Why Games of Thrones deserves a rewatch

GoT kept you guessing. Characters would routinely switch allegiances – Jaime! – and the writers were not shy about knocking big names off. The Red Wedding episode in season two became iconic because how many other shows are confident enough to kill off two of their leads, on top of the other lead they sent packing in season one? Yet, we still came back. And they killed off another lead, who then came back. Even though Jon Snow knew nothing, turns out the writers knew something.

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5. Why did we come back?

While the depth, breadth and sheer nerdiness of GoT’s plot can feel intimidating, there’s a scientific reason as to why it was so addictive: it’s the number of characters. A study for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA journal found the interactions between the characters were similar to real life. The study found with more 2000 characters in the book series, and with more than 41,000 interactions between them, the numbers were comparable to what humans can handle in real life. The University of Warwick explained it this way: “Even the most predominant characters – those who tell the story – average out to have only 150 others to keep track of. This is the same number that the average human brain has evolved to deal with.”

6. Dragons

Yep, we as a viewing public, got on board with a show that had dragons in it. And no one thought that was weird at all. A small shoutout also goes out to GoT’s resident cat, the wonderfully named Ser Pounce.

7. We can be heroes

Yes, GoT churned out death on an industrial scale, but it also found time for romance and friendship. Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth were a great odd couple, as were Brienne and Pod. Sam Tarly went from butt of the joke to keeper of the scrolls, while Tyrion and Bronn shagged and fought their way across Westeros.

8. Last watercooler show

What was the last show you watched with everyone? When GoT premiered it was on the cusp of streaming being the dominant way we view television. To think it dropped one episode a week here on Monday mornings now feels absurd, especially when most shows dump their episode load in one block.

9. The End

Yeah, yeah, we know you didn’t like it. We know you signed the completely ludicrous petition asking HBO to remake the final season. But, you know what, the ending was fine. Time to get over it….

10. Wait, there’s more

… because prequels are coming. House of Dragon is due to start shooting in the northern Spring (so any day now) and it’s based on Martin’s book Fire and Blood. It’s set 300 years before GoT, tells the story of House Targaryen and stars Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke and Matt Smith. Fingers crossed it goes better than HBO’s first attempt at a prequel: an unnamed pilot starring Naomi Watts was canned in late 2019 after the initial cut was not well received.