‘Game of Thrones’: How will it end?
Two mammoth questions hover, like Daenerys’ dragons, over “Game of Thrones,” which returns Sunday for its final season: Who triumphs in the end? Will the series finale satisfy?
“While most series finales are notoriously disappointing because they lapse into sentimentality and cliche, so far ‘GoT’ has resisted every impulse to break the fourth wall,” said Jana Mathews, who teaches a course on the HBO drama at Rollins College in Winter Park. “If past experience is indicative of future action, the show won’t need to be saved from itself. Fingers crossed.”
For the final time, Mathews is teaching her “GoT” course, a sophomore-level literature course that examines medieval and Renaissance source texts that inspired George R.R. Martin’s book series and the TV epic.
Her students are speculating about the end, and Mathews singled out a theory from course alum Nick Holcomb. “He thinks that the final scene of the series will be Cersei pulling off her own face — and revealing herself to be Arya,” Mathews said. “Everyone hopes that the final season reveals more about Arya’s shape-shifting powers, and that she gets the opportunity to put them to good use.”
The series finale has become a cultural ritual for popular dramas (“The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad”) and comedies (“Cheers,” “Seinfeld,” “Friends”). Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) says farewell when “The Big Bang Theory” concludes its 12-season run May 16 on CBS.
The tone will be far harsher when “Game of Thrones” finishes May 19 after eight seasons and just six episodes this year. The finale is likely to be the TV event of the year, because there has never been a series like “GoT.”
The drama, which airs at 9 p.m. Sundays, elevated the medium with its style and grandeur, winning a record 47 Emmys for a prime-time series. “GoT” pushed storytelling in new directions with its violence, nudity, incest, battles and dragons.
Series creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss made “GoT” their own after they ran out of material from Martin, said Julian Chambliss, a professor at Michigan State University and formerly of Rollins College. He looks forward to how the various narrative arcs end, but he’s also skeptical.
“What I see is apprehension as much as excitement” about the finale, Chambliss said. “Can they bring it to a close in a way that makes the fans happy? I don’t think they can.”
The creators opened up about the finale to Entertainment Weekly. “We want people to love it. It matters a to us,” Weiss said. “A good story isn’t a good story if you have a bad ending,” Benioff added.
Actors have been asked their characters’ fates. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister, responded to an audience poll on CBS’ “The Talk” about whether his character lives in the end. Forty percent said yes, and 60 percent said no. “I always thought he was going to die like in season five or six,” he said. “I’m just thrilled that he’s still here in the beginning of the season.”
The last episodes could be mighty bleak for supporting figures, but also for major characters Jaime, Cersei and Jon Snow, who has died once before. With the Night King’s army of the dead free to invade Westeros, anyone is vulnerable.
“I suspect that in the end everyone — or just about everyone — will die,” Mathews said. “Since the show loves to simultaneously surprise and horrify, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Houses cannibalize each other in the power struggle leading up to the final battle, and the White Walkers pick off whoever is left standing.”