As you may’ve heard, tons of fans have been canceling their HBO subscriptions in the wake of Game of Thrones season 8.
Indeed, Google searches for “cancel HBO” witnessed a sizeable spike after last Sunday’s series finale, “The Iron Throne.” And while it makes sense that a good chunk of subscribers would hit the cancel button once their favorite show has come to an end, given how divisive season 8 ended up being, there may be more to this data than meets the eye.
For one, this was the highest surge in search results for ‘cancel HBO’ since Game of Thrones began, while the second biggest spike corresponds to the end of season 7. Unfortunately, though, Google Trends only yields raw search data, which means we don’t know exactly how many people actually pulled the plug on their HBO subscription last week.
Be that as it may, it seems a lot of fans are still mourning the loss of their favorite show, with tons of people taking to Twitter this weekend to realize that for the first time in a long time, there are no new episodes to look forward to.
First Sunday without Game of Thrones pic.twitter.com/VZScTHIXFj
— paper clip (@amytheworld) May 26, 2019
If anyone is having #GameOfThrones withdrawal… pic.twitter.com/FuocGMM5Qm
— Boz Coleslaw Stoli (@oddboz) May 26, 2019
#SundayIsComing #SundayIsHere #GOT #GameOfThrones #withdrawal @GameOfThrones @HBO 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/scNWEwQ1TL
— Purple Trekkie (@PurpleTrekkie) May 26, 2019
JUST A SADISTIC REMINDER THAT THERE IS NO GAME OF THRONES EPISODE THIS SUNDAY AND ALL THE SUNDAYS THAT ARE YET TO COME
— Tomes Reader (@TomesReader) May 26, 2019
Soooo… what we doing tonight? Reintegrating back to society? Talking about new topics or nah? We ain't got no more dragons, direwolves, and Whitewalkers. #GoT #GameOfThrones #DemThrones
— 💼 EsqChoir🎙🎶 (@EsqChoir) May 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/SirVi_/status/1132652716998574081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/JoeKrupinsky/status/1132652284868026371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I legitimately just made myself sad after realizing that there’s no more game of thrones Sunday’s
— Pablo (@IsmarAlihodzic) May 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/3ScreenDude/status/1132635720760348673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
So, while it’s clear that a good portion of the fanbase are angry with how things ended and can’t wait to cancel their HBO subscriptions, it looks like a lot of viewers are still missing their weekly visits to Westeros. Thankfully for them, though, the fantasy world will live on via the network’s upcoming prequel series.
It’s already begun shooting across parts of Belfast and Northern Ireland with a 2020 premiere seemingly on the cards. Though plot details are basically non-existent at this stage, we do know that the Children of the Forest have been earmarked as the show’s focal point, and as soon as we hear more, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Until then, we’ll certainly be missing Game of Thrones.