HBO wants to give President Donald Trump's tweet the "Dracarys" treatment. The cable network responded to the president's recent social media message paraphrasing Game of Thrones -- and adopting the series' text style -- to promote sanctions against Iran. Here's the tweet that started this news storm:
Even many people who don't watch Game of Thrones know the phrase "Winter Is Coming." And the design in the "O" very closely matches the HBO show's logo. You can check out the logo, straight from Game of Thrones' title sequence below.
HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer shared a statement (via the New York Times) on the POTUS's tweet:
We were not aware of this messaging and would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes.
HBO made that feeling public with its own tweet, referencing the fictional Dothraki language used in Game of Thrones:
Sassy. So now, of course, people are making memes out of this. But fans are also debating whether HBO was serious about making a trademark case. Do they even have one, for the font if not the phrase?
While armchair lawyers debate any trademark merits, there was apparently a similar Iranian message that also referenced Game of Thrones. This is what happens when the show goes too long between seasons! A news site, referenced by the New York Times, shared this image with what was reportedly a message from an Iranian military leader:
HBO's statement about not wanting their trademark to be used for political purposes would apply to that response as well. Basically, they want to be left out of it all. And yet, they also tweeted about it, bringing more attention to it all. If everyone sent ravens instead of tweets, at least it would take longer and delay all the angry responses.
While real life battles play out via news headlines, major fictional battles are ahead in Game of Thrones Season 8. That final season will only have six episodes, but we just learned a lot more about it -- including how it begins, and how many times the finale made Kit Harington (Jon Snow) cry.
The phrase "Winter Is Coming," which got involved in this whole political spat, is the motto of House Stark. We now know that the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere includes a scene in Winterfell calling back to Season 1, when King Robert Baratheon first met his BFF Ned Stark's children. Now those kids (the surviving ones, anyway) are all grown up and ready to fight The White Walkers for the future of mankind.
Game of Thrones Season 8 doesn't have an official premiere date on HBO at this point, but we've been told it'll start in the first half of 2019. Plus, there's a special reunion episode with Conan O'Brien to look forward to, whenever that shows up. A lot of good stuff is coming -- not just winter and, apparently, sanctions.
In the meantime, catch up on all of the fall 2018 premieres still to come in our handy-dandy TV guide.
