2016 marches along, and as the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere date on April 24 comes closer, fans of the Song of Ice and Fire books must make a choice. They must decide whether the show is still worth watching. For book readers, the divergences the show has taken from George R. R. Martin’s version have become extreme as the show and books are very different now. They are two canons from one source and book fans need to decide whether it’s worth enjoying both.
Watching Game Of Thrones Season 6 Isn’t Just About Spoilers
Let’s get one thing straight right now, buckos: We aren’t only talking about Winds of Winter spoilers here. The question of whether to watch Game of Thrones season 6 is not dependent solely upon spoilers for future books—books that aren’t coming out in time for the season, mind you. For some of us, those are indeed reason enough not to watch the next season; for others, it’s not a factor, for the books and show portray different continuities. Many of us lie in between, understanding that while the show represents a different sequence of events, it’s still a similar sequence. The show will spoil some big parts of the books, although we won’t necessarily know which parts.
Concerns over spoilers are a good reason not to watch Game of Thrones season 6. There’s another compelling reason, though: Game of Thrones has lost its luster. What was once practically, indisputably one of the best shows on television isn’t looking quite so shiny anymore, thanks to a series of major missteps in season 5. For viewers who only watch the show, these troubles may be less obvious, but for book fans, it’s hard to accept some of the storytelling decisions that have been made ( ahem, Stannis). The show is certainly allowed to be different, but it’s very disappointing for book fans when it diverges from the books in a way that simply seems to make less sense, and be, you know, worse. That’s always in the eyes of the beholder, of course, but the last season certainly turned off a lot of long-time book fans.
Game of Thrones is going to carry on and be as successful as ever. Most of us will watch it, or at least be spoiled on it. But the story has gotten out of control, and doesn’t really feel like it works for TV anymore in its original form—too much is going on, and each thread of the plot doesn’t get the attention or screentime it deserves. A lot of these issues could have been solved if the show had gotten 12 episodes instead of 10 for the last few seasons, but alas. Showrunners had to cut corners and now the show has lost much of its old quality… at least from the perspective of this book reader.
What do you think? If you’re a book fan who doesn’t care too much about spoilers, do you think Game of Thrones is still good and exciting enough to be worth watching? Or have the changes left a bad taste in your mouth?
