I'll echo quite a few in my belief that it wasn't a terrible way to end the series if you take the main points, but said ending was not reached in a correct or compelling manner. Definitely believe D&D got handed some bullet points on some of the more critical details and literally couldn't even connect the dots. If I gave more of a fuck, I'd make a meme of someone handing them a connect the dot's coloring book, followed by the Key and Peele sweating gif. I firmly believe D&D just wanted to blitz this thing out so they can move onto slobbing Mickey's D full time. I have to give major props to all actors that managed to finish this out, it's not hard to see most of them had reservations about the final season, but at least they were professional enough to finish their jobs. Honestly seeing how it all ended, and several interviews from her now, I give Emilia Clarke extra credit for the shit hoagie she had to eat. I've never felt she was that bad of an actor (she's also no Marlon Brando), but especially seeing what she was able to do with those morons at the helm, I'm not going to black list her.
Reading Fire and Blood, and getting a sense of how things went for around 300 years after Aegon took Westeros, the ending leaves some interesting possibilities for how the world could go forward. I'd be on board for a direct sequel picking up 10-20 years later, and work in some cameos from the surviving cast. Them setting Bran on the throne would definitely leave Westeros ripe for some intrigue and scheming, and while mutated bird boy would "see" a lot of it coming, once the realm recovered some, they've set the stage for a lot of big shit to go down. Could easily see Dorne break ranks and reclaim their own independence, along with some of the other kingdoms, or all of them. GRRM may have had grand ideas of writing multiple series, could see King Snow Beyond the Wall rallying the true north and swooping in to put out all the fires years later, culminating in him being King like he always should have been. I know in the show the characters were all 3 or 4 years older than they were in the books, but at the end of the series I think Jon is in his early to mid 20's...ish. Leaves plenty of life for more shit to happen. I guess we will see once their next take on the IP launches and if they can keep something going. If they shit the bed on the prequel, it will likely be the death knell for the "franchise".
This thread has definitely taught me how little attention a lot of people pay to what's going on. So many posts that contain questions and/or rustled jimmies about things that were literally in the show, not to mention a lot of hate and vitriol that could be avoided if some of those spewing it could rub two of their brain cells together long enough to get a clue and look. Then again, even if they looked, it's obvious they wouldn't be able to comprehend on a level sufficient for them to understand, so it's a wash. I give GRRM some credit, his books are dense, and reading the Fire and Blood "history" book, just the shear amount of names that get spit out constantly, I can understand why his process would take a long time, keeping all of that shit straight has got to be a full time job in and of itself. The show did a commendable job whittling that down, but even with kid gloves, some of the spergburgers in here can't even keep up.
