From a ratings standpoint, Game of Thrones definitely went out with a bang after a record 13.6 million viewers tuned in for the final episode, but it's an entirely different story creatively. Longtime fans grew increasingly disenchanted throughout season 8, with showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss facing plenty of well founded criticisms that the quality of the series nosedived when they ran out of source material to mine for inspiration, and even some cast members admitted that they'd sign the petition to see it remade.