Game of Thrones showrunners ‘did not expect’  intense series finale backlash

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss reveal that they were not prepared for the backlash from the show’s finale.

Despite dominating the TV landscape for almost a decade, HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones ended on a controversial note as its series finale is regarded as one of the worst of all time.

The series finale garnered so much backlash that a Change petition was drafted to rewrite the show’s ending and received almost two million signatures out of its three million goal.

While most viewers saw this backlash coming as many hardcore fans had started expressing their displeasure at the start of Season 8, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were taken by surprise at how intense it became.

While appearing on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Beinoff reflected on their approach to the Game of Thrones finale stating, “I think we knew it would be controversial. I think we hoped that it would be a little more 50/50. [We] definitely didn’t want it to be quite so much hate. We were prepared for some of it, but, you know.”

Weiss echoed his creative partner’s sentiment adding, “I guess I hadn’t really taken in account the network effects. It’s hypocritical to love it when its blowing in your direction and [then] decide it’s the end of the world when it’s going the other way. I think that’s the part we hadn’t really accounted for in knowing that some people going to like it and some people weren’t.”

While the creators got a lot of heat for their decisions surrounding the finale, the sixth and final episode of Game of Thrones Season 8 destroyed HBO viewing records as 19.3 million viewers tuned in to watch from both HBO’s cable live viewing and through their app.