Game of Thrones Star Blames Media for Final Season Backlash at Comic-Con

The backlash against the final season of Game of Thrones was severe, especially after the series finale on HBO. Fans criticized the episodes for myriad reasons, from characterization of their favorites to how dark some epic battles were. But one star has his own idea of why the final season was so poorly received.

Appearing alongside fellow cast members for a Game of Thrones reunion at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Varys actor Conleth Hill blamed the media for leading a campaign of hate against the series.

“You look at the amount of people who are here, and we’ere here to thank you for watching us all those years,” Hill said during the panel. “We were never divisive as a cast, we didn’t fight among each other, we always did our hardest work and crew for you, and so we’re very grateful for your fandom over the years. And I think that this is the reality, rather than a sort of media-led hate.”

While there were quite a bit of critical drubbings of Game of Thrones from various outlets, Hill himself also admitted that he wasn’t a big fan of the final seasons during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“As a whole it’s been overwhelmingly positive and brilliant but I suppose the last couple seasons weren’t my favorite,” Hill admitted. “I can’t complain because it’s six great seasons and I had some great scenes these last two seasons. But that’s when It changed for me a little.”

The backlash to the final season has been immense. Actors of the series did warn people in interviews before it premiered that Game of Thrones‘ ending would prove divisive, and it’s shown.

Petitions have launched imploring HBO to redo the final season, and another has requested Lucasfilm fire showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss from their planned Star Wars series of films.

There’s even speculation that Benioff and Weiss backed out of this very Comic-Con panel at the last minute because of fan backlash, though that’s not exactly clear at this time.

To his credit, Hill did speak out reluctantly on his character’s death, but still praised the storytelling of the series.

“I took it very personally,” Hill told EW. “I took it as a person, not as an actor or an artist. I understood the reactions of previous actors who had been in the same position a lot more than I did at the time. You can’t help feeling that you failed in some way, that you haven’t lived up to some expectation that you didn’t know about. The only thing that consoles you is people who worked a lot harder than you are in the same boat. So that helps. I don’t think anybody who hasn’t been through it can identify with it. They think, ‘What’s all the fuss about? You’re all finishing anyway.’ But you take it personally, you can’t help it.”