Why Game Of Thrones Creators Turned Down Millions For House Of The Dragon
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss just gave a bombshell interview — one of their most revealing since "Game of Thrones" ended — and fans now know why the showrunners declined to attach their names to "House of the Dragon," the series' popular prequel spin-off, even though they are entitled to producer credits on any and all properties within the "Game of Thrones" universe.
"HBO was kind of confused," Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter. "I remember their lawyer saying, 'But it's just money, we're just going to pay you.'" Weiss clarified, "I don't think there is such a thing as free money. For us, if our name is on it, especially that, while being completely detached and uninvolved, it felt like the strain that would come with that hands-off approach — with its success or failure or anything in between — was not worth it."
Although Benioff recently rewatched "Game of Thrones" with his family, Weiss said he hasn't returned to the series since the finale aired in May 2019. Neither has watched "House of the Dragon."
Benioff and Weiss know people weren't happy with Game of Thrones
It certainly seems like David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' reluctance to attach their names to anything related to "Game of Thrones" is thanks to the fact that the end of the original series was, to put it lightly, incredibly poorly received. With Seasons 7 and 8 abbreviated, storylines that could have used a little time to breathe happen abruptly. Character arcs that have reached satisfying points — like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's Jaime Lannister's redemption narrative — are undone in a moment. Major villains — like the seemingly impervious Night King (Vladimir "Furdo" Furdik) and the devious Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) — also die unceremoniously.
So what do Benioff and Weiss have to say about the outcry now, which got so bad that fans went so far as to sign a petition to remake the final season of "Game of Thrones"? "You always hope everyone's going to love anything you do and it would've been great if 100 percent of people loved it, but they didn't," Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter. "You can get so bogged down in public opinion that you spend your whole life googling things and trying to find people who felt one way or the other way."
"Even super positive feedback makes you feel weird and teeth-grindy and on edge," Weiss admitted. "There's a drug quality to the feedback, and as soon as we went cold turkey — the last time I googled myself was in 2013 — the ambient stress level in our lives dropped by about 50 percent overnight."
A string of failed projects for David Benioff & D.B. Weiss followed Game of Thrones
It doesn't help matters that after "Game of Thrones" ended, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss ended up attached to a handful of projects that just didn't shake out. The first was "Confederate," to be made alongside Malcolm Spellman and Nichelle Tramble Spellman. This reimagining of the United States where the Confederate forces won the Civil War attracted a lot of negative attention thanks to Benioff and Weiss' involvement and was ultimately canceled. "It's kind of a low point," Weiss revealed. "You try things that feel like they are worth doing and some of them work out, and some don't."
Then there's the creators' "Star Wars" movie, which was shelved alongside a handful of other projects (though the timing of its cancellation alongside the unpopular "Game of Thrones" series finale was unfortunate). So what was their plan? "We wanted to do 'The First Jedi,'" Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter. "Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber."
"And we were annoyed as hell when Rian Johnson called his movie 'The Last Jedi,'" Weiss jokingly said. "He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on."
The duo revealed that Lucasfilm ultimately decided to pass on the "First Jedi" story. While the creators were disappointed, they understood and respected the decision. As Benioff concluded, "It's their company and their IP, but we weren't the droids they were looking for."
What are David Benioff & D.B. Weiss doing now?
At this point, it seems as if David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have recovered from the fraught ending of "Game of Thrones." Their new series, "3 Body Problem" — adapted from the novel of the same name by Chinese sci-fi writer Liu Cixin — was made with the author's blessing. "The first thing he said was what a big fan of 'Thrones' he was," their co-showrunner, Alexander Woo, told The Hollywood Reporter about the initial Zoom meeting between Benioff, Weiss, and Cixin. "He then said, 'I know you're going to have to make a lot of changes.' We had Liu's blessing to adapt the show in the way that we saw fit."
As THR notes, the TV show is a global narrative rather than one rooted entirely in Asian culture. However, Derek Tsang, who directed the series' first two episodes, argued that the duo understands the material and respects its roots. After noting that the novel is incredibly important in China and opened doors for science fiction in the country, Tsang clarified, "But it's not an easy read, and I give a lot of credit to David and Dan for making it more accessible. They also wanted to be as authentic as possible, and there's no way I feel like they were appropriating our culture."
"3 Body Problem" hits Netflix on March 21, and all of "Game of Thrones" — even the ending — is now streaming on Max.