A Game of Thrones movie trilogy was blocked by HBO, say showrunners

We may keep hearing new details about why the ending of HBO’s Game of Thrones was disappointing forever — or at least as long as the show’s creators, David Benioff, and D.B. Weiss are still working. In an interview with WSJ. Magazine while promoting their new series, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, the two mentioned they wanted to finish Game of Thrones off with a series of movies, but HBO and AT&T had other ideas. Much, much worse ideas.

The showrunning duo said they wanted to finish off the last two seasons of Game of Thrones as three movies, instead of the 13 total episodes we ended up with. While this might not have fixed many fans’ complaints of a rushed ending, it seems HBO had a different reason for nixing the idea: its name. According to Benioff and Weiss, the executive team reminded them that they were making shows for the “Home Box Office” not the “Away Box Office.”

But while this juicy bit of information is yet another fascinating insight into the very strange ending of HBO’s biggest series, it isn’t even the most baffling and dispiriting reveal in the interview.

That honor belongs to the person who apparently suggested Benioff and Weiss film Game of Thrones vertically, so it would be easier to watch on phones. The comment came from an executive at AT&T, the then parent company of Warner Bros., which owns HBO. The company also reportedly discussed creating mini-episodes of the show that would be more “snackable” — so shorter and easier to watch for mobile viewers.

Most recent discussions of Warner Bros. and HBO have revolved around the decisions made by David Zaslav, who took over as CEO after the company merged with Discovery in 2022. Since then, Zaslav has radically cut down on the company’s emphasis on the Max streaming platform (which he oversaw the renaming of) and increased its focus on theatrical distribution and reality show content. More controversially, the company has also decided to shelve several movies, like Batgirl, Salem’s Lot, and Coyote vs Acme, while selling streaming rights for other movies to competitors like Netflix.

But all this dredging up of ridiculous meetings and requests by Benioff and Weiss is a pretty good reminder that Warner Bros. management has made questionable decisions for a long time. Considering moving HBO’s flagship show into a mobile-friendly format or making bite-sized episodes may sound ridiculous, but it makes sense when you have a phone company trying to get the most out of its struggling entertainment branch. Exactly why AT&T would assume its customers couldn’t rotate their phones is a different, more difficult question.

Even if the studio now known as Warner Bros. Discovery is still on shaky ground, with shelved movies and a Friday stock market downturn after its earnings report, at least its current emphasis is on major franchises and theatrical releases, instead of vertical video.