The last few weeks have been a little rough for (some) Game of Thrones fans. Just a couple of days ago, the series finale for HBO’s high fantasy drama hit the airwaves (and the network’s own streaming services), and plenty of viewers were left disappointed with how things turned out. This is not entirely unexpected for a show featuring so many characters and a handful of key players vying for the rank of king/queen, but the internet had plenty of complaints.
And, of course, there’s still the matter of the petition to remake season 8, which kicked off last week. The campaign has since gone viral and is just shy of 1.4 million signatures, with plenty of disgruntled fans flocking to Change.org to pledge their support following the final episode. Game of Thrones actor Isaac Hempstead Wright – who played Bran Stark/The Three-Eyed Raven – fired back at the demands for a remake, and now, it seems one of his fellow co-stars has also weighed in on the matter as well.
As reported by Deadline, Sophie Turner (who played Bran’s older sister, Sansa Stark) is not exactly thrilled with the aforementioned petition. Speaking to The New York Times in a post-series finale interview, she said she wasn’t entirely surprised by the backlash and criticism of the show’s final season.
“People always have an idea in their heads of how they want a show to finish, and so when it doesn’t go to their liking, they start to speak up about it and rebel,” Turner said.
She then went on to slam the campaign to remake season 8, which described showrunners and Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as “woefully incompetent.”
“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 said. “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.”
While Turner might certainly have a point, there’s no denying that this past season has been largely criticized for its poor pacing, characterization, and writing. Despite only earning a 48 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the series finale still attracted close to 20 million viewers, setting a new record for HBO. With three prequel series in the works, it doesn’t look like Game of Thrones is going anywhere soon, though we sincerely hope the spinoffs don’t suffer from the same issues that plagued this last season.
