When Game of Thrones first premiered on HBO more than a decade ago with all the bearings of a humble beginning, not even David Benioff and D.B. Weiss themselves could’ve predicted that their high fantasy adaptation would go on to become the most popular television series in the world.
Now, Westeros is known all around the globe, having worked up a renown so far-reaching that HBO is currently developing several spinoff shows set in George R.R. Martin’s fictional universe, the first of which, House of the Dragon, debuted in August 2022 on the service.
But looking back on the absolute phenomenon of a show that started it all is a peculiar experience nowadays. On one hand, Game of Thrones still remains one of the better-made live-action projects involving a medieval world, belied only by the existence of dragons, subtle magic, and the bare minimum of self-congratulatory admission to prophecy and destiny. On the other hand, the show has self-consciously become a thing of the past — to be tossed aside and forgotten without so much as a fond memory — after the showrunners fumbled the last season, culminating in one of the most divisive, if not downright castigated, endings to a story in the history of our medium.
Still, even if Game of Thrones waxed and waned throughout its tumultuous nine-year run, no other genre production has even come close to imitating its success — at least in terms of objective quality — since it came to a close in 2019. Not even House of the Dragon may achieve this feat when the credits have rolled on its first finale later this year, so this is the perfect opportunity to look back on the imaginative journey that started all those years ago and reminisce about all the things we miss about it.
Below we’ve re-examined all eight seasons of Game of Thrones, ranked from worst to best.
8. Season 8
Folks hardly need a listicle such as this to tell them that the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones has not only gone down as its worst outing, but one of the most divisive endings in television, cinema, and beyond. By shortening the usual 10-episode run to six episodes (though all admittedly longer than an hour), showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff rushed the story and all the character resolutions to a point of ludicrous absurdity.
Almost every major character in season eight is a cardboard cutout of their original nuanced version, acting in ways that undermine their character development and diminish their significance in the overarching narrative that the creative team had spent years slowly building up brick by brick. There are insane visuals and the production value is as astounding as ever for a television show, but that doesn’t elevate season eight beyond anything more than a parody of what this show once used to be.
7. Season 7
There’s no doubt as to the fact that the final Game of Thrones season is its worst, but if you want to trace where things really started going south, you needn’t look any further than the seventh season. At this narrative junction, Daenerys finally arrives in Westeros and initiates a conflict with the Lannisters of Casterly Rock. As the queen of King’s Landing and the queen of Dragonstone fight over the Iron Throne, Jon Snow — now King in the North — joins forces with the dragon monarch and vies for peace, citing the Night King and his endless horde of the undead as the real threat to the realm, and life itself.
The seventh season starts with a steady rhythm, moving the political pieces across the board as deftly as we’ve come to expect from Game of Thrones, though when it comes to chronology, audiences will find it increasingly difficult to make sense of how the characters move from one location to the other, and how the need for haste in the shortened seven-episode season completely sidelines other compelling players such as Lord Varys as nothing more than bystanders in the greater game that is afoot.
Despite its popularity soaring higher with each run, someone should’ve definitely told Weiss and Benioff that Game of Thrones doesn’t work as an action Hollywood blockbuster, no matter the budget increase by HBO. But when the showrunners go down that path, especially with the penultimate episode, “Beyond the Wall” — which was essentially an Avengers-style teaming up against the White Walkers in all but name — you begin to see that suspension of disbelief Game of Thrones had spent years curating slowly break apart.
6. Season 5
There isn’t much to be said of season five other than the fact that it highlighted the first tangible quality nosedive, narrative-wise, since the show’s debut in 2011. Then again, season five also adapted the fifth book in the saga, A Dance With Dragons, which is infamous for its intricate and complex, though middling, plot. Weiss and Benioff excluded many unnecessary characters from their storytelling roster, simplifying the narrative threads as much as possible. Not that it helped matters in any estimable sense.
Despite that, there are some notable highlights. “Hardhome,” for instance, still remains one of the best hours of television we’ve ever come across, even if it was purposefully abrupt. Season five also paves the path for several satisfying resolutions in season six, ending with a cliffhanger that had the entire world wondering whether Jon Snow will survive the treachery of his Night’s Watch brothers for an entire year.
5. Season 4
Audiences generally consider the first four seasons of Game of Thrones as its best, and if it weren’t for some of the show’s most brilliant plot twists coming to fruition in season six, we’d have to wholeheartedly agree with them. Coming off the infamous Red Wedding and dealing with the imminent threat of the Free Folk assailing the Wall, season four has everything we love about Game of Thrones, and then some.
It’s true that the producers had intended “The Long Night” in season eight to serve as the magnum opus of their battle episodes, but in hindsight, that honor ultimately goes to “The Watchers on the Wall,” the fourth season’s penultimate chapter, which saw Jon Snow and Lord Commander Alliser Thorne defending Castle Black from two separate attacks by Mance Rayder’s armies. Also, let’s not forget about the brilliant subplot involving Tyrion’s imprisonment, trial by combat, and escape in the finale.
Season four is full of backstabbing, valor, treachery, honor, scheming, and pretty much everything you love about Game of Thrones, which is why, at the very least, it deserves to be put somewhere in the middle of our list.
4. Season 6
Despite George R.R. Martin categorizing A Song of Ice and Fire as a high fantasy story, there isn’t much in the way of worldbuilding that separates it from historical fiction inspired by the Middle Ages. That all changes by the time the sixth season arrives, concluding many storylines and bringing several character arcs to a satisfying conclusion. The story also takes up a more purposeful march, with Dany finally uniting all of her forces and marching them towards Westeros and Jon Snow picking up the mantle of the King in the North after Robb Stark by defeating Ramsay Bolton.
Season six is packed to the rafters with revelations and satisfying character moments. From Hodor finally being realized as the ultimate martyr in the Seven Kingdoms, to audiences learning the truth about Jon Snow’s parentage, to the protagonist reclaiming the North for his family once again and avenging the Starks, and Daenerys setting sail for Westeros, and last but not least, Cersei gaining some semblance of control over the Lannister dynasty, the sixth season is probably some of the best television we’ve seen all our lives, and certainly among the best in genre fiction.
3. Season 1
This is the season that started it all. From the very first episode, Game of Thrones introduces you to the most important characters by establishing their backstories without resorting to exposition. The Starks of Winterfell, wardens of the North. The Lannisters allied to the Baratheons through Cersei’s bond with King Robert. The Night’s Watch and the White Walkers. The last surviving members of House Targaryen, stranded on the other side of the sea, their very existence a threat to the Usurper’s reign. And, of course, a ton of nudity, violence, and profanity.
Game of Thrones toned all of these egregious elements down the further along the narrative went, but one of the things that turned it into such a controversial television show and garnered attention was definitely a commitment to never sugarcoat the grimdark reality of Martin’s world, even if that meant showing a brother and sister having an incestuous relationship as early as the first episode, and the former attempting to kill a child for being seen.
To think that all of this kickstarted the phenomenon we perceive today as Westeros and Game of Thrones. The first season is certainly not flawless, but revisiting it even now will dig up all the fond memories you once had for the show.
2. Season 3
By the time the third season of Game of Thrones premiered, the show was already a sensation both around the world and online. Robb Stark was sweeping the North and pushing his way through to King’s Landing, and for all of Tywin’s cunning, the Lannisters were losing the war. Jon Snow was also finding his footing at Castle Black, while the rest of the Stark children tried to get by in a world that became ever crueler.
It’s safe to say that Game of Thrones was comfortable in its skin by the third season, leaning on its strengths to deliver a truly compelling season of television without having to deal with trial and error. Using Martin’s book as its backbone, this is where HBO’s series cemented itself as one of the most important television series around, proving to everyone that the high fantasy genre, even after the success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, had a lot of novelties to offer.
1. Season 2
This might be a controversial choice, but whether you look at it with a critical lens or with nostalgia at heart, the second season of Game of Thrones is definitely among its best, if not the best. This is where D.B. Weiss and David Benioff got a little bit experimental with the series after turning the first outing into a hit. The show doesn’t deviate much from the source material, and the story is as engrossing as ever. Tyrion gets his moment in the sun by becoming Hand of the King to Joffrey, while Jon Snow travels north of the Wall and meets the Wildlings for the first time.
Then there’s the whole Stannis plotline, culminating in his invasion of King’s Landing and the Battle of Blackwater Bay, which is, by many people’s reckoning, the second-best battle episode Game of Thrones has ever done. Seeing Tyrion rise to the challenge of defending the city and even leading a last brave charge to push the enemy back will forever be ingrained in our minds as one of the most badass moments in all of speculative fiction, at least so far as their live-action treatments are concerned.
The first season may have started this journey, but it was thanks to the highly acclaimed debut of its follow-up run, premiering in April 2012, that Game of Thrones got to continue this journey and see it through to the end.
