Six years later, Game of Thrones Season 8 continues to be a divisive subject, though one main actor from the show believes that was inevitable. The HBO hit dominated TV in the 2010s, becoming one of the most-watched and most talked-about series of all time. It was also one of the most acclaimed, too, regularly picking up Emmy awards, and with almost every season receiving strong reviews. That, of course, all changed with the final season, where things went awry, the show was more heavily criticized than ever before, and Game of Thrones‘ ending sparked a major online backlash.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Over the years, Game of Thrones‘ cast has expressed mixed feelings on Season 8 and the series finale, understanding some of the critiques while also feeling the backlash went too far. Those sentiments have recently been put forth again by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, whose character, Jaime Lannister, was one of the more controversial aspects of the final run of episodes. Speaking with The Independent, the Danish actor said: “It was expected. How are you ever gonna make an end that’s gonna satisfy everyone? That’s a very difficult thing. I absolutely think people are entitled to whatever opinion they have, but it’s a television show. Someone told you a story and you didn’t like the ending. It’s really annoying, but…”
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Is Right About Game of Thrones’ Ending
Coster-Waldau nails one of the biggest problems that Game of Thrones‘ ending was always going to run into. This wasn’t just TV, and it wasn’t even just HBO either. The series was a true behemoth, the like of which, given the rise of streaming and binge-watching, we may never see again to the same degree. It was a pop-culture monolith; appointment viewing where millions were in the same place at the same time every week, and everyone talked about it the next day. That alone put a huge amount of pressure on the show to keep delivering to the same standard, but this was also a series where the destination was always a major talking point.
“How will Game of Thrones end?” and various derivations of that (such as “Who’ll end up on the Iron Throne?”) drove countless conversations, theories, and thinkpieces for years. Everyone and their mother had a theory on what was going to go down, who’d kill the Night King, who’d rule over Westeros, and everything else. Add in the expectations of quality, and it was absolutely going to be very difficult to please everybody. Coster-Waldau is also right in his suggestion that the backlash went overboard, which isn’t to say the show shouldn’t be criticized, but there was a level of personal abuse at the time that did go too far.
Of course, none of this is to say Game of Thrones Season 8 didn’t have problems, or that it couldn’t have done things differently to receive a better reception. Certainly, the decision to only have six episodes is a choice that, no matter where you stand on things like King Bran or “Mad Queen” Daenerys, feels rather indefensible in hindsight, as the pacing of events hurt it more than anything else. But even if it’d been 10 episodes, or another season, and even if Daenerys and Jon Snow had ruled happily together with their Targaryen incest baby, the stakes of the show and investment in it were so high, there’d still have been a backlash – it just wouldn’t have been quite so bad.
All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are now streaming on HBO Max.
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Paramount+ -
Image courtesy of Seeker Games -
A closeup of a PlayStation 5 with a controller on top.
