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Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington shares his candid thoughts on the petition to remake the show’s final season with new writers. After becoming one of HBO’s most popular TV shows of all time, the George R.R. Martin fantasy adaptation wrapped things up in 2019 with season 8, a batch of episodes that didn’t go over well with viewers.
The show’s ending was so divisive that a Change.org petition demanding a re-do of the season with «competent writers,» garnered over 1.8 million signatures. Speaking with The New York Times, Harington, who played hero Jon Snow, reveals that this petition wasn’t something he appreciated. As he explains:
“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.”
Game of Thrones season 8 aired while Harington was in rehab, meaning he wasn’t exposed to the negative reception to the ending until after he emerged. The actor recalls the immense amount of work that creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss – as well as the entire cast and crew – put into making the final season.
Harington points to a battle sequence that took 55 nights to film as one example. According to the actor, he was present for around 40 of these nights.
The fantasy series earned generally positive reviews throughout its run, but season 8 caught flack from critics and audiences alike for storytelling that was criticized for feeling rushed. Unlike the typical 10-episode seasons of the past, season 7 had only seven episodes and season 8 only had six.
On Rotten Tomatoes, seasons 1-7 all had critics’ scores in the 90s. Season 8, however, has a critics’ score of 55%, with the audience-driven Popcornmeter coming in even lower at 30%.
The battle sequence Harington mentions that took 55 nights to film is seemingly the Battle of Winterfell, which takes place in season 8, episode 3, «The Long Night.» Though one of the biggest battle sequences in the show’s history, this episode was widely criticized for not only being exceedingly dark visually, but for wrapping up the threat of the White Walkers and the Night King so quickly.
Harington may not look upon the season 8 petition kindly, but he was still prepared to step back into Snow’s shoes. Harginton and his team were developing a Jon Snow Game of Thrones spinoff show at HBO for a time, but this project has seemingly been put on the backburner for the foreseeable future.
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Instead, the TV world of Westeros has lived on through the House of the Dragon spinoff, which will release its third season later this year. The show has been met with generally positive reception and is expected to conclude with a season 4, likely in 2028.
There is also the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms spinoff, which premieres January 18 on HBO and HBO Max. Though both shows still have years before their conclusions, the reception to Game of Thrones’ ending has already placed considerable pressure on these spinoffs to deliver satisfying finales.
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