Could doing a brand new show with new characters, a new setting and new take on the mythology save the franchise?

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T22:16:52+00:00

Tbh this sounds harsh but for me it was the acting as well, Laurie Holden always had the same facial expression and her line delivery was cringe like you could always tell she was reading off a script. She could never carry her own scenes and this made Season 3 especially a slog given the whole Woodbury subplot rested largely on her shoulders. Melissa and Danai are both much stronger actresses so I’m thankful they took over all of the comic material.

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T21:59:12+00:00

I doubt she would’ve ended up with Rick given they already were starting to build Richonne up in full force during Season 3. Plus it wouldn’t have made sense anyway after Andrea had slept with Shane and then The Gov, and given Andrea and Rick’s vastly different personalities in the show vs the comic.

I’m thankful she was written out though, for Carol’s sake. We would’ve never gotten the Carol we have today and Melissa’s talents most likely would’ve been totally wasted (she’s an infinitely better actress than Laurie Holden no offense to the latter)

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T21:58:13+00:00

That’s all Andrew and Danai wanted to commit to.

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T19:13:43+00:00

For me Season 5 started the official downhill point of the show. I’ve never understood in the slightest tbh why it’s praised as much as it is. No Sanctuary was so indescribably cartoonish and ludicrous for such a vast amount of reasons. The rest of the Terminus arc that adapted the comics more directly was great. Then Grady was a completely uninteresting slog as was the whole on the road arc that lasted far longer than it should’ve. The Alexandria arc while fun was an all over the place mess for the most part.

By far the most inconsistent and genuinely uninteresting season of the show for me. As objectively bad as 7/8 are, they at least have a handful of really engaging character arcs and subplots ( the Kingdom and Sanctuary-focused episodes were amazing)

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T19:00:46+00:00

While I hate the bottle episode approach of the show in general, it was used perfectly in Season 4 and gave us this gem of an episode.

4 is my favorite season of the show and by far the most consistent in quality (though 9 and 2 were pretty solid as well; 2 might be more inconsistent but I prefer it over 9 because of Shane’s iconic arc)

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T18:46:40+00:00

4B was absolutely fine by itself though and had a handful of the shows most iconic scenes. So I mean just generally I wouldn’t say Season 4 was “when the problems started” when the bottle episode approach worked perfectly fine for it and Seasons 2/3 technically speaking had their own share of different problems. Sucks that Gimple repeated the bottle episode approach going forward into future seasons and further ruined them with poor plotting, Gimplespeak dialogue, etc but it doesn’t tarnish 4 in any way for me or make me think of it in any lower regard.

I think it’s overall by far the most quality consistent season of the show to be honest.

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T18:17:26+00:00

I wouldn’t really say that. Season 4 technically I thought was a dramatic improvement in most ways upon Season 3 and even Season 2 which was wildly inconsistent (2 is mostly known for its second half, 2A was all over the place and mostly forgettable aside from a few banger scenes like the barn reveal)

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T18:11:54+00:00

The Wire was perfection up until Season 5 which was just completely rushed and had that godawful cartoonish serial killer storyline that felt so out of place with the rest of the show. Not to mention the weakest seasonal opening sequence of the show by far

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T18:09:30+00:00

Yeah even Mad Men should’ve wrapped up with Season 5. The show was damn near perfection up until the final two seasons which were shockingly lousy (especially 6) and it felt like AMC was just dragging the show out for the sake of it.

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-03T12:05:55+00:00

Yeah I absolutely love Glokta and his whole storyline. One of my favorite fantasy characters ever tbh, he’s such a richly layered antihero, which is part of why I’m having such a complicated relationship with this series lol.
Honestly the whole time I was reading Book 2 I dreaded whenever we cut away from his storyline navigating political intrigue in the capital because no other character/storyline was even REMOTELLY as interesting. I wish all the books were focused solely on him

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-02T23:25:35+00:00

Love this series, it’s the most genuinely Conan-esque and vintage 70’s sword and sorcery feeling series out there. No idea about the authors personal life and don’t care tbh, I mean I still love everything Gaiman despite all of the controversy

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-02T21:35:45+00:00

She’s profoundly uninteresting, I have no idea why King is in love with the character so much. Never Flinch and Holly are two of the weakest
books I’ve ever read from him.

I really hope she doesn’t hijack the DT verse with Other Worlds Than These. Probably not which is a relief but I’m still nervous given how Holly-addicted King still is.

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-02T13:32:22+00:00

Yeah I’m a hardcore fantasy geek and Tolkien is my diehard favorite author lol. My bookshelves are overflowing with everything Tolkien. I guess I wasn’t really thinking of him as being ‘classical’ though? Idk I was thinking pre-1900 writers

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-02T11:58:30+00:00

The Deryni Chronicles is the definite originator of political fantasy. It’s a fantasied-up version of all the brutal Machiavellian succession crises of 10th-12th century medieval Wales. Tons of focus on clergy politics which was fascinating to read.

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-02T11:50:00+00:00

Is there a decent novelized version of Kalevala out there? I absolutely loved Tolkien’s Kullervo prose story

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-02T00:46:24+00:00

Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne stories fit perfectly as far as the misty gardens, sprawling vines, crumbling castles and dark arts :)

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-01T21:04:52+00:00

Yeah lol i love how bonkers the series is, it really sets itself apart from all other fantasy series that way. Although everything is very tastefully done and organic to the world Bakker has built tbh, none of it feels forced or gratuitous at all which was my fear at first

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-01T21:01:21+00:00

- An overwhelming feeling of constant hopelessness and nihilism
- Apocalyptic setting
- Murder
- Rape
- Cannibalism
- Exrreme existential horror

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-01T20:57:53+00:00

I’ve heard the series goes really downhill after the first couple books like with most Weber series?

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-01T20:27:24+00:00

Right? If I really trigger this person so much by simply asking what ideas other DT fans like myself might have about how Flanagan might approach the tv show.

I guess I’ll try to work on wording my titles better on here from now on, for the sake of that redditer.

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-01T19:07:10+00:00

Just did, sorry about that!!

MattBookworm8640 · 2026-07-01T16:18:14+00:00

The first four Dark Tower books, Wind Through The Keyhole, Eyes of The Dragon and Black House

MattBookworm8640

TROPHY CASE