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The voice-over said it all, just after the lights went down but before the live pipe organist performed: “Welcome to the beginning of the end.”
Tonights premiere of the six-episode final season of Game of Thrones felt weightier even by the usual standards of HBO. For one thing, Richard Plepler, the networks longtime boss, was in attendance at Radio City Music Hall, despite having surrendered his CEO role.
Casey Bloys, the head of programming, gave him two shoutouts from the stage, noting his key role in getting the show made, including the decision to commission expensive reshoots of the pilot episode.
“Richard knew this was a bet on David Benioff and Dan Weiss, and that was a very good bet,” Bloys said. The legacy of the show, he added, is that when future show runners pitch out-of-the-box ideas, “We dont say We dont know how to do that. We say, Here are five different ways to do that.”
A decade-plus and armfuls of Emmys later — including three for Outstanding Drama Series — he added, “Its hard to overstate the importance of this show to HBO.”
Weiss and Benioff also emphatically thanked Plepler during their turn to speak. They also shouted out former programming exec Carolyn Strauss, who is an executive producer on the show.
“Its a sad night because its the last time so many from the Game of Thrones family will be together,” Benioff said.
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“Its possible no one will have this experience again,” Weiss said.
AT&T, which is remaking HBO along with the rest of WarnerMedia, was not mentioned during the opening remarks. But WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey arrived early, carrying and munching from a box of popcorn.
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