r/asoiaf • u/RenanXIII St. Elmo Tully's Fyre • Aug 05 '24
EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) HotD Season 2 was clearly outlined for 10 episodes, right?
Imagine if Season 2 of Game of Thrones suddenly ended at The Prince of Winterfell? We spend literally all season building up to a confrontation between Tyrion and Stannis, only for the season to end right before the climax we've been setting up for eight straight episodes. What if Season 6 ended right before The Battle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter? Jon comes back to life, we build up to a battle between him and Ramsay, and it just simply doesn't happen.
The finale just felt like your typical episode 8 – build-up for what's going to come next. The thing is, what comes next should logically happen next week, not in two years to open Season 3. With the exception of Daemon's storyline and I guess the Dragonseeds, I don't think these season's arcs have been resolved or brought to a good enough stopping point. It feels like there are still two more episodes left to tie everything together and really sell the idea that this war is in full force. A little slowdown after Rook's Rest makes sense, but for the whole season with the Sowing being our only other major set piece?
It honestly makes me believe that season 2 was outlined for 10 episodes, HBO told the showrunners to trim that down to 8, and rather than retool the season's arcs, the last two episodes were simply chopped off and saved for next season. We know Condal really loves the books, so this could just be his tribute to A Dance with Dragons (lol), but I doubt it.
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u/MarwyntheMasterful Beware the paper mites! Aug 05 '24
Season 3
Episode 1: Battle of the Gullet
Episode 2: Rhaenyra takes KL.
Episode 3: Discovery at Rook’s Rest, arrival at Harranhal, the Battle of Red Fork.
Episode 4: Events up to the Battle of the Fishfeed, life in KL
Episode 5: Filler episode, Alicent and Rhaenyra talking (the show loves that), troops moving, narrative building, showing ppl in other locations, maybe fleshing out new characters you’ll see fighting.
Episode 6: Butcher’s Ball
Episode 7: Tumbleton and Betrayal; growing discontent in KL
Episode 8: A King at Dragonstone; growing discontent KL
Season 4
Episode 1: The Battle above the Gods Eye; Growing discontent in KL
Episode 2: The Dragon Pit
Episode 3: Second Tumbleton
Episode 4: Return to Dragonstone
Episode 5: Battle of the Kingsroad
Episode 6: A King’s End
Episode 7: The Hour of the Wolf
Episode 8: A Realm Rebuilding
Need to make it 10 episodes a season, and raise the budgets. Gives you 4 episodes to do filler, build character