1.4 Million 'Game of Thrones' Fans Hated Season 8 So Much They Signed a Petition
Sunday night was tough for some. When the final episode of Game of Thrones aired on HBO, it was a culmination of one of the biggest TV shows of all time, but also the end of a six-episode season that left fans disappointed.
So disappointed, in fact, that one going by the name Dylan D. started a Change.org petition titled "Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers." Before the finale aired, hundreds of thousands of fans had signed. On May 21, after a finale that fans critiqued heavily on Twitter, there were 1.4 million names attached.
Obviously, the petition probably won't do anything; the series was actually very successful, and some critics and fans were satisfied with how it ended. But it's a very visible way for viewers to show their annoyance about a season that has compressed several complicated plotlines and emotionally rich character arcs into just six (albeit longer than usual) installments.
"David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on," the petition reads. "This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen, HBO!"
This head of steam has built over almost ten years of the show's run, and is probably a result of Game of Thrones' unique characteristics. Half of the pleasure of Game of Thrones has been the countless fan theories that have stacked up about its endgame throughout the years (for example: Cleganebowl, confirmed; Arya vs. Cersei, denied). Add to this the fact that millions of people watch the show live simultaneously (17.4 million tuned in to the season 8 premiere), commenting and furiously memeing the events together, and this show of collective fury makes a lot of sense.
Fans have also criticized the development of certain beloved characters' storylines, including Daenerys' swift turn into the Mad Queen, Brienne melting into a sad left-behind maiden when Jaime decided to go to Cersei, and the relative gentleness of villainous Cersei's death by rubble. Then there are the bombastic, seemingly left-field touches that detracted from the central action, like the inexplicable white horse that arrived in the most recent episode; or the less-than-ideal visual choices, like the very dark Battle of Winterfell sequences, which left some straining to see what was happening.
"The story fell apart, the characters became caricatures of themselves-and some worse, unrecognizable-and the world lost the cohesiveness and believe-ability it had maintained previously. Do not mistake this petition as fans who 'don't like the dark turn it took,' since I think this fanbase can handle really dark things," wrote one supporter of the petition.
This post has been updated.
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