances, backroom betrayals, and contested inheritance. Tyrion spent nearly the entirety of Season 2 preparing for one battle — theorizing possible outcomes, formulating backup plans, and putting every intricacy under the microscope. It’d be insane if they just abandoned all that in favor of confoundingly ill-conceived battle strategies and $6-million zombified bear fights, right?

So if Tyrion was then in charge of picking some place for the civilians to hide when the White Walkers attack — considering their signature ability is raising the dead — surely he’d recognize the dangers of hiding in the crypt. You know, the place where all the dead people are?

Then there’s the Dothraki, a ferocious light cavalry unit whose power comes from intimidation, and the fear struck into the hearts of enemies facing down their charge. Obviously, this wouldn’t work against a hive-mind army of undead soldiers with no fear and infinite stamina, so it would make sense for the battle strategist to position them on the flanks to chip away at the perimeter of the enemy rather than sending a ground-ball right up the middle into the glove of the night king.

Back in the south, I’m sure Olenna Tyrell will not be taking kindly to Cersei nuking her entire bloodline in the Sept attack. I see an epic Lannister vs Tyrell battle on the horizon. The Tyrells are known to be fierce warriors with one of the largest armies in Westeros, and Highgarden was literally built for siege defense. So if the battle-worn Lannisters — who have been fighting since Season 2 — were to attempt a siege, they’d have their work cut out for them for sure. I doubt they’d be able to blow through the defenses within mere hours entirely offscreen for the sake of narrative convenience.

Sharp, Nuanced Dialogue

Who could forget the linguistic jousts between Tyrion and Varys, or the long-winded, brilliantly layered speeches of Littlefinger and Olenna? Having now spent six seasons with these characters, every conversation is packed with nuance, subtext, and a rich history of interpersonal dynamics. Considering Game of Thrones fans have shown their love for this style of dialogue — one of the series’ defining characteristics — I’m sure they’d stay true to the format as things ramp up towards the conclusion.

Sure, they could cut away from the dialogue every time things started to get interesting and just imply what was said in order to propel the plot forward at an unnatural pace and save themselves the effort of writing good original dialogue since they can no longer afford the luxury of lifting directly from the source material. However, that would mean the only dialogue remaining would be cheesy one-liners and clunky exposition dumps, which is not in the show’s DNA whatsoever.

Realistic Geography and Narrative Logistics

One of the show’s unsung strengths was its respect for time. For pacing. For travel. For chronology. It was established in the first few episodes of the show that Robert Baratheon took nearly a full month to travel from King’s Landing to Winterfell, so we have a pretty good idea then of how long it would take to traverse across the rest of the realm. Remember how it took Arya basically three full seasons to reach the Eyrie from King’s Landing before crossing the sea to Braavos? Or how it took Jorah and Tyrion an entire season to track down Daenerys across Essos? There’s absolutely no way they’d throw all that out and have characters just… appear wherever they need to be whenever they need to be there… Right?

Well, now that Dany has tasked Jorah with curing his greyscale, I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of travel ahead for him. Maybe an entire season before he reaches Old Town, a season of being treated by a skilled maester, and another full season of making his way back to Dany in time for the final battle. Surely he wouldn’t undertake that entire journey offscreen over the course of a handful of episodes within a single season.

Hypothetically, if some Magnificent Seven-esque squad of warriors travelled for several days beyond the wall in some ill-advised mission to capture a wight and predictably found themselves in trouble, they’d certainly have to get out of it themselves. I doubt they’d be able to send one of their members sprinting all the way back to the wall, fire off a raven to Daenerys, have Daenerys fly all the way up beyond the wall on her dragon, and find them all within the span of what would seem to be a few hours. That would simply be insultingly nonsensical, right? RIGHT?

And what of Euron Greyjoy? If he wanted to bargain for Cersei's hand, I could see him constructing a reasonable amount of ships for the royal fleet within an equally reasonable timeframe in exchange. But, with the Iron Islands severely lacking in both resources and manpower, I doubt he'd make some ridiculous claim like building 1000 ships in a single year. Considering one Spanish Galley could take several months to a few years to complete on its own, building 1000 in even less time would literally be impossible!

And how about those Scorpions? You, know, the giant dragon-killing crossbows that nobody alive has ever used in combat? Well, if they were to be deployed, I doubt whoever was using them would be able to land a direct hit on a dragon flying 1000 feet above them in the sky with their first shot, especially when fired from an unstable moving platform like a ship or something. Plus, in the open ocean, a dragon would definitely be able to see any sort of incoming ship waaaay before they were ever in firing range anyway.

Visions and Magic and Monsters, Oh My!

George R.R. Martin wove fantasy elements into the narrative with the care and caution of a maester’s hand, never letting magic overwhelm the grounded low-fantasy realism that made Westeros feel like a living, breathing world. Prophecies, visions, and magical abilities weren’t flashy gimmicks. No, they were slow-burning mysteries, rooted in consequence, restraint, and internal logic — even if that logic was never directly revealed to the audience. Surely, in the hypothetical final seasons, all that meticulous setup would be brought to a satisfying and meaningful conclusion.

Take the magic of The Wall, for instance — ancient spells woven into its very foundation, strong enough to repel White Walkers entirely. Literally everyone in Westeros knows this. So, if someone were to go through with that aforementioned hypothetical — and not to mention, reckless — plan to kidnap a wight and drag it south in attempts to convince Cersei to join the cause, they’d obviously factor in the Wall’s protective magic. They certainly wouldn’t assume it could just be hauled across the line with no issue. That would be absurd!

Then there’s Melisandre’s infamous shadow baby from Season 2 — a murderous smoke demon birthed from her body which assassinated Renly Baratheon with pretty much zero resistance whatsoever. Surely that kind of power wouldn’t be used once and then never again. If Jon is Azor Ahai and the son of Rhaegar Targaryen — veins flowing with King’s blood — wouldn’t it make sense to cook up a few more of those for the final battle? And with the Long Night basically being the climax of the entire religion of the Red Priests, you'd assume a few of them might want to come help out or at the very least watch it all go down.

And of course, the Valonqar prophecy. Tween Cersei’s foretold death by strangulation at the hands of her “little brother.” Cersei seems hell bent on pegging Tyrion as the Valonqar, but the truly poetic answer would be Jaime — or better yet, Arya wearing Jaime’s face. After going through all that trouble training as a Faceless Man in Braavos only to neglect using it again after killing Walder Frey would be ridiculous. Plus, Cersei is like, the main person on her kill list. She’s definitely saving that trick for the final season payoff, right?

Consistent Characters

By Season 6 of Game of Thrones, every major character had been clearly and deeply defined — their goals, their fears, their values. Naturally, we can expect their actions in future seasons to be logical extensions of who they are, shaped by experience and inner conflict. Obviously.

Cersei has pretty much made it her life's mission to create hell for Tyrion. She’s tried to have him killed several times already, and has made it abundantly clear that she can not be trusted. So, I doubt Tyrion would ever expect her to uphold her end of a bargain to help Jon and Dany defeat the Night King if they were ever to strike such a ludicrous deal in the first place.

That cunning Cersei — she’s always been a plotter. When push comes to shove, and the united armies of Westeros come knocking at the gates of King’s Landing, surely she’ll have some sort of plan in place to defeat them, right? She’ll have had all this time to plan, and she'll know conflict is inevitable, so why would she just sit back and cry while the city is destroyed? No, she'll be ready and waiting, and surely she’ll have a fallback plan in case things go sour, right?

Daenerys has been on a steady heroic ascent since Season 1, but Game of Thrones is not the kind of story where that ascent is indefinite. The cracks were already showing in Season 6 with her growing indifference to cruelty as long as it served her vision of justice. She sees herself as the realm’s savior, and that belief has been leading to increasingly questionable actions for a while now. A tragic fall feels imminent, following in the footsteps of the Mad King. Over the next few seasons, we should see Dany wrestling with doubt, making mistakes, facing adversity from her advisors, and slowly descend into tyranny. It wouldn't feel satisfying if her transformation into the Mad Queen happened almost entirely offscreen. It would feel too sudden compared to the time it’s taken for her character to evolve to its current state thus far. She can’t just claim “I don’t want to be the Queen of Ashes” one day and torch King’s Landing with dragonfire the next. That would just be absurd!

No Plotline Left Behind

With such meticulous groundwork laid over six seasons, it’s safe to assume no major plot threads or characters would be forgotten or dropped without resolution. That would just be bad storytelling.

How about Quaithe? That masked sorceress from Season 2? She sure knew a lot, and seemed pretty important. She's also a recurring character in the books, so I bet she’ll come back.

How about Illyrio Mopatis? The dude who arranged Dany’s marriage to Khal Drogo? He sure seemed intent on getting a Targaryen back on the Iron Throne. He could be a major asset in gathering support for the wars to come.

How about Talisa Stark's noble family from Volantis? She said she was on good terms with them and exchanged letters often. Since Talisa was stabbed to death at the Red Wedding — while pregnant, no less — I bet her family will have a bone to pick with the Lannisters after that one!

And of course, we can’t forget about the glaring omission of Lady Stoneheart, a fan-fav badass motherfucker from the books. Now that The Brotherhood Without Banners has been reintroduced, perhaps she’ll finally make some sort of dramatic late-stage appearance?

Audience Respect and Artistic Integrity

Game of Thrones never pandered to its audience. It challenged them. It expected intelligence. And more importantly, it respected the long-form investment viewers made in its long-term setups and complex character arcs by never cutting corners or simplifying ideas for mass appeal. How about that Hodor reveal, right? Talk about planting a seed and following through. Surely, that level of respect would carry through to the end.

From the very beginning, the show has teased the prophecy of Azor Ahai — The Prince That Was Promised — for his song is The Song of Ice and Fire after all. For six perfect servings of full 10-episode seasons and five hefty novels, breadcrumbs were scattered with careful precision — hinting at a number of potential candidates who could fulfil the prophecy. Finally, in the Tower of Joy sequence from S06E10, we once and for all received the confirmation long-theorized by book readers: Jon Snow, born of Stark and Targaryen blood, is that very prince. It all made so much sense. It was right under our noses. The signs had been pointing this way the entire time! A perfect example of foreshadowing done right.

More signs point towards Jon and Dany forming an alliance to defeat their common enemies to the North and South — perhaps even a cheeky romance could form between them. But knowing Jon, it wouldn’t happen overnight. It took him an entire season to warm up to Ygritte, and he's still reeling from her loss. It’ll take a while to build trust, process his past trauma, and develop true and authentic feelings for Dany. You know, like what happens in real relationships. But it’s not enough for them to just have those feelings — we need to see them develop in order to believe them, which I'm sure we will. I doubt they'll just hop into the sack 15-minutes after meeting each other.

Then, of course, comes the topic of Lightbringer. If Jon truly is Azor Ahai reborn, he’ll have to kill Daenerys in order to temper his sword, fulfil the prophecy, and save the world from the impending darkness. Ideally, this would happen after her descent into madness and before the battle with the Night King — the obvious final battle of the series — giving the tragic, but necessary act the weight and consequence it deserves.

With the Seven Kingdoms united, Jon could lead the final stand of the living and slay the Night King, who'd only have foot soldiers and no undead dragons under his command since Viserion wouldn't have been killed during a dumb little hypothetical adventure beyond the wall. Because, as I’ve already mentioned, nobody would be shortsighted enough to even attempt such a foolhardy suicide mission in the first place.

A Series Worth Revisiting

At least, that’s probably how it would all go down if the writers actually followed through with all the careful foreshadowing that had been built up until this point. However, there is a chance the writers could see how a bunch of nerds online correctly theorized the ending, and spitefully throw a curveball at the audience by having some random character like Arya jump out of nowhere and kill the Night King unprompted and with zero buildup, just for the sake of shock value. But that would be totally crazy, right? Right? RIGHT???

No, I’m sure they would focus on crafting a satisfying ending which would prove to be a rewarding experience even upon re-watch with the knowledge of how it all unfolds, because it would all make sense and the intentions would be clear and consistent from the very beginning. Because, if it weren’t a satisfying ending, it would likely taint the show’s legacy forever, in conjunction with the careers of David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. But thankfully, there’s no need to worry about that because they stopped making the show after Season 6. So instead, I suppose we’ll just have to wait for George R.R. Martin to finish his books before we can finally learn the true secrets of The Song of Ice and Fire. For now, we'll just have to rely solely on our imagination.