By Blake Hodges, Managing Editor of SiftPop
I’m going to lay out the case for why I firmly believe a season 9 is coming. I’m sure you thought “Oh SiftPop is starting to go with the click bait titles now, eh? My job is to show you so much evidence that I earn that article title. Let’s get started.
The thought that triggered this whole theory for me was when John asked Tyrion how he felt about this new government and if it would work. Tyrion looked conflicted and said “ask me again in ten years”. I know this is a quick throw away line to most but lets not forget the entire movie of Rogue One could be linked back to the line in Star Wars 4 when they are describing the Death Star Weakness “Many bothans died to obtain these plans.” This feels like the show giving the actors a break, making us wait with anticipation, and leaving HBO an open door in case their spin offs don’t work. If you think more about how season eight ends, they basically set us up for this return to Westeros which leads me to my next point->
They didn’t end the show as much as they reset it. Tyrion is now back to being hand for a…third time? The small council has been rebuilt with all of our audience favorites. Sansa has now taken control of the North completely so a Stark once again rules. Arya has gone west to meet up with Ingrid(have you seen Ingrid goes west?). John has gone beyond the wall where I’m sure he will turn into either the ruler of the wildlings or the second in command next to Tormund. If that’s the case, we have another loyal army just sitting around waiting to join the fray again. Speaking of loyal armies->
The unsullied have gone to the beach and I’m happy for them. They’ve done so much fighting and deserve to have some rest and relaxation…for the next ten years. They will be ready to do something other than sit on the beach when their queen returns. “Return? She is dead!” Yeah I thought so too but look at John just walking around fine. When Drogon grabbed her body and left I originally felt the finality of it. However, the more I think about it the more I believe he must be taking her somewhere to heal. She has a unique relationship with fire so I think this is beyond plausible. Fire also represents life so that just furthers my thoughts on this. Maybe it’s as simple as dropping her in some lava to be reborn. Imagine season nine where she comes back, flies over to the unsullied and sets out to take the throne and take out John. And when I say take out, I don’t mean for a date. The struggle with franchises that come back is the ability to make it different enough that it isn’t just a retelling(looking at you Force Awakens). This is the best part of this theory because a few seasons with the villain going from the Night King and Cersei to Mother of Dragons? Who wouldn’t watch that?
When you think about how rushed the season was in retrospect, it starts to make sense that maybe HBO let it go down like this because they knew they’d be revisiting the world to fix it later on. What other explanation is there for one of the greatest shows of all time to take such a painful nose dive? I think they knew they’d be pulling that parachute cord and pulling out of that dose dive down the road once we’ve forgiven them for ending it so badly.
If you Google the money made on Game of Thrones you’ll find varying results but the one thing that is always constant is that HBO made big money with it. They have one GOT prequel already heading to production and another two in development. Maybe those will make a similar profit but I’d again point to Star Wars. If the Han Solo film can’t make enough then what can? Han Solo is one of the most beloved characters of all time. I think audiences need the same actor/characters as well as the same universe. I don’t think the universe alone will be enough. If I’m wrong and the prequels do well, this article is probably mute. I don’t see HBO going to the trouble of locking the actors down again. However, if the prequels don’t make as much and there is some time to give the actors a break….maybe a couple million an episode is enough to spend another 6 years in Iceland for another three or four seasons.