Maisie Williams Praises HBO For Deciding To End 'Game Of Thrones'

With two more shortened seasons ahead for “Game Of Thrones,” it’s still a bit hard to believe that HBO is ending their most lucrative show, and one of the most popular dramas to ever appear on the network. Sure, there’s been loose talks about a spinoff, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that the series is saying goodbye when many executives would be doing everything they can to keep it going, not just for the ratings, but for the guaranteed cash flow. However, for Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark, the timing is just right.

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In an interview with Variety, the actress praised the network and writer/creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for making the hard decision to conclude “Game Of Thrones,” when it would’ve been easier to keep trying to pushing it forward.

“It sucks for the audience because they love the episodes, but what we’ll never do on this show is drag it out, and I’m so thrilled about that. Too many shows start out about making a great show, and by Season 6 it’s about making money and all they want to do is write more episodes and make more money,” she said. “This show makes a lot of money, and it would be easy for HBO to be like ‘we’re gonna do four more seasons and we’re gonna extend them to 12 episodes.’ I really respect David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] for holding their ground and for HBO to be like ‘no… we’re gonna tell this story and we’re gonna end it and that’ll be final.’ ”

“Good things must come to an end or they’re not good anymore. It doesn’t last forever and we’ve done what we came to do, it’s time to wrap this up, and it will have the ending it was always supposed to have, and that’s very special,” Williams continued. “David and Dan started writing this show knowing the end, not knowing that it might actually come around and we might be allowed to make that many [seasons] — at the beginning we were just willing to make one [season]. They started this with an end in sight, and so it’s exciting to be closing it…”

And really, who can argue with those sentiments? Better to get out in top form than stretch it out and leave with a whimper when the audience starts slipping away, a routine we’ve seen far too often on other shows.

“Game Of Thrones” season seven returns next summer.