Game of Thrones finale tops divisive poll with nearly 200k votes

The Game of Thrones finale is back in the cultural discussion as it managed to take the top spot of a poll ranking the worst TV finales ever.

Game of Thrones was once seen as one of the greatest television shows ever, as it allowed audiences to immerse themselves in the drama, bloodshed, and royal succession found in the Seven Kingdoms.

However, Season 8 gained a reputation for allowing the show to go downhill, with the finale being the breaking point for a lot of fans.

It seems like the wound of the series finale has not healed for many people. Ranker asked people to vote on which TV finale was the worst of the worst and, in a poll of nearly 200,000 votes, Game of Thrones took the crown.

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The final episode of Game of Thrones, ‘The Iron Throne,’ is the lowest-rated episode of the series, with a score of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes.

While there’s no one reason why the finale didn’t sit well with audiences, some key factors have emerged since it debuted five years ago.

Some point to the mishandling of certain characters like Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, and Tyrion Lannister as they went from fan favorites to shells of their former selves.

Others blame showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for rushing the final season as it only contained six episodes, the lowest amount in the entire series.

George R.R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones, famously disagreed with Benioff and Weiss’ decision to cut the show short and went so far as to beg for the show’s continuation to then-CEO of HBO Richard Plepler.

However, despite audiences not liking the overall content of the final episode, Game of Thrones’ series finale did manage to break its own viewing stats, as over 19.3 million viewers tuned in to watch it live.

The franchise as a whole has been given a chance at redemption as its spin-off, House of the Dragon, continues to enthrall audiences to the point where people can’t wait for its upcoming Season 2.

For more Game of Thrones, take a walk down memory lane with the episode Jon Snow dies in, read about how a new Game of Thrones spin-off can solve one of the series’ biggest mysteries, and check out our guide to the best dragons in Game of Thrones.