Game of Thrones finale: HBO boss defends season 8 following backlash from fans
'It was expected that for a show this big, there’s no way you’re going to please everybody'
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Your support makes all the difference.An HBO boss has defended the final season of Game of Thrones.
Despite drawing a record number of viewers, the last six episodes of the show managed to divide fans, with many criticising the writing and Daenerys Targaryen's story arc.
A petition calling on HBO to remake the final season was launched by one disgruntled person, and over a million people signed it.
Casey Bloys, chief of programming at HBO, has since said that they were expecting to divide viewers. He also praised showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss, saying the pair did a "great job".
“It’s always sad when a show departs," he told Variety. "But that’s part of the TV life cycle, and life moves on. But obviously we’re really proud of the show.”
Discussing how the show divided fans, Bloys said: “I think to a certain extent it was expected that for a show this big, there’s no way you’re going to please everybody.
"It’s roughly split with some people loving it and some people disliking it. That’s about what you’d expect. I think the guys landed a massive plane and did a great job doing it.
"But you’re never going to make everybody happy, nor should that be the goal.”
Some fans believed the final season should have had a higher episode count. Questioned about this, Bloys said: “File this under you can’t please everybody.
"The guys have had a very, very specific plan in their head for a long time. This was not something that was kind of slapdash, where at the end of last season we said, ‘Eh, we only feel like doing six.’ They were very, very deliberate. This was well thought out.”
The Independent’s critic called the final episode “misjudged and hammy”, and criticised the finale for “lacking emotional resolution”. Emilia Clarke, whose character Daenerys finally perished during the episode, has said “it was a f***ing struggle reading the scripts” but that the character’s final moments were “very taken care of… it’s a very beautiful and touching ending”.
You can find a ranking of every character – from worst best – here. Flick through the below gallery for our ranking of every episode.
Game of Thrones has come to an end. You can stream previous episodes of the show on NOW TV.
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