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Amazon’s Fourth Wing TV show is poised to become the next big fantasy adaptation, and it can learn from Game of Thrones‘ mistakes. While there are many ongoing fantasy TV series that Amazon’s Fourth Wing can look to for inspiration, the books’ popularity and focus on dragons make Game of Thrones an obvious choice. After its massive mainstream success, Game of Thrones has become the standard for fantasy television. However, the HBO show’s later seasons have undeniable flaws, and new projects would be wise to avoid these when aiming for a similar legacy.
Game of Thrones’ divisive season 8 highlights some of the series’ later shortcomings, many of which stem from its departure from George R.R. Martin’s books and the author’s diminished involvement. Fortunately, knowing what went wrong towards the end of the HBO series gives Amazon a good idea of what to avoid with Fourth Wing. And Fourth Wing already looks set to address several of the prior fantasy series’ problems, painting a promising picture for the adaptation’s future.
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Rebecca Yarros Could Be More Heavily Involved In The Fourth Wing Show
George R.R. Martin Became Less Involved In Later Game Of Thrones Seasons
One way Amazon’s Fourth Wing show could avoid repeating Game of Thrones’ mistakes is to keep Rebecca Yarros involved in the adaptation throughout its run. This benefited the first four seasons of Game of Thrones, which arguably remain the strongest chapters of the fantasy series. Martin wrote episodes of Game of Thrones during this period, and according to Deadline, he was also included in the creative process. Unfortunately, his involvement in decision-making dwindled over time, which likely impacted the show’s interpretation of his characters and story.
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Amazon’s Fourth Wing TV show, which is currently in development, already sounds way more promising than Hulu’s ACOTAR adaptation ever did.
Keeping a work’s author in the loop is a great way to ensure faithfulness in an adaptation, and that’s something readers are hoping for with Fourth Wing. As Yarros is an executive producer on the upcoming series and has posted updates, it seems she’ll be included. With any luck, this will continue beyond the initial outings, ensuring that Fourth Wing‘s adaptation captures the aspects of the books that readers love. Yarros’ updates about the TV show are promising so far, suggesting the characters and dialogue will match the books. This should put readers’ minds at ease.
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Fourth Wing’s TV Show Won’t Overtake The Books
The Empyrean Series Will Be Finished Before The Series’ Final Seasons
Martin’s diminished involvement wasn’t the only reason Game of Thrones began to struggle in its later seasons; it also passed the Song of Ice and Fire books, as The Winds of Winter hadn’t come out when it started adapting the latter half of the story (and the sequel has yet to receive a release date as of this writing). While Martin gave the showrunners details about his ending, they were forced to get there without source material. The Fourth Wing show must avoid such a situation in order to accurately tackle the books. Fortunately, that shouldn’t be a problem.
It’s doubtful that Amazon will put out three seasons of TV before Yarros writes the next Empyrean Series book.
With three of the five planned Empyrean Series books out already, there’s plenty of time for Yarros to finish her story before the TV show catches up. Filming on Fourth Wing hasn’t even started, so it’s doubtful that Amazon will put out three seasons of TV before Yarros writes the next Empyrean Series book. And the author herself told Variety that “the show has no chance of getting to Season 4 before I get to Book 4.” This all but guarantees the Fourth Wing show won’t follow in Game of Thrones’ footsteps in that regard.
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Fourth Wing Will Have Greater Representation
Rebecca Yarros’ Books Already Have Greater Diversity
Among Game of Thrones’ biggest criticisms was its handling of diversity and representation. In general, the HBO series lacked diversity — and where it did exist, it wasn’t always handled very well. From the sexual violence many women on the show faced to the poor treatment of its characters of color, Game of Thrones didn’t do the best job of including a range of perspectives or giving them the depth they deserved.
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Fourth Wing can outshine Game of Thrones when it comes to diversity and inclusion, as it’s already basked into Yarros’ story. Fourth Wing‘s heroine has a disability, there are multiple LGBTQ+ characters, and some of the most prominent players are people of color. Thus far, Yarros has handled representation throughout The Empyrean Series with care, and there’s little reason to think the Amazon show will do any differently. This would be a huge step in the right direction for fantasy television.
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Fourth Wing Can Handle Its Villains Better Than Game Of Thrones
The Venin Are Already More Fleshed Out Than The White Walkers & Night King
Part of the reason Game of Thrones’ ending was so underwhelming was because it didn’t do its biggest villains justice after building them up for eight seasons. The Night King and the White Walkers were defeated in just a single episode, and Game of Thrones left more questions than it answered about these undead beings. Meanwhile, Cersei Lannister didn’t get the comeuppance she so desperately deserved, with season 8 seeing her crushed by debris rather than confronted by one of the characters she’d wronged.
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Fourth Wing should steer clear of this Game of Thrones mistake by giving its villains plenty of development prior to the last season — and by ensuring their endings fit seasons’ worth of setup. Thankfully, Onyx Storm‘s expansion of venin lore suggests that the book series and its adaptation will do a better job with the venin than Game of Thrones did adapting the Others. And if the Fourth Wing show gives its human villains satisfying send-offs, it will avoid repeating one of Game of Thrones season 8’s biggest missteps.
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Fourth Wing Can Avoid Doing A Complete 180 On Its Biggest Character Arcs
The other aspect of Game of Thrones‘ ending that hurt the series’ legacy was season 8’s willingness to do a complete 180 on all the show’s character development — without doing the work to explain why it was happening. Jaime Lannister’s sudden regression is probably the best example, but even Daenerys’ Mad Queen story and Tyrion’s sudden bout of naivety make no sense after everything that came before. Such turnarounds left viewers frustrated with these characters and where they ended up.
Amazon’s Fourth Wing show can avoid this mistake by ensuring that it doesn’t rush to the finish line.
Amazon’s Fourth Wing show can avoid this mistake by ensuring that it doesn’t rush to the finish line, sacrificing much of its character development in the process. The steady progression of Xaden turning venin in Onyx Storm suggests any major twists will be properly built to, assuming the TV series follows Yarros’ books. With any luck, this means we won’t have to contend with a sudden villain turn or characters acting completely different in the series’ final outing.
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