Be honest, did Game of Thrones ruin its legacy with the ending?

Yes. It ruined the show, and I'm convinced it is the reason that GRRM is afraid to finish his books.

Yes. No show has ever shit the bed so spectacularly.

I only watched the show when it was airing and I thought about rewatching it once S7 ended. I never did that

Not only did it ruin its legacy it also means anytime a show like house of the dragon references the prince that was promised it’s an immediate eye roll and reminder of how shit the final season was. The first 4-5 seasons are amazing but rewatching them would just remind you that this all leads to a rushed final season that makes almost no sense and falls off a cliff.

Of course. It was one of my favorite shows ever and I'm literally still mad about it. No other media property was so widespread and loved, and then so hated, except for maybe Star Wars after Phantom Menace.

I don't think so. People were disappointed because for years they created fan fiction in their heads about how the show should have ended. A new generation will not have that problem, they will watch the whole show in a couple of weeks, without ever thinking about werewolves, vampires, Cleganebowls, time witches, made up prophecies, Cercei Stoneheart, giant spider ships, or big sci-fi twist endings.

Nope. It was in the 2025 Gunniess Book of World records as [Most in-demand TV series overall.](https://www.advanced-television.com/2024/10/10/guinness-reveals-most-in-demand-tv-shows/) Meaning a show that that had been off the air for years was literally beating every other show including current ones. It has two sequels currently running on HBO with another three or so in develoment. On top of that there is a movie based on Aegon's Conquest coming to theaters and Game of Thrones: The Mad King opneing at the Royal Shakespear Theatre. So despite any personal preferences, it has reruns in the GBWR, at least two spinoffs, a movie and a stage play. Seems to be a pretty solid legacy.

I haven’t and will never rewatch the series again. Not sure if that really has anything to do with ruining its legacy though

It’s still liked as we see with the 2 series after it still getting good ratings but it’s absolutely in “The Wire”, “The Sopranos” & “Breaking Bad” territory if they had just a decent final season.

It was a cultural phenomenon and now barely anyone talks about it except in this exact context of how bad the ending was.

It started dropping in quality post season 4 if I recall right, but the drop off at the end was epic.

For me, yeah It’s no longer talked about in pop culture no matter how many spinoff and prequels it does

Yes and no. While the ending remains a stain and will always be controversial. The show itself is still one of the greatest of all time even with its earlier seasons. Even now there is a huge interest in the spinoffs, though it probably would have been even bigger if the ending of the actual main story had stuck the landing.

In every way that matters, yes. GRRM watched his ending get adapted, saw the internet reaction, and now has to sit with the knowledge that whatever he writes will be compared to that. There’s no clean way forward for him anymore. He can either finish the books and people will say “too late” or don’t finish and the show version becomes the only ending that exists. The last season didn’t just hurt the show, for most intents it killed the books.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ It’s why almost always whenever news about him comes up It’s about him working on some other adaptation or spinoff and I expect that will continue until he passes. Just easier for him to avoid it entirely now.

Absolutely it f****** did. Martin will never finish the book series because he knows the damage is done

Yes. It tanked any goodwill for the vast majority of the fan base.

Judging by the results of the other series and spin-offs, and considering that it's one of the few TV series that's transitioning to the big screen, likely with great success, I think its cultural impact has remained unchanged. The last two seasons are terrible, but as simple and obvious as it sounds, the journey also matters. People like that world and that style.

I mean, how do you solve a problem that got GRRM stuck for decades in 10 months?

yes. i loved the books long before the show came out but now there’s almost no way i’d read another one

It and How I Met Your Mother are two of the only shows I watched the full run of and enjoyed a majority of but wouldn't re-watch when we moved in with my MIL and started showing her TV she missed over the last few years because the ending is something I'm not going to put up with again I think the fact that every topic about the show where someone is considering watching it ends up with tons of, "You'll like it, but it ends poorly, know it going in" show that the legacy is at least impacted That said I don't think it ruined the legacy of the universe given how things are continuing with it. I look at it as Star Trek right now. Turnabout Intruder was a shitty final episode and a terrible way to end the original Trek. So was the ending of Enterprise at that time. And now Academy and Strange New Worlds going out with a whimper to end it a 3rd time seems like yet again a weak ending is in the cards. Yet the franchise remains beloved and the legacy of TOS now is that it launched an amazing sci-fi universe that just celebrated its 60th birthday with successful TV shows, movies, books, comics, video games, TTRPGs, and other forms, and fans be lining up for the next re-launch whenever it comes

Obviously it did.

Yeah I think the legacy is ruined. You can't build up a show like that and just totally drop the ball. The thing is the ending themes weren't bad, but they were incredibly rushed. Night king story arc resolving in like one episode was such a letdown. Daenerys breaking bad within the space of an episode is crazy. 

Oh yay. It's time for the weekly GoT legacy post. Yawn

Yes.

As creative products, the early seasons are magnificent. The later ones do not change that fact. But they *do* make it almost impossible to enjoy or want to go back and watch. It just hurts more that it makes you love these characters like Jon and Tyrion, knowing it's just going to reduce them all to flaming feces.

Yes. But to fair, the deck was stacked against the show. In my opinion the quality dropped of after season four, so the quality of the last season isn't the issue as far as I'm concerned. The problem is that so much of the show was set up that we needed a satisfying ending, and that was never going to happen in a single season designed to wrap everything up. I think the show became a victim of its own success, in hindsight the show should have dropped (even) more storylines from the books.

For me it did

For me it did. If anyone asks if they should watch it I actively tell them no

Put it this way, it’s probably my favorite show of all time, but I can never imagine watching it again because of how it ends.

It’s a real shame and I really do wish they’d had another go at it, which would have been a historic TV first in its own right. But I’ve still gone back recently to rewatch it with my partner who hadn’t seen it. I have warned her about the end. But it is still one hell of a ride we’re having.

I don't think it ruined its legacy, although it certainly would have a better legacy with a better ending. What actually ruins a show's legacy if it just sucks for a long period of time, its audience slowly dwindles into nothing, and people barely forget that it was ever good.

I'm fine with Daenerys going crazy, but it had no legitimate build up. Yeah we saw bits of her being extreme but it was framed as her trying to overthrow the 'bad' people not losing her mind. That needed more than a couple episodes. The nephew/aunt thing was also bad, I don't know why GOT loved incest so much lol The Bran ending was ridiculous. That's more of the reason the show ruined itself. When the show had actual source material, it was great. Now the last season (and maybe the one before it?) ruined rewatchability for me.

Yes, 10 years building up for that and i have no interest in going back and watching

I no longer care about anything that happens in the universe or IP at large. At one point this was more than just entertainment for me -- it was inspiration. I mined a bunch of its elements for my own writing. I don't care how good the follow up shows might be, their connection to this work just taints everything with the reminder that proper handling of stories is exceedingly rare due to stakeholder meddling. If GRRM were to finish the books, I might change my mind -- but I know that will never happen.

Yes. I heard of a good drama called Dark Skies, was about to start watching it until I saw it was co-produced by George RR Martin.

Given how successful 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' and 'House of the Dragon' have been, I wouldn't say it killed the ASOIAC franchise, but it definitely damaged the prestige of the original show.

Pretty much. It's impossible to talk about it as being a great show without the qualifier of the ending sucking.

It went from being discussed everywhere all the time to wiped from existence in one weekend. Absolutely nuts.

I feel like it isn't *quite* the pop-culture juggernaut it was when it aired. 

Yes. I can't even re-watch the series knowing the ending blows. Its all pointless

Yes.

I never liked it anyway, honestly. it had some ok moments, but too much typical prestige drama c*** with smirking, eyebrows, conversations cut completely unnaturally for effect etc. Not to mention all the unnecessary sex stuff.

YES. From one of the best things tv has ever seen to the shittiest holywood ending that undid 6 seasons of magic.

I find the downward spiral of The Walking Dead to be a greater disaster, they have undermined this series. Therefore, even though I find the ending of Game of Thrones bad, it disappoints me less.

Alright I’ll go against the grain here. I think Game of Thrones is still the best show ever made, even with the rushed and weaker ending. I don’t think the ending is as horrible as everyone makes it out to be (LOST was much worse, IMO), and while I was disappointed by the final seasons, I do think George’s endings for the characters are all very true to the characters he set up. The problem is that the final part of some arcs were rushed or didn’t feel earned. I actually liked the ending they went with for Danaerys and there were so many clues to her leadership faults in the early seasons, but the final twist of her “madness” was way too sudden and rushed. If that had been spread over a couple of seasons it would have made way more sense. All of that being said, the seasons that really follow the books are awesome on all accounts. Acting, writing, costumes, set design, all of it. There is no other show that even comes close to the scope and scale of it.

Yes. 

Yes, it was worse then the series finale of Lost and that’s hard to match

Yes 100%

Lol ruin its legacy? There are two massively popular spin off shows and a movie on the way. People still love game of thrones.

Yes.

Yes. People used to talk about it a lot and now many don’t cares at all or want to rewatch.

No

Not really. The spin offs pull great numbers. And if the books ever come out they’ll do great. And at some point when the books are out or HBO has access to all the notes they’ll remake it But it’s hard to watch the main show again but I don’t really rewatch any show

No. It's really hard to end a TV show, especially one that ran for eight seasons.. Even in the uneven last couple of seasons, they still had some spectacular episodes.

I still rewatch the first \~5 seasons whenever I'm needing something on in the background. Nothing about the ending diminishes the viewing quality of the great seasons.

It completely killed my desire to rewatch the show. Even watching the early genius, my knowledge of what follows taints it.

The spring of 2019 was magical, at least in the college town I was in. All everyone was talking about was GoT. The hype died slowly mid-season after the mid battle of Winterfell and then completely after episode 5. I actually remember almost my entire college group going to a bar to watch episode 5. At the start everyone was buzzing and at the end the entire bar was almost silent, as if our football team had lost a match. Since then nobody ever brought up GoT in a convo except when saying how shit the ending was. I wish HBO could reunite the cast and reshoot a different final two seasons, or even final season.

The final season is rushed, for sure. But what exactly was “ruined” by it? Is everyone sad that the woman whose first instinct was to burn everything throughout the entire series finally burned everything? Khaleesi derangement syndrome? I loved her heel turn.