George R.R. Martin Reveals 'Game of Thrones' Was Supposed to End in 3 Movies

The final season of Game of Thrones was one of the most divisive events in television history, and it turns out it was almost the most divisive end in cinematic history.

Author and original creator of the fantasy saga, George R.R. Martin, recently sat down with German publication Welt (via CNET) and revealed that Season 8 of the HBO epic was supposed to end on the silver screen. He explained that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss “wanted to finish the saga with three movies after Season 7. Game of Thrones was supposed to end in cinema. It was seriously discussed four to five years ago.” Apparently the network put a stop to the plan, arguing that HBO specializes in television (almost) exclusively.

CNET also notes that the reason Benioff and Weiss wanted to market the finale as three films was because they wanted the big, Hollywood budget three huge blockbusters require. Benioff told Entertainment Weekly in 2012, “We have a very generous budget from HBO, but we know what's coming down the line and, ultimately, it's not generous enough.”

While they didn’t get their films out of the deal, the pair certainly didn’t have a shortage of dough. It was reported by Variety that HBO spent upwards of $15 million for each of the six episodes in Season 8.

Though it would have been fun to watch GoT on the big screen, it would have made fans’ overall disappointment with the last season that much more amplified.