I think part of the appeal of a TV serial is how it breaks individual events down into self-contained arcs and strings them together into a series, rather than trying to weld them all together into a massive epic.
Eight one-hour episodes can be watched over weeks. One four hour movie is a lot harder to get down in a single sitting.
Maybe it would have worked better it I could not imagine sitting through four and a. Half more hours of that.
I liked the movie but it was definitely too long as it was. Adding that much more would have made it unmatchably slow.
I think part of the appeal of a TV serial is how it breaks individual events down into self-contained arcs and strings them together into a series, rather than trying to weld them all together into a massive epic.
Eight one-hour episodes can be watched over weeks. One four hour movie is a lot harder to get down in a single sitting.