HBO President of Programming wants Game of Thrones to run past 7 seasons
As part of their big Game of Thrones collector’s edition cover roll-out, Entertainment Weekly got an exclusive interview with HBO’s President of Programming, Michael Lombardo. In the interview, Lombardo expresses sentiment for a 10 year run, which is contradictory to what Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have stated they want.
See what Mr. Lombardo has to say, after the jump.
Talking to EW, Michael Lombardo had this to say:
“This is the hard part of what we do. We started this journey with David and Dan. It’s their vision. Would I love the show to go 10 years as both a fan and a network executive? Absolutely.”
There is a very real risk to attempting to stretch out an extremely popular show like Game of Thrones. The risk, is the possibility of disenchanting fans of the show, by running it way past its prime (See the final season of Showtime’s Dexter). The good part is, that Lombardo told Entertainment Weekly that he trusts Benioff and Weiss “implicitly” with how they will end the show.
“We’ll have an honest conversation that explores all possible avenues. If they weren’t comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that’s the right decision—as horrifying as that is to me. What I’m not going to do is have a show continue past where the creators believe where they feel they’ve finished with the story.”
Lombardo also discussed, with EW, the possibility of ending Game of Thrones on the big-screen, with a feature film.
“Certainly there have been conversations where it’s been said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to do that?’ But when you start a series with our subscribers, the promise is that for your HBO fee that we’re going to take you to the end of this. I feel that on some level [a movie would be] changing the rules: Now you have to pay $16 to see how your show ends.”
It’s a relief to know that HBO considers the feelings of its subscribers, by not simply and blindly plunging into a movie. However, with the success that Game of Thrones had with its IMAX run, ending the series with a big-budget blockbuster movie, might not be such a bad idea.
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