Remember when Game of Thrones first showed up on TV with its brutality and frankness and fearlessness? Even before the dragons showed up, there was enough drama going on to keep everyone interested, and the show wasn't afraid to kill off popular characters.
But it all kicked off with an opening credits sequence unlike anything we'd seen before. We're used to it now, but at the time, it was groundbreaking. Even The Simpsons riffed on it, so you know it struck a huge cultural chord.
So why change something that very much wasn't broken?
WARNING: Spoiler Alert!