10 TV Shows That Should've Been Cancelled Sooner

You all saw this one coming. What was once the most popular TV series probably ever, HBO’s Game Of Thrones experienced an unprecedented fall from grace after its dreadful eighth season, which, honestly? We’re all still reeling from.

Based on author George R. R. Martin’s internationally successful fantasy series A Song Of Ice And Fire, Game Of Thrones’ first five seasons can easily be considered the prestige show to end all prestige shows. As the narrative steadily coalesced into one final war against the Night King, dedicated fans couldn’t wait to find out who would finally be crowned Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.

There was only one problem: the show had run out of books. By the end of season five, it had exhausted Martin’s source material, with the final two books of the series yet to be released. Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were also purportedly tired of the show, and wanted to move on as soon as possible, despite the author’s insistence that there was enough material for ten full seasons. Without the roadmap of the unreleased novels, the writers headed off in their own direction, which was fine for about one and a half seasons before, well. We all know how that ended.

Fans and critics alike were devastated by and extremely critical of the quality of the show’s final season, truncated down to a mere six episodes and poorly executed in both writing and visuals. Even the show’s actors, such as Emilia Clarke, expressed negative reactions towards the ending, which saw her fan-favourite character Daenerys turn mad without reason and have to be put down like a rabid dog.

It’s inarguable that overall, Game Of Thrones is one of the greatest TV shows ever made. However, in retrospect, most of us would likely have rather the show been cancelled early than struggle on to deliver a finale that tainted it forever.