- Game of Thrones season 8 is one of the worst final seasons of a TV series in the history of television.
- Some fans are still angry at the various choices that turned season 8 into one of the worst possible things to air on TV last year.
- It’s not just fans that are critical of the creative decisions that went into the final season. One of the prominent stars of Game of Thrones said he’d sign the petition to remake season 8.
You only realize how bad 2020 really is — and it’s only mid-August — when you’re reminded of relatively recent events that you thought were among the worst possible things to happen to the human race in modern times. Take last year’s final season Game of Thrones, which turned out to be the biggest disappointment in TV history for a large portion of the show’s fans, yours truly included. The whole thing is incomparable to actual tragedies like the novel coronavirus pandemic that has changed everything about how we live our ordinary lives. Yet it was one of the unexpected letdowns of 2019, a memory that can never be corrected.
The final season sparked a massive wave of protests against the showrunners, with nearly two million fans having signed a petition asking HBO to remake the final season with more competent writers. HBO stood by the creative decisions that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss took, making it clear that the studio did not influence the final season. But it also said that the show will stay as is, regardless of what critics say. Some of those critics are more prominent than others, with a Game of Thrones star saying that he would sign that petition, and with another joking that he’d have donated to the petition.
British actor Charles Dance played Tywin Lannister on the show until season 5 when his character was brutally and satisfyingly executed. But Dance kept watching the series even after he was no longer involved with the project. Like many other fans, Dance did not like how the show ended.
Dance wasn’t even aware there was a petition to remake season 8, but he told Pop Culture that he’d be on board. “Well, if there was a petition, I would sign it,” the actor said “bluntly.”
Dance had nice things to say about the people involved in the series, including the showrunners. “I mean, I saw it. I continue to watch the whole series even after I’d been killed off in the lavatory,” Dance said. “Because I just thought it’s a fantastic television show, you know? I was very lucky to be part of it. I loved it; there were storylines [where] I wanted to know what was going to happen to these people! I know that the finale satisfied a lot of people. It also disappointed a lot of people, and I’m afraid I am in the latter camp.”
While he credited the two writers for the earlier season, he said the final chapters lacked the drama needed to conclude the story. “I think David and Dan raised the bar when it came to television screenplay writing,” he said. “They are phenomenal. And for the whole thing to end up as a committee, I just thought, ‘Hmm, no.’ I would say I was somewhat underwhelmed by.” Dance appears to be bothered with just the final episode of the show, but there are plenty of other issues with Game of Thrones Season 8 that exasperated fans for the better part of April and May 2019.
One of the actors playing Dance’s sons on Game of Thrones addressed the infamous petition as well. In an interview with Variety a few days ago, Jaime Lannister actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau discussed various of his projects in the post-Game of Thrones world but referred to that final season as well.
Asked whether he agreed with fans who wanted a more dramatic end for Jaime’s arc, the actor joked that “I didn’t follow it at all,” adding after a pause that “obviously, I heard about it.”
“I was aware of the petition for a new ending, which I thought was hilarious. I almost wanted to donate to that petition,” he said. “HBO saying, ‘You’re right, so many people want it, we’re going to do it.’ I think everyone had their own opinion. I find the world of fandom really interesting.”
“Everyone wanted something specific and different from what they got,” Coster-Waldau continued. “It’s a combination of — you imagine an ending; but also, I think if you’re a hardcore fan, it was really upsetting that it ended. You lived with this for eight seasons. There is still a massive community dedicated to Game of Thrones I think there was a real fear that was going to go away. It had to end.”
When asked about how he’d redo the ending, the actor seemed to suggest he’s got his own mind, but we’ll have to wait for it. “Oh, how did it end? He was — no, it was fine. It was great. It was fine. How do you end that story? Let’s talk about this in 10 years, then you can talk about it,” he said. “But now, I think it’s a little too recent.”
