It’s been nearly a month since Game of Thrones season 8 ended, and fans probably hate the final season with just as much passion as they love the other seasons. But just when we thought we could put season 8 behind us and pretend it never happened, HBO came forward with some audacious submissions for Emmy consideration.
The studio is seemingly ignoring the considerable backlash the final season got and suggesting some of the worst episodes of season 8, which also happen to be the worst in the entire show, for awards.
As a reminder, the last three episodes of season 8 — The Last of the Starks, The Bells, and The Iron Throne — have the poorest ratings in Game of Thrones history: 5.6, 6.1, and 4.3 stars (out of a maximum of 10 on IMDB) at the time of this writing. These are the episodes that prompted over 1.6 million people to sign a Change.org petition asking HBO to remake the final season with competent writers (which, obviously, isn’t going to happen).
According to TV Guide, HBO submitted three episodes for Best Directing, including Miguel Sapochnik for The Long Night, David Nutter for The Last of the Starks, and D.B. Weiss and David Benioff for The Iron Throne. Even worse, Weiss and Benioff’s script for The Iron Throne was submitted for the Best Writing category. While we’re at it, Game of Thrones season 8 should absolutely not get the Best Drama Series this year.
The better episodes of the season — Winterfell and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — were overlooked.
As I said before on the subject of season 8, it’s the writing that’s the most annoying thing about it. There are plenty of Emmy categories that Game of Thrones could and should win, including cinematography, score, special effects, acting, and many others, as seen below (again, ignore the Best Drama Series mention):
In less controversial news, in the Cinematography category, HBO has submitted Fabian Wagner for The Long Night, David Franco for The Last of the Starks, and Jonathan Freeman for the Iron Throne. The penultimate episode, The Bells, has meanwhile been put into contention for Art Direction, Visual Effects, and Costuming, and the Hair and Makeup category will take a look at The Long Night. The show will also compete for Best Drama Series as well as the Main Title Design, Casting, Editing, Stunt Coordination, Music, and Sound Mixing categories.[…]
On the performance side, self-submissions include Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Alfie Allen, Pilou Asbæk, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Richard Dormer, Gwendoline Christie, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and Carice van Houten.
But Best Writing and Best Directing Emmys should not go to Benioff and Weiss this year. Moreover, HBO doesn’t deserve the Best Drama Series award for this particular season of Game of Thrones.
