Apart From Many of Its Characters, Game of Thrones Also Killed This 96%-Rated Show

Launched back in 2011, a fantasy drama show Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s book series A Song of Ice and Fire, was quick to become a whole new phenomenon on modern TV, and one can hardly ignore the epic series’ influence on the way the industry has transformed by adapting to its viewers’ high standards.

Despite its compelling storyline and all the variety of characters, Game of Thrones is still a somewhat synonym to the extreme violence that has accompanied its plot till the very end, though it seems that the show has been violent not only to its characters, but also to another successful HBO series.

Released back in 2005, several years before Game of Thrones hit the screens, a historical drama show Rome was destined to become HBO’s biggest hit ever. Upon its first season’s release, the show appeared to be one of the most expensive projects the company had ever produced, but Rome’s stunning success with both critics and viewers was quite a solid reason for HBO to continue the series’ run that was supposed to come to a total of 5 seasons at some point.

Disheartening news came in Rome’s way sometime after the show celebrated the successful launch of its first season and was ready to keep going down the same road with another installment. Back then, HBO announced that the second season would become the last for the show, and Rome’s creators had to quickly change the storyline so that the season 2 finale would look like a definite ending.

The one to blame for the series’ tragic fate is none other than Game of Thrones as HBO suddenly saw greater potential in George R.R. Martin’s epic story which later on received all the budget saved up for Rome’s future installments.

While Rome still never got the ending it deserved, it surely could have continued its extremely successful run for years to come, especially with all the support from professionals and the audience that it received. Seventeen years after the show’s premiere, it holds impressive scores of 86% and 96% from critics and viewers respectively on Rotten Tomatoes.

Though the HBO audience wasn’t left with nothing and got another epic show instead, Rome still had a very different historical perspective to offer before losing its deserved place to a fantasy show that, according to most of its fans, never made it to a decent finale either.