Is Netflix avoiding Game of Thrones and saving their new shows?

With few Netflix new releases recently, we have to ask: Is Netflix avoiding Game of Thrones and waiting to release some of their big shows and movies?

For the second week in a row, there’s no big Netflix original show release. For the streaming network, there are always a few weeks throughout the year without a big new show, but two weeks back-to-back? That doesn’t happen very often, and oddly enough, it seems to coincide with the release of the final season of Game of Thrones on HBO.

Game of Thrones season 7 premiered on Sunday, April 14, and the last five episodes of the series will run each Sunday, except one, through the series finale on May 19.

There are still some really good shows and movies to watch on Netflix while Game of Thrones is on, and we’ll get to those in a minute, but it just seems weird that this is the second week in a row without a big Netflix show.

So far this year, we’ve seen some incredible Netflix shows like The Umbrella Academy, Santa Clarita Diet, On My Block, After Life, Grace and Frankie, One Day at a Time and more. Eventually, Netflix was going to have a few down weeks, and that happened right after Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 2 was released the week before Game of Thrones returned. Seems fitting.

So, is Netflix really avoiding Game of Thrones or does it just feel like that?

Our answer: Probably a little bit of both.

Before we proceed, we still haven’t seen the list of what’s new on Netflix in May, and we do know there are at least a few big shows coming to Netflix next month. Most notably, Lucifer season 4 is scheduled to premiere on May 8, 2019. That’s going to be a huge show, for sure.

I think Netflix is avoiding the initial Game of Thrones push. Look, there’s so much interest in this season, with it being the last one, and according to ratings, the season premiere crushed every metric. The final will likely do the same, but there will probably be a few dips in there when Netflix rolls out new shows like Lucifer and more.

On the other hand, there might be a little less interest in Netflix compared to the hype of Game of Thrones. There are few shows on TV that can compete with Game of Thrones, so when Netflix rolls out new shows or smaller shows during Game of Thrones, there’s virtually no excitement because the excitement for Game of Thrones is sky high right now. It’s more of a perception thing than reality.

Still, things seem a little fishy. It’s abnormal for the streaming network to have this few shows and movies, compared to recent weeks and months. Even with Lucifer, though, the schedule is a little weird. Netflix almost always released new shows on Fridays for the weekend binge-watch. For some reason, Lucifer season 4 premieres on a Wednesday. Is that to give people more time to watch new episodes of the show before a new episode of Game of Thrones airs that Sunday? I don’t know if that’s the case, but it sure seems odd.

For the streaming network, if they are holding back a little bit, it’s probably the right thing to do. They probably aren’t getting as many viewers with Game of Thrones taking up a lot of time for their viewers. I know I’ve spent some time binge-watching old episodes of Game of Thrones in the last few weeks rather than watching all the new content on the streaming service. I have to imagine there are others out there like me.

The streaming network takes a lot into account when deciding to cancel and renew shows. By releasing new shows right now, during the Game of Thrones hysteria, their ratings and results might be a little skewed.

This Netflix lull will not last long. As mentioned, Game of Thrones signs off on May 19, and we know the streaming service has tons of good content coming relatively shortly after that, including When They See Us, Stranger Things 3, Orange is the New Black and so much more!