I’ll get started with two of the most controversial storylines.
Idea to improve Dornish subplot:
Can’t really cut it out, so how can we make it more bearable? Obviously Ellaria is driven by revenge, but it would be nice if it could be made clearer that Ellaria is going to make one of the Sand Snakes the Princess of Dorne. So instead of her actions being just purely revenge it is also a power move, and it won’t seem like a blatant betrayal of Oberyn to destroy his house, since the implication would be that his eldest daughter, Tyene, would be legitimized and made the Princess of Dorne.
Maybe cut their first failed conspiracy plan to kidnap Myrcella. Trim it so the Sand Snakes just seem like Myrcella and Trystane’s bodyguards when Jaime and Bronn try to “rescue” Myrcella. We don’t see them in jail with Bronn, nor any of the conspiracy moments with Ellaria before that.
We know Ellaria is upset, but it isn’t until Myrcella starts dying of poison do we realize what Ellaria has done. It makes both Doran and Ellaria look a lot less stupid. Then when Ellaria kills Doran (maybe hear Doran’s bodyguard getting stabbed multiple times in the background), we then either see a trimmed version of Trystane getting killed, or when Ellaria says Trystane is weak and weak men will never rule Dorne again, we see a quick shot of the boat, and Trystane lying on the ground dead. We could even spread out the intercutting so we see the boat, Trystane at the desk, the Sand Snakes enter, then Trystane dead on the floor.
When Olenna later comes to Dorne, maybe try to have Olenna call Tyene “Princess” off-screen to establish that Ellaria put Oberyn’s daughter on the Dornish throne and technically continuing the Martell line through her.
Idea to improve the Wight mission:
It seems like most people think that it was out of character for Tyrion to suggest such a plan, and it has been one of the most controversial plot elements in the show so far. We can’t remove the plan, so how can we make it work?
Instead of Bran warging into crows and seeing the wight army, he has a “green sight” vision, edited to be a little vague and dreamlike, but he has a vision of Jon getting a wight, showing it to Cersei, and their armies marching together to defeat the white walkers.
He has the maester to send a raven to tell Jon about this vision.
So now, Bran has a vision that this how they can defeat the white walkers instead of Tyrion. Jon knows the odds are stacked against them, so this could be enough to encourage Jon to do it.
You can heavily alter the scene where Tyrion suggests the idea. Possibly use new VO for the characters if it helps make this work.
Not exactly certain how it can be cut, but luckily there is mostly no music in the background, which will make it easier to cut. But they begin talking about the feasibility of the idea more immediately.The twist is, though, that instead of this being a true vision, but it turns out it is a false vision given to Bran by the Night King. Since the Night King touched Bran, they are connected in a way, which is could make this possible, especially since there has been an implication that the Night King is also a greenseer.
You have to think of it this way, who gains the most from the wight mission? The mission didn’t really seem to unite the Seven Kingdoms. The Night King, on the other hand, got exactly what he needed to get past the wall: a dragon.
I’m also thinking a second vision could be invented that Bran will have after Jon is already Beyond the Wall, that shows that he will be trapped and possibly die. This causes him to send a raven to Dragonstone, to tell Daenerys that she must rescue him.
Alternatively, a short scene could possibly be constructed where Daenerys is looking out toward the ocean, maybe using a shot from the Danny/Tyrion conversation scene, maybe find an ocean insert shot, and play their love motif subtly to show she is thinking about Jon. This way, Dany decides to go on her own.
But, for the Night King trap idea to work, the Night King’s idea sort of necessitates that a dragon comes beyond the wall, which is why the two visions idea might be necessary. This would also explain why it seems that the White Walkers wait until the last minute to try and kill them all. It really seems like a trap, especially if we can decontextualize it.
I still need ideas to make these changes work, so if anyone has some thoughts I would love to hear them. Also feel free to share your own ideas. I think it would be cool if once Season 8 is finished, to eventually make an edit of the series that makes changes like these to help make the improve the series overall.