Game of Thrones showrunners 'surprised' season 8 got so many Emmy nominations
HBO show received backlash from fans over its hurried final season
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Your support makes all the difference.Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have finally broken their silence after they were criticised for hurrying the ending of the HBO show's final season.
Despite the negative feedback heaped upon season eight, the show earned a historic number of Emmy nominations, including Best Drama and 10 nods in the acting categories – recognition that Weiss called "surprising".
He told Japan's Star Channel: ”I did not know that we expected... in my mind, I thought the last season would have been the peak, and that we would have ended up with a couple less [nominations] at best.
"I felt very happy for our team of people. Each [nomination] made us feel really proud of them because we know first hand how hard they work."
The duo also commented were recently set to appear on a Thrones panel at Comic-Con, but pulled out at the last minute.
Some of the show's cast, including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and Conleth Hill (Lord Varys) were there, and defended the final season to jeers from the crowd.
Not every cast member expressed happiness with how the show ended, though. Lena Headey, who played Cersei Lannister, revealed she had mixed feelings over how her character's story ended.
Benioff and Weiss, who are currently working on a new Star Wars trilogy, recently signed a lucrative $200m deal to make future projects exclusively with Netflix.
This year’s Emmys take place on 22 September. Find a full list of nominations here.
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