HBO has canceled the award winning series Game of Thrones after disappointing season premiere. A source close to HBO's top executives was quoted as saying "Despite heavy accolades the TV business comes down to money and the most recent season of GoT was one of the most expensive yet. [They] were unhappy with the ratings overall, because [the show] failed to garner more support among half-man and horse riders..." a key demographic in this day and age.
Others point out the rising costs in using live dragons for filming rather than CGI, puppets, or mechanical recreations. A set worker who previously spoke to us anonymously said "the first few seasons were pretty easy to manage the little buggers, but now they are larger and their trainer is having a difficult time managing them. We've had to rebuild from scratch at least 5 set last year alone."
Another source specializing in insurance claims said there were several low profile lawsuits quickly settled out of court due to the flame-happy dragons leaving several BBQ'd corpses. With this next would-be season (5) would be so expensive to insure that the costs would outweigh any gains by HBO.
Despite the persistent rumor mill, this humble reporter believes the extended winter this spring is likely the cause. No one wants to watch a show that keeps telling us that "Winter is coming" when we been all freezing our balls off.
Dedicated fans will be disappointed as the 5th season was rumored to veer off course with the books reintroducing Sean Bean's character Ned Stark as a wayward ghost, which was later to be killed off several episodes later.