The 'Game of Thrones' Cast Got Super-Candid About the Final Season's Backlash
This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones. Consider yourself warned.
Can you believe it’s actually only been two months since HBO aired the final episode of Game of Thrones?
It might feel like a lifetime since the finale wrapped up, deciding the fate of the show’s (remaining) characters: Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) took over ruling Westeros while Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) became Queen in the North, and the youngest Stark, Arya (Maisie Williams), took off on a ship for parts unknown. But not everyone was pleased with the series finale—or the entirety of the eighth season—and the cast of the hit show hasn’t forgotten the backlash. Fans were upset with everything from Cersei and Jamie’s final moments and Dany’s turn as the Mad Queen to the choice of who took the Iron Throne and Jon’s banishment to the Wall.
There was even a fan petition requesting that showrunners reshoot the final season, which Turner (and Riverdale actress, Lili Reinhart) spoke out against earlier this year. “All of these petitions and things like that—I think it’s disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season,” Turner told the New York Times in May. “Like, 50-something night shoots. So many people worked so, so hard on it, and for people to just rubbish it because it’s not what they want to see is just disrespectful.”
Now some of her other cast members are sounding off, as well. “It was surprising the level of absurdity of the the online petition,” Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (who played Jamie Lannister) said at Comic-Con on Friday, per Vulture. “Of course HBO’s going to change the whole thing. Because that’s the power of the internet! Every season, we had huge controversies. From Ned Stark being killed—‘I’m never going to watch that piece of shit show again!’ And then there was the Red Wedding. And obviously, the end. “
“I feel so lucky to have met so may fans of the show, and to realize this show has brought so many people together. Watching it, loving it,” he continued. “So obviously, It comes to an end, it’s going to piss you off no matter what. It’s the end! But at the end of the day, it’s absolutely fine. If you hated the ending, if you loved it, that’s great. Just don’t call people names.”