George R. R. Martin's Favorite TV Finale Isn't Game Of Thrones

It probably doesn't come as a huge surprise that George R.R. Martin's favorite TV series finale isn't "Game of Thrones" — because that finale stunk. So what's Martin's pick?

The author of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels upon which "Game of Thrones" was based loves talking about all things pop culture, and in August 2023, he discussed popular series finales and made his voice heard. On his personal blog, Martin discussed a Vanity Fair list of great TV episodes and weighed in thusly: "If I had to pick one episode that was even more perfect than all the others on the list, though, it would have to be the final episode of ["Six Feet Under"]. I liked that series well enough, though I cannot say I loved it as much as I loved ["Rome"] or ["Deadwood"] or ["Fargo"] or a few other shows missing from the list, but that last episode was far and away the best finale in the entire history of television, and I cannot imagine how anyone could possibly do better."

Other shows Martin brought up that featured standout episodes included "Black Mirror" — he particularly loves the popular, award-winning episode "San Junipero" — as well as other critically beloved episodes like "Ozymandias" ("Breaking Bad"), "The Suitcase" ("Mad Men"), and "The Pine Barrens" ("The Sopranos"). Of course, he also gave a shoutout to "Blackwater," a Season 2 episode of "Game of Thrones" penned by Martin himself.

So what happened in the "Game of Thrones" finale, exactly? Well, after eight seasons, fans finally got to see which character reigns supreme after squabbling over the Iron Throne and control of the Seven Kingdoms for all that time. By the time Season 8 arrived, only a few major players are even still in contention, including Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), and Jon Snow (Kit Harington), the last of whom has a firm bloodline claim to the throne itself. Ultimately, all of that becomes irrelevant after Daenerys torches the capital city of King's Landing to the ground to defeat Cersei — after which Jon kills Daenerys for the good of the realm and watches as her dragon torches that throne everyone wants.

When all is said and done, it seems like no actual candidates for the Iron Throne are even eligible anymore ... until Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) suggests Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) as the next leader of Westeros, in large part because he has such a "good story." Bran is elected as the leader by a panel of high-ranking Westerosi lords and ladies, while his older sister Sansa (Sophie Turner) is put in charge of the Northern stronghold of Winterfell. Jon returns to the Night's Watch beyond the Wall, Tyrion becomes Hand of the King to Bran, and all is well — within the show, at least. Fans weren't happy, to say the least.

Fans really, really hated the "Game of Thrones" finale, and that's putting it lightly. To be absolutely fair to the final season — which inexplicably scored an Emmy win for outstanding drama series — the show's overall quality started to noticeably slip during Season 7 when some characters could seemingly fast-travel across the Seven Kingdoms and others became a lot dumber for silly plot reasons. Season 8 ended up spanning just six episodes, due in large part to the fact that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss seemed to be in a rush to wrap things up so they could move on to their untitled "Star Wars" project (which was later canceled). Those six episodes were ... frustrating.

After having Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) neatly dispose of the series' most formidable threat — and Jon Snow's natural enemy — in The Night King, the series presented the absurd idea that Daenerys Targaryen would follow in her "mad" father's footsteps with the drop of a hat, culminating in her committing mass murder without a second thought. Fans literally mounted a petition to have the final season completely redone and the outcry was loud enough that the show's cultural capital more or less vanished overnight.

For fans of George R.R. Martin's original books, one question looms large: can the author repair the damage done to the show's cultural legacy by writing a better ending? That's a complicated question, though. The fifth book in "A Song of Ice and Fire," titled "A Dance with Dragons," was released in 2011, and years later, its sequel "A Winds of Winter" still hasn't been released. Judging from Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" update from November 2023, where he says he has over 1,000 pages written, the book is still a long time coming. That appears to be the same number of pages he mentioned in 2022, and the author has also been busy working on the spin-off and prequel "House of the Dragon" as well as an upcoming "Game of Thrones" stage play.

Still, some longtime fans — "A Song of Ice and Fire" kicked off in 1996, for reference — are holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, Martin has a different ending cooked up for the books. Sure, Daenerys going mad can make sense with the right build-up and context, but the show provided neither of those things ... leaving viewers wholly unsatisfied. Maybe Cersei will get a much better death this time around, and maybe Bran won't end up as King of the Seven Kingdoms. Only time will tell — if Martin ever bothers to get back to writing "The Winds of Winter."