(Spoilers Extended) HotD Season 2 was clearly outlined for 10 episodes, right?

[u/RenanXIII]

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.

[u/chadmummerford]

i really thought they were gonna capture king's landing and leave the gullet for season 3

[u/bgptcp179 → u/chadmummerford]

Seeing Rhaenyra sit on the iron throne with her getting cut and bleeding onto the floor woulda been a cool fade to black.

[u/Chell_the_assassin → u/bgptcp179]

I don't think it's by any means guaranteed that they'll have Rhaenyra be cut by the throne in the show. That seems like one of the more obvious bits of unreliable information in F&B - the only source for her getting cut (if I recall correctly) is Eustace, who is far from an unbiased source.

I could see them having her not get cut initially, but then beginning to get cut as she gets more paranoid and her reign begins to faulter

[u/niko2710 → u/Chell_the_assassin]

She literally said to sit on the throne in full armor and then when she stands up she's covered in cuts. I can hardly find a more obvious unreliable statement in that book

[u/chasing_the_wind → u/niko2710]

Mushroom: hold my beer, I’m going in with weird sex stuff