The Game of Thrones finale is well known for receiving a frosty reception from fans, and Tyrion Lannister actor Peter Dinklage thinks he might know why people were rubbed up the wrong way by it.
When the season eight finale premiered in 2019, vengeful fans banded together to create a Change.org petition calling for the whole season to be redone which, to this day, has received over 1.8 million signatures.
Dinklage addressed GoT fans' ire in a recent interview with The New York Times.
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The actor said: "They wanted the pretty white people to ride off into the sunset together.
"By the way, it's fiction. There’s dragons in it. Move on.”
Harsh words from Tyrion.
He continued: “No, but the show subverts what you think, and that's what I love about it.
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“Yeah, it was called Game of Thrones, but at the end, the whole dialogue when people would approach me on the street was, 'Who's going to be on the throne?' I don't know why that was their takeaway because the show really was more than that.
“One of my favourite moments was when the dragon burned the throne because it sort of just killed that whole conversation, which is really irreverent and kind of brilliant on behalf of the show's creators: 'Shut up, it's not about that.’
“They constantly did that, where you thought one thing and they delivered another. Everybody had their own stories going on while watching that show, but nobody's was as good as what the show delivered, I think.”
Dinklage then had some controversial opinions on why he believed fans disliked the ending as much as they did.
He said: “I think the reason there was some backlash about the ending is because they were angry at us for breaking up with them.
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“We were going off the air and they didn't know what to do with their Sunday nights anymore. They wanted more, so they backlashed about that.
“We had to end when we did, because what the show was really good at was breaking preconceived notions: Villains became heroes, and heroes became villains.
“If you know your history, when you track the progress of tyrants, they don't start off as tyrants. I'm talking about, spoiler alert, what happened at the end of Game of Thrones with that character change.
“It's gradual, and I loved how power corrupted these people. What happens to your moral compass when you get a taste of power? Human beings are complicated characters, you know?”
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Dinklage believes it's best the series concluded when it did, as he said: “It was the right time. No less, no more.
“You don't want to wear out your welcome, although I'm not sure that show could have.”
I think, by the end, many Game of Thrones fans would beg to differ on that one.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Game of Thrones, TV and Film, Celebrity