Game of Thrones fans are unhappy with last season – and the franchise could suffer

Sunday night, the last episode of "Game of Thrones" from the HBO channel will be broadcast. This is the most-rated season in the history of the series. The episode last week was watched by 18.4 million people, its biggest audience.

With such numbers, it would seem that the series begins on a positive note, which is good news for HBO's upcoming series of pre-released films, "Bloodmoon". This would also seem to indicate robust sales of future home video editions and the "A Song of Ice" and "Fire" series of books on which the series is based.

Unfortunately, many longtime fans have been unhappy this season and have not hesitated to say so. The outrage is not limited to the fan community either – publications such as Forbes and The Washington Post have published some very critical articles about how the series ends.

This attack even inspired a Change.org petition entitled "Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers", with more than half a million signatories and climbers.

Clearly, some decided that it was time to go down the street with torches and pitchforks. So, can the franchise resist this degree of anger?

Barna William Donovan of the Department of Communication and Media Culture of Saint Peter's University was unable to join the HBO representatives but said that alienation from fans might actually put the franchise in danger as a commercial force.

"If the audience remains so upset once the last episode has aired, future plans to split and sell DVDs could very well be compromised," he said. "Fan communities do not like being left behind by longstanding franchises, and they have often shown that they are ready to move away from entertainment that disappoints them." "

The numbers show that fans will eventually give a franchise if it disappoints them enough. "Alien" from 1979 was a surprise hit that had netted $ 283 million at the national box office after adjusting for inflation, but the franchise reached its climax with "Aliens Vs. Predator" of 2007 – Requiem "is the worst with $ 53 million after inflation.This is also true for the Terminator franchise, which went from the" Terminator 2: Judgment Day "franchise to $ 438 million after inflation, to $ 98 million for 2015 "Terminator: Genisys. "

Donovan added that if the finale left a bad taste in the mouths of viewers, it could be detrimental to another beloved franchise. The creators of the series David Benioff and DB Weiss were invited to create the next trilogy of "Star Wars" movies and Donovan thinks that a thwarted reaction to "Game of Thrones" today could put in jeopardy " Star Wars "tomorrow.

"There is already a faction of" Star Wars "fans unhappy with the last two entries in this franchise -" The Last Jedi "and" Solo: A Star Wars Story "- because they had the impression that the movies were too far removed from what they were originally … liked about the series, "he said. "So, if Benioff and Weiss take over the franchise, many" Star Wars "fans could alienate more."

Of course, not everything is lost simply because a series does not end as the fans wanted. The HBO series "The Sopranos" had a last unpopular episode, but the previous movie "The Many Saints of Newark" is expected to debut next year. "Seinfeld" ended on a notoriously unsatisfactory note for many fans, but that did not stop Hulu from buying the entire series' broadcast rights in 2015 for $ 180 million of dollars. That did not stop the creator of the Larry David series from having his own popular HBO show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," two years later.

Nevertheless, Andrew Selepak, director of the Master of Arts in Mass Communication program at the University of Florida, said that Benioff and Weiss had reasons to be worried for the future.

"While David Benioff and DB Weiss were once considered geniuses in the way they were able to adapt George RR Martin's books to the screen, they are now considered by some to be incapable of telling a story and only capable of telling a story. to reuse the vision of someone else on the screen, "he said. Only time will tell if this impression will last among this subset of fans.

Not everyone is so pessimistic about the situation. Blake Masters, the creator of the Showtime series "Brotherhood" said that he was not expecting the reaction of fans today, especially because of the influence of "A Song of Ice" and "Fire" author George R.R. Martin.

"So, as long as they see the prequel bearing the stamp of the author of Martin, they will connect with impatience," he said.

Gino McKoy, director and screenwriter of the upcoming science fiction film "Lumina", said last season's angry reaction reflected the long-term viability of the franchise.

"The frank talk of" Game of Thrones "fans is a testament to the success of the franchise," he said. "The buzz created by this latest season will help cement its place in the history of entertainment because controversy is arousing curiosity."

Daniel Barber, head of strategy at the Tangent Agency, agreed. Barber, formerly of Legendary Entertainment, worked with franchises such as "Pacific Rim" and "Godzilla". He added that the controversy was simply an expression of fan craze.

"The opposite of cheering is not booing – that's silence," he said. "Whether fans like" Game of Thrones "or hate it, they are hyper-committed, and the same fans who express their indignation are probably the same ones who will be on the front line of the new series, books, DVDs, and everything else. comes next. "

With an episode remaining before the series becomes part of the television story, it remains to be seen how fans will react when the final credits arrive. For Barber, he expects the end to be a source of division, as he said, that fans should have seen coming throughout his career.

"Game of Thrones" with all the smiling fans has never been an option, "he said." As Ramsay Bolton said, "If you think that it ends well. you do not pay attention. "