Did George Lucas' Star Wars Plans Derail the Game of Thrones Finale?
Game of Thrones ended in a firestorm of backlash, with fans blaming a rushed finale on the showrunners racing to their next gig—directing and producing a series of Star Wars projects. Here’s how that galaxy-bound pivot became the most controversial move in Westeros.
People still bring up the same theory about Game of Thrones season 8: the showrunners hurried the landing so they could go make Star Wars. It has been years, but the timeline, the public statements, and the fan frustration all still line up in a way that makes the whole thing feel... messy. Here is what actually happened, what they said out loud, and why so many viewers felt burned by the finish.
The quick version of the fan gripe
Reddit has been chewing on this for a while. One comment that kept getting passed around boiled it down to two things: burnout and a shiny new gig. The idea is that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were exhausted after a decade in Westeros and wanted to jump to Star Wars, and the show suffered because season 8 got rushed out the door. Whether you agree or not, that is the sentiment a lot of fans landed on.
Yes, they really did sign on for Star Wars
Early in 2018, Lucasfilm announced Benioff and Weiss to write and produce a new series of Star Wars films. At the time, everyone basically called it a trilogy, even though the language was 'series of films.' That project never took off. Reports later framed it as Lucasfilm shifting direction, and the duo publicly said they exited because Netflix made them an offer they could not refuse.
They did have a pitch: a First Jedi story. Benioff has acknowledged that was their angle and that it might not have been what Lucasfilm wanted right then. So you can see how the stars did not align.
Did Star Wars yank their focus off Thrones?
This is where it gets thorny. The Star Wars deal was real. The Netflix deal was real. At the same time, Benioff and Weiss were open about being wiped after an 11-year haul on Thrones.
'It just felt like, for us, it was time to move on and get excited and terrified about building something else — building lots of something elses.'
That line came from Dan Weiss in an Entertainment Weekly interview. It tracks with what most people in TV say after a marathon run: you hit the wall, you look for the next mountain. The weird twist is that the Star Wars plan fizzled anyway, so if you believe the final season got compressed to make room for that gig, the payoff never actually arrived.
Why season 8 hit a nerve
There were shocking turns, sure, but the bigger issue was speed. The final stretch felt accelerated in a way that killed the buildup. Big character pivots got the short version. Two examples fans cite over and over:
- Daenerys Targaryen's descent into madness did not get enough runway to fully land.
- Bran ending up king raised a lot of questions the show did not bother to answer.
So when you combine a widely publicized Star Wars deal, an admitted desire to move on, and a finale that felt like it skipped steps, it is not shocking people connected those dots.
Was leaving a gigantic franchise for another gigantic franchise smart?
Hot take: given the Game of Thrones backlash and the chaos in Lucasfilm's movie slate at the time, stepping away from another all-consuming IP probably was not the worst instinct. But because the Star Wars plan stalled, it looks worse in hindsight. The intent may have been pure career triage; the outcome reads like Thrones got shortchanged for something that never happened.
The timeline that matters
If you want to see why this theory stuck around, the beats are pretty straightforward:
• Game of Thrones ran April 17, 2011 to May 19, 2019, with Benioff and Weiss steering the ship the whole way.
• Early 2018: Lucasfilm announces Benioff and Weiss to write and produce a new series of Star Wars films (commonly described as a trilogy).
• Fan reaction to season 8 (2019): more than plot twists, it is the rushed feel that lights the fuse.
• Afterward: Benioff and Weiss say they left Star Wars for a lucrative Netflix deal; reporting at the time also said Lucasfilm wanted a new direction.
• Their Star Wars idea was a First Jedi story, which they have said likely was not the studio's preferred lane then.
Bottom line
There is no single smoking gun, just a lot of overlapping motives: fatigue, a massive opportunity elsewhere, and a final season that was told faster than it could breathe. That last part is on the screen forever, which is why the debate will never fully die.
Odds and ends
Title: Game of Thrones
Showrunners: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Original run: April 17, 2011 – May 19, 2019
Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (series)
Game of Thrones is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Do you buy Star Wars as the reason the ending stumbled, or was this always where the show was headed? Tell me where you land.