Name one TV series more popular than Game of Thrones. Ever. Either loved it, disappointed of it, or never watched it, Game of Thrones remains the world’s most popular series. And is also the flagship of HBO.
The hugely acclaimed series stole all the shows in the world, winning awards at the Golden Globes, Primetime Emmy and BAFTA, with countless other nominations, and leading the lists of “all time bests” and “most popular” all over the world.
Just imagine it had almost 400 awards and 600 nominations, and don’t get us starting with the cast and all the popular culture and references out there.
The series lasted for eight seasons, from 2011 to 2019. Last year, HBO mastered another huge success, Chernobyl. The miniseries had just five episodes, but skyrocketed the charts. It came with an “wow” and later an “aww”, recalling the story of the April 26, 1986, explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the former Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. The show won two Golden Globes and multiple Primetime Emmys, and featured the likes of Stellan Sarsgaard and Emily Watson.
Then there’s Succession, with the same prize-grabbing technique as Chernobyl. The series started in 2018 and already has 21 episodes and is quite successful.
All this recent years’ glory has crowned those first years of great TV entertainment from HBO, with titles like The Sopranos, The Wire, Sex and the City, Oz, Six Feet Under, Entourage, Rome, or the smashing miniseries hit Band of Brothers. And then again came The Leftovers, Veep, The Newsroom, Silicon Valley, Boardwalk Empire, and don’t forget True Detective.
So, where is HBO heading after its greatest successes from the last more than two decades?
Well, this depends. While they still have a lot to offer, HBO may have come to a point where they cannot overcome Netflix, due to the huge number of people turning to this service.
And even though HBO had (and, yes, still has) great quality TV series, Netflix just has a sheer domination in the United States, all around. There’s nothing to compare to it, it has TV series, films, different kinds of documentaries, reality shows, stand-ups, you name it.
So, is not wrong to say that Netflix was way behind not long ago, without too much original content, literally chasing HBO. Even when it comes to TV series, it offered Orange is the New Black, Mindhunter, and now the sensational Stranger Things. Which is not bad, but is not HBO either. Its power comes, as mentioned before, from a great diversity which attracts hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.
Bottom line, HBO still has its cards on the table, including Westworld, started in 2016, which is packed with stars (Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Tessa Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, Aaron Paul, Vincent Cassel, James Marsden and Rodrigo Santoro). But they still haven’t come with the right ruler for the throne of GoT. And that is a big hole to fill for whatever big hit HBO might have in mind.
If you miss the soundtrack theme form GoT, you can try the video slot Game of Thrones released by Microgaming on Unibet Casino, a top online gambling operator with over 17 million clients in around 100 countries. The game is available with real money or for fun (virtual play money), can be played on desktop or mobile, and it has an RTP between 95% and 96%.
The video slot was released back in 2014, when it was one of the most anticipated slot games, in a time when Game of Thrones was a ravaging worldwide phenomenon.
