Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander Offers Advice to Game of Thrones After Backlash Over Finale

Last night’s series finale for Game of Thrones has caused quite a lot of chatter, with viewers sharing all kinds of reactions to the endgames of different characters. The discourse around the episode is continuing to evolve in unexpected ways, and even someone familiar with the world of iconic television endings is chiming in.

Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza on Seinfeld, recently took to Twitter to offer his advice to Thrones‘ cast and crew. As he put it, he has a bit of experience with “finales and disappointed fans”, and recommends that everyone involved with the show “live in the joy” that they affected people this much.

As pop culture fans will surely remember, the Seinfeld finale quickly developed a pretty bad reputation amongst fans, as it ended with the show’s core ensemble stuck in jail for a year for “criminal indifference”. While some have come around to the finale in the over two decades since its debut, others still bemoan the message that it appeared to send to viewers, which makes the comparison to Thrones not completely unfounded.

Given the trajectory that the season has gone on thus far, with backlash to previous episodes including petitions and other sorts of digital movements, it isn’t that surprising that the Thrones finale was met with some scrutiny. In the past, the show’s creative team have expressed a desire to make a shocking ending — no matter what good or bad could come of that.

“From the beginning, we’ve talked about how the show would end.” showrunner David Benioff said in a previous interview. “A good story isn’t a good story if you have a bad ending. Of course, we worry. It’s also part of the fun of any show that people love arguing about it. I loved the way David Chase ended The Sopranos [with its surprising cut to black]. I was one of those people who thought my TV had gone out. I got up and was checking the wires, unable to believe my cable had gone out in the most important moment of my favorite TV series. I think that was the best of all possible endings for that show. But a lot of people hated it. I’ve gotten into a lot of arguments with people about why that was a great ending, but people felt legitimately cheated and that’s their right to feel that way…Either way, it works for me.. Once it cuts to black nobody knows, and that’s what great about it. The only sad part is nobody can ever do that ending again.”

“Not everyone will be happy,” Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who played Bran Stark, added after the finale. “It’s so difficult to finish a series as popular as this without pissing some people off. I don’t think anybody will think it’s predictable and that’s as much as you can hope for. People are going to be angry. There’s going to be a lot of broken hearts. It’s ‘bittersweet,’ exactly as [saga author] George R.R. Martin intended. It’s a fitting conclusion to this epic saga.”

What do you think of Jason Alexander’s take on the Game of Thrones finale? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!