Jon Snow actor Kit Harington has responded to the petition to remake Game of Thrones Season 8, seven years after the HBO show ended in controversial fashion. The backlash to Game of Thrones‘ ending endures to this day, with it becoming the leading example of how not to end a popular TV show. From the Mad Queen turn of Daenerys Targaryen, to Bran Stark becoming Westeros’ new king, many of the biggest plot developments were disliked, sparking widespread derision online.
Videos by ComicBook.com
That backlash was so large that, following the series finale, a Change.org petition to get HBO to remake the final season with new, “competent” writers was launched and eventually gained almost two million signatures from dissatisfied viewers. Of course, no remake ever happened, nor was it ever likely to, and the very idea annoyed Harington. Speaking with The New York Times to promote Industry Season 4, he criticized the petition because of how much work the creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, had put into the series:
“That genuinely angered me. Like, how dare you?. Sorry, that’s just how I feel. I think it was a level of idiocy that can only come about through social media.”
It’s Good HBO Didn’t Remake Game of Thrones Season 8
Harington’s anger is understandable. As someone who spent a decade of his life on the show, and worked closely with Benioff, Weiss, and so many others, it’s natural he’d feel some level of protectiveness over it, and especially the idea that it could or should simply be remade because people weren’t happy with the ending. That’s not to say he completely disagrees with all the complaints, but he has a perspective that viewers do not. In 2024, Harington admitted Game of Thrones Season 8 made mistakes, but that they were almost unavoidable:
“I think if there was any fault with the end of Thrones, is that we were all so f**king tired, we couldn’t have gone on longer. And so I understand some people thought it was rushed and I might agree with them. But I’m not sure there was any alternative. I look at pictures of me in that final season and I look exhausted. I look spent. I didn’t have another season in me.”
Like with the recent #ConformityGate theory about Stranger Things‘ series finale (which posited that the ending was fake, and a secret final episode was going to be released), it’s good that HBO did not remake Game of Thrones Season 8. It would be almost impossible to pull such a thing off anyway, especially with the same cast returning: in terms of budget, time, contractual obligations, and so much more, it would not have been feasible, and it also wouldn’t have guaranteed an ending that unhappy viewers actually liked. It also would’ve set a dangerous precedent, which is better off avoided. Failure and mistakes are a part of art (and life), and not everything can have a perfect ending.
For his part, the actor won’t be going back to Westeros. While he did explore a return as Jon Snow for a spinoff show, that ultimately came to nothing as they couldn’t crack the story. More recently, Harington firmly shot down a Game of Thrones return, saying “God no,” and that he is “happy to be done with it.” However, HBO is exploring ideas for Game of Thrones sequels, so it’s not impossible that there will be more story to come after Season 8, with or without Jon Snow.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO Max.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Prime Video -
Image Courtesy of Netflix -
Image Courtesy of MAPPA
