Game of Thrones Showrunners Address Internet Backlash to Season 8

The final season of Game of Thrones was easily the most talked-about batch of episodes of the series, with showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss reflecting on how they had to stop looking at reactions to the series on the Internet, knowing just how damaging it would be to see so many vitriolic criticisms. The HBO series was a popular topic on social media from its debut season, with the popularity of various social media platforms causing more passionate debates about the project, which also grew alongside the more shocking reveals in the series and the impact they had on viewers.

“You always hope everyone’s going to love anything you do and it would’ve been great if 100 percent of people loved it, but they didn’t,” Benioff confessed to The Hollywood Reporter of online backlash to Season 8. “You can get so bogged down in public opinion that you spend your whole life Googling things and trying to find people who felt one way or the other way.” 

Weiss added, “Even super positive feedback makes you feel weird and teeth-grindy and on edge. There’s a drug quality to the feedback, and as soon as we went cold turkey — the last time I Googled myself was in 2013 — the ambient stress level in our lives dropped by about 50 percent overnight.”

Whereas some creators engage with fans on social media, either to express empathy over negative reactions or to defend their work, the outlet noted how “even if they privately agree with a Thrones criticism, they feel it wouldn’t benefit themselves, HBO, or the thousands of others who worked on the show to say so.”

Another observation the filmmakers made is that, while audiences are quick to be more antagonistic on the Internet and the most vocal groups can make it seem like they are in the majority, the in-person engagements they have with fans are far more positive.

“There’s an underlying decency when people acknowledge you as a person and vice versa,” Weiss pointed out. “There’s something that happens in the transition from human interaction to online that pushes things in a specifically aggro direction.”

The outlet noted that, while Weiss recently rewatched the series, Benioff has not returned to Westeros since the series finale.

Season 2 of the prequel series House of the Dragon is expected to premiere this summer.

What do you think of the filmmakers’ remarks? Let us know in the comments!