Game Of Thrones Creators On Why They Turned Down A Lifetime Of Guaranteed Money

Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have explained why they walked away from the series after the main show ended, despite having an opportunity to make money off of the franchise for life. Since Benioff and Weiss are credited with creating the Game of Thrones TV show, they would contractually received producer credits on future spinoffs, beginning with House of the Dragon and extending through whatever HBO might make next. But Weiss and Benioff turned it down, much to the shock of HBO's lawyers.

"HBO was kind of confused," Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter. "I remember their lawyer saying, 'But it's just money, we're just going to pay you.'"

For his part, Weiss said there is no such thing as free money. Even if Weiss and Benioff wouldn't have to make any more Game of Thrones shows to receive the royalties, their name would still be stamped on the series, and they didn't want that.

"For us, if our name is on it, especially that, while being completely detached and uninvolved, it felt like the strain that would come with that hands-off approach--with its success or failure or anything in between--was not worth it," Weiss said.

HBO already produced one Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, which is set to return for its sophomore season this year. HBO is developing numerous other Game of Thrones shows as well, spanning both live-action and animation.

Weiss and Benioff are doing fine without the extra Game of Thrones money, as they signed a $200 million deal with Netflix to produce content, including the upcoming sci-fi series 3 Body Problem.

Also in the interview, the pair discussed the backlash to the final season of Game of Thrones, which viewers remarked felt rushed and not up to the quality stands of the previous seasons. Benioff said it would have been nice if more people enjoyed the final season, but they didn't, and he can't change that. "You can get so bogged down in public opinion that you spend your whole life googling things and trying to find people who felt one way or the other way," he said.

For his part, Weiss said feedback--positive or negative--has a "weird and teeth-grindy" feel to it.

"As soon as we went cold turkey [from looking at fan feedback to Season 8]--the last time I googled myself was in 2013--the ambient stress level in our lives dropped by about 50 percent overnight," Weiss said.

Weiss also mentioned how when he's met Game of Thrones fans in real life and they've expressed their feelings, people tend to be calmer. "There's something that happens in the transition from human interaction to online that pushes things in a specifically aggro direction," he said.

Weiss and Benioff also recently discussed their failed Star Wars movie and revealed what went wrong in their partnership with Lucasfilm.