Game Of Thrones at 10
L’anniversaire de Game Of Thrones.
La série culte Game Of Thrones (actuellement disponible sur OCS) célébrait ses dix ans il y a quelques semaines. La saga, achevée en 2019 après une dernière saison perçue comme décevante, a pourtant véritablement changé la pop culture et la télévision. Quel avenir pour l'univers de Game Of Thrones ? De nombreux spin-offs pourraient bien voir le jour ces prochaines années...
It’s time to crack open Cersei’s favourite Dornish wine and fill an incongruous takeaway coffee cup to the brim: Game of Thrones is 10 years old. To mark the occasion, HBO has inaugurated the Iron Anniversary, a month-long celebration honouring the grandiose but battle-scarred show based on George RR Martin’s as yet uncompleted cycle of fantasy doorstop novels.
2. In traditional GoT fashion, there are merchandising tie-ins, from figurines to a commemorative IPA. But the main thrust of the Iron Anniversary seems to be the series itself: a ceremonial reminder that all eight seasons and 73 instalments are still available to watch on HBO Max [and OCS in France]; the campaign announcements encourage fans to return to their favourite bloodthirsty battle episode or embark on a binge-watch “MaraThrone”.
3. But does the biggest TV drama of the last decade need such a huge PR push? Bizarrely, it seems the answer is yes. The Iron Anniversary may initially sound like a self-aggrandising flex – commissioning a dragon-themed Fabergé egg isn’t cheap – but it also feels like a conscious attempt to draw a line under the unfortunate way GoT wrapped up in 2019.
A DISAPPOINTING ENDING
4. What should have been a victory lap somehow turned into a car crash, tainting the legacy of the most Emmy-garlanded TV drama in history. That wobbly eighth season – with on-screen storylines and behindthe-scenes rumours endlessly analysed by hungry fans and media – caused a passionate and vitriolic backlash, with more than a million viewers signing a petition calling for an alternative ending by “competent writers”.
5. When the compromised ending finally arrived, complete with a personality transplant for Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys, it seemed to snuff out Thrones-mania at a stroke, an unwelcome final twist in a rug-pulling franchise built on them.
6. This very messy, public breakup between a fantasy juggernaut and its fanbase is why there is no real GoT conversation in 2021. What else is there to say? From the third season onwards, the coverage was so intense that every conceiv
able theory was aired and exhausted. Any new discussion is still likely coloured by the oversized reaction to the ending.
7. But give it a few years and opinions will likely soften, new generations will discover the show and the great reassessment will begin. With that endgame in mind, the Iron Anniversary seems like a strategic attempt at reputation management.
8. Besides, the more immediate Thrones legacy is how it changed the TV industry. As well as making us all familiar with the farflung realms and waterways of Westeros, it proved that there was a huge potential audience for sprawling, big-budget stories based on dense genre bestsellers.
9. Without GoT so successfully blending high fantasy with the low cunning of cut-throat politicking, it seems unlikely that Netflix would have saddled up with The Witcher (a franchise popularised by a video game but based on a series of darkly witty fantasy stories by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski). Elsewhere, Disney and Marvel have shown that there is still a considerable appetite for ambitious, franchise-extending, world-building on the small screen, from The Mandalorian to WandaVision.
A NEW SERIES
10. HBO is certainly betting on the appetite for similar material. The company recently signed up Martin to a new five-year deal to work on original projects and advise on various spin-offs. Scroll down through the Iron Anniversary landing page and you will find an understated introduction to House of the Dragon, a prequel series. Set 300 years before GoT, it will focus on the dragon-wielding House Targaryen before its ignominious fall. That show could debut as soon as 2022, and HBO reportedly has five other Thrones-adjacent series in various stages of development, as well as a possible animated spinoff.
11. Ironically, the fact that the original series is streamable and so more accessible than ever means GoT may always require some sort of PR stunt to offer viewers a pressing reason to click play. Technically, the next Iron Anniversary should not be until 2031, but expect other wheezes in the meantime. A promo blowout in June 2023 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the notorious Red Wedding? It would certainly make for a memorable Fabergé egg.
1. to crack open ouvrir / Dornish de Dorne, région fictive de la série Game of Thrones / to fill to the brim remplir à ras bord / battle-scarred marqué par les combats; ici, à la réputation entachée (scar cicatrice) / show ici, série / doorstop cale-porte; ici, pavé, livre épais.
2. GoT = Game of Thrones / fashion ici, style, tradition / tie-in produit, objet / IPA = India Pale Ale bière à fermentation haute / main thrust idée maîtresse / reminder rappel / instalment épisode / available disponible / bloodthirsty sanguinaire / to binge boire (à outrance), se soûler; ici, regarder tous les épisodes d'un seul coup.
3. drama ici, série / decade décennie / huge important / PR = Public Relations / push campagne, promotion / self-aggrandising prétentieux, mégalomane / flex démonstration de force; ici, stratégie / to commission commander / attempt tentative, effort / to wrap up se terminer.
4. victory lap tour d'honneur; ici, grand final / somehow d'une certaine manière / to turn into se transformer en, devenir / to taint entacher, altérer, ternir / legacy ici, postérité / garlanded récompensé / wobbly bancal / on-screen à l’écran / storyline intrigue / backlash ici, réactions négatives.
5. compromised ici, compromettant / complete with accompagné de / transplant ici, changement total / to snuff out éteindre, mettre un terme, tuer / at a stroke d'un seul coup / rug-pulling plein de rebondissements, qui surprend le spectateur / franchise ici, série.
6. juggernaut poids lourd, mastodonte / from... onwards à partir de / coverage couverture (médiatique) / conceivable ici, possible et inimaginable /
to air ici, exposer (en ligne) / to exhaust épuiser / likely probablement / to colour ici, influencer / oversized démesuré.
7. reassessment reconsidération / endgame perspective, finalité / in mind à l'esprit, en tête / management gestion, contrôle.
8. besides de plus / far-flung lointain / realm royaume / waterway cours d'eau / audience public / sprawling tentaculaire, gigantesque.
9. to blend mélanger, mêler / low cunning bassesse, sournoiserie / cut-throat impitoyable / to saddle up with ici, mettre en selle, lancer / witty drôle, spirituel, plein d'esprit. 10. to bet, bet, bet miser, compter sur / deal contrat / to advise conseiller / spin-off série dérivée / to scroll faire défiler (écran) / landing page page d'accueil / understated discret / prequel suite d'un film ou d'une série racontant des événements antérieurs / to set, set, set ici, situer (l'action) / to focus on (se) concentrer sur / to wield manier; ici, dompter / reportedly paraît-il / stage ici, phase. 11. streamable disponible en streaming, sur les plateformes / to require nécessiter / stunt coup de pub / to expect (s’) attendre (à) / wheeze ici, campagne publicitaire, opération promotionnelle / blowout fête gigantesque / notorious tristement célèbre.