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One of the curious things about the new age of perpetual media is the way franchises, and series persist well past their definitive moment in time. The most obvious example of this is, of course, The Simpsons, a series that passed its moment of genuine relevance decades ago but has continued on as a part of the pop culture oxygen supply regardless. That’s kind of the place where a lot of big name franchises have ended up in their final installments, like Harry Potter at the 8th film or the last 2 Hobbit movies- they still made money but they didn’t set the trend or a significant impact and mainly existed so that all the confirmed fans could see how things ended.
That feels like the best description of where Game of Thrones is at this moment in time, a series entering its final cycle well after its days of relevance have waned and basically just throwing all the fireworks on the screen to celebrate actually making it to the finish line. There’s nothing overtly wrong with that approach, it’s a worthwhile goal, and I’m hard pressed to blame any series for just running out the clock after doing as much as Game of Thrones has. There are, however, risks about getting too complacent and they shine through a little too clear in this first trailer for the penultimate season of Game of Thrones.
