About a month back, Game of Thrones alum Sean Bean (Ned Stark) revealed that he participated in a reunion special featuring cast members old and new, all of it hosted by Conan O’Brien, who’s done this kind of thing before:
The special was shot in Belfast, where much of Game of Thrones is made, towards the tail end of filming on season 8. “It was the last episode, so we all got together,” Bean told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was good!” We don’t know which former cast members will be involved, but Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) and Mark Addy (Robert Baratheon) are good bets, since they were in Belfast around the same time as Bean.
Anyway, the special promises to be terrific. Imagine it: the full Game of Thrones cast, some of whom grew up on the show, reflecting on how it’s changed their lives just as the curtain falls for the last time. What a potentially cathartic experience for the cast members, and the fans.
I’m still looking forward to the special, but there’s a new wrinkle. Entertainment Weekly has revealed that the special will not air on HBO, nor be uploaded to the network’s YouTube page, nor be part of Conan O’Brien’s talk show on TBS. Instead, it will be available exclusively on a Game of Thrones Seasons 1-8 Complete Series Boxset to be released some time in 2019, after the final six episodes have aired.
It’s not like I don’t get why HBO would do this. They want people to buy the boxset, and tempting them with an exciting piece of content is a good strategy. I was probably going to buy the boxset anyway, but this clinches it. But not every fan will want to spend that kind of money, and it sucks that they won’t be able to see what could be a very special…special.
The final season of Game of Thrones premieres in April of next year, so the boxset should be along sometime after that. What do you guys think? Should HBO make this special more readily available for people, or is this just good business?
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