It’s no secret that Game of Thrones fans found season eight to be bit choppy. After the series finale – which was watched by 19.3 million viewers – the social media frenzy was at an all-time high in regards to the episode’s quality and storytelling. Lately, that’s been the ongoing vibe of the whole season – just a lot of complaints.
The series finale showed the Starks in promising positions with an ending far better than death. However, fans raised more questions than praise for the episode. HBO’s President of Programming, Casey Bloys, defended the way David Benioff and D.B. Weiss carried out the season.
“I think to a certain extent it was expected that for a show this big, there’s no way you’re going to please everybody.” According to Bloys, however, the response has been “roughly split with some people loving it and some people disliking it. That’s about what you’d expect[…]But you’re never going to make everybody happy, nor should that be the goal.”
The cast, themselves, have responded to fans’ reactions to the series finale. Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, didn’t approve of the petitions fans have been signing with requests for season eight to be redone.
“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,” she told the publication. “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.”
Before the series finale aired, Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, knew that once his character killed Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), it would have fans in a state of denial.
EW got an exclusive interview with Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, before the series finale.
“I think it’s going to divide,” said Harington. “But if you track her story all the way back, she does some terrible things. She crucifies people. She burns people alive. This has been building. So, we have to say to the audience: ‘You’re in denial about this woman as well. You knew something was wrong. You’re culpable, you cheered her on.’”
Ten episodes came with each season, but the final one had only six. Immediately, fans knew this wasn’t enough time to put in the battles with the Night King and Cersei.
“The guys have had a very, very specific plan in their head for a long time,” said Bloys. “This was not something that was kind of slapdash, where at the end of last season we said, ‘Eh, we only feel like doing six.’ They were very, very deliberate. This was well thought out.”
Regardless of fans’ reactions and petitions, Game of Thrones will live on in conversations for years as one of TV’s greatest shows.