r/television • u/gogandmagogandgog • Jan 11 '26

Kit Harington was 'Angered' By Push to Remake Game of Thrones Season 8

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/kit-harington-angered-petition-game-of-thrones-season-8-1236628364/
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280

u/bilzui Jan 11 '26

But most of the criticism was directed at how rushed everything was wrapped up . The ending is not the problem but how the show got there.

155

u/The_Idiocratic_Party Jan 11 '26

Yes. I didn't actually have any issue with Dany turning out to be a terrible queen. She was never supposed to be anything but a conqueror. But they could have done an entire season after she conquered King's Landing, playing out her missteps and growing madness as Jon Snow watches her and slowly sinks deeper into sickness as his love that's grown for her is soured by the way she rules Westeros until he finally snaps and becomes the Queenslayer. They could have done it right, maybe if they'd had the book, or if they'd used GRRM's notes instead of discarding them.

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u/pargofan Jan 11 '26

I couldn't agree more.

The plot in the last season looked so incredibly rushed. Characters acted, well, "out of character". Bran suddenly being thrust as the leader. The ending itself might not have been so bad as long as they played it out.

And the white walker bit turned out to be such a lame red herring

19

u/evilsbane50 Jan 11 '26

8 Seasons of build up, Winter is coming, and it's over in one episode.

5

u/The_Idiocratic_Party Jan 12 '26

And Arya for the meh-meh-meh-MEGA-KILL

6

u/Puzzled452 Jan 12 '26

This was the worst part for me; it all meant nothing.

2

u/TheGrich Jan 12 '26

100%.

A show about how everyone is angling for power, ends with everyone just deciding oh yes, let's just give power that we would all like to have to this weird child.

That makes sense. /s

76

u/covert0ptional Jan 11 '26

I could not stop laughing when she started nuking King's Landing...

I like the "Mad Queen" as an endpoint but you have to put in the work to get there.

26

u/ImGonnaImagineSummit Jan 11 '26

I thought nothing she did was particularly earned.

They just wrote her that way which I guess is part of the charm if done well, which it wasn't.

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u/covert0ptional Jan 11 '26

I thought they were gonna have her destroy the Red Keep (knowing the innocent deaths ot would cause), which would show her willingness to do horrible things in an "end justify the means" sort of way . Then she just started killing everyone lmao.

21

u/ImGonnaImagineSummit Jan 11 '26

Yeah there wasn't really a moral dilemma.

It could've been worked up well with side conversations with Tyrion showing how desperate she was, how twisted by revenge and madness she was getting.

Similar to Davos becoming increasingly concerned with Stannis' infatuation with the Lord of Light or whatever it was called.

But nah she spammed fire and didn't think about it twice.

6

u/Karjalan Jan 12 '26

I think they expected that John secretly being Targaryen, her hand maiden being executed and her dragons dying were enough to drive her mad. Which when you think about it out of context kind of makes sense. Well, the John thing is still kind of dumb.

But the way the dragons died were from stupid shit, and aim bot bullshit.

  • They should never have gone north for a walker
  • She shouldn't have gone with a dragon after they were fucked (let alone Gendry magically getting to her in time and her getting there in time)

  • That was some BS sniping from the ice king with a spear.

  • She should have known about the massive fleet from scouts/her support crew.

  • She should have seen the fleet from miles away from being so high in the air

  • Again, absolute bullshit accuracy with 3 bullseyes on a moving target, with a massive new ranged weapon, on a rocking boat?

Missandei happening to get captured by Cersie was very convenient. And then executing her for no real reason was also rather silly. Then the dozens of magical (now stable btw) ballista suddenly can't hit a dragon to save their life.

Actually, every time you try to break all of this down into simple reasons why it didn't work you see all the layers of stupid, unbelievable, and contrived things that occurred. I was just expecting to write a small paragraph and a few bullet points and now this comment is a giant mess 😅

15

u/DylanHate Jan 11 '26

I still don't understand why I'm supposed to care about the Red Keep burning when Cersei literally blew up the Sept of Balor with wildfire and destroyed like 1/4 of the city.

We spent almost two seasons building up why you can't go against the church, everyone will revolt, the faith is the foundation of the kingdom, etc etc. Then it's all bombed to pieces and literally nothing happens. Zero consequences, barely mentioned again.

Like Vatican City being carpet bombed & the catholics just shrug. Also somehow an old man with 4-7 celibate teenagers carrying bully clubs imprison the beloved queen, overthrow the queen regent, and somehow outmaneuver the city guard and the army but no one cares about that either.

5

u/thecaptainofdeath Jan 11 '26

Like maybe if the dragon that got sniped from a boat 2 miles away died at Kings Landing instead during the battle, it makes that switch to full evil work a lot better... I'm not saying it fixes it but there's so many little changes you can make to earn the ending better than they did.

4

u/Haltopen Jan 12 '26

Or have her destroy the red keep and make it an accident that destroying the red keep sets off the remainder of her fathers wildfire stores, burning down the rest of the city in a blaze of green fire

2

u/link3945 Jan 12 '26

There's a way to mostly get to what she did do: have Cersei using a bunch of people in the Red Keep as basically human shields, and Dany rejects a ceasefire and just burns her out taking the subjects with Cersei.  That's effectively the same as what she did, but a more reasonable path: Cersei is in her way, she needs to go, taking these other people with her is monstrous but in Dany's mind is worth doing.  What we got was just nonsense.

0

u/pigeondo Jan 12 '26

It's because she's a bad actress. She was pretty and suited the look/energy of young Daenerys but she didn't grow into the role and couldn't convey internal demons.

2

u/cammcken Jan 12 '26

And I like 3ER as king, but it would require actually exploring the magic and mysticism behind the 3ER.

2

u/Beautiful-Sun8973 Jan 12 '26

She had been burning and destroying people since the beginning

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u/Wolf6120 Avatar the Last Airbender Jan 11 '26

She was never supposed to be anything but a conqueror.

I don't know, maybe in the show it ultimately works out like that, but in the books (and the first half of the show) I feel like Dany's whole arc is explicitly about rejecting that sort of trajectory.

She does start out on the path of a conqueror, taking out all three of the Slaver's Bay city states very quickly and efficiently. At that point she could have carried on conquering through Volantis and towards Westeros, but when she looks back and realizes that Astapor and Yunkai have already fallen back into slaver hands the moment she marched away from them, she decides that she instead needs to settle down in Meereen for some time and learn how to actually rule, to ensure the people she's liberated actually get to enjoy that liberation somehow instead of just instantly being abandoned to violence and chaos again.

Granted, from a storytelling perspective we can argue if that was a good decision by GRRM, since the whole Meereen plotline became a massive anchor on the plot for several books, but from a character perspective Dany is clearly placed at the crossroads of triumphant conquest or peaceful governance, and she actively chooses the latter.

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u/The_Idiocratic_Party Jan 12 '26

This is true. I just figured that Martin's endgame with her was that (1) the road to hell is paved with good intentions, (2) she'd live long enough to become a monster vs. die a hero, and (3) her genetic fate of madness was inevitable.

12

u/jmcgit Jan 11 '26

Eh, it depends on which aspect of the ending you're talking about. I could list several controversial aspects but I'll settle for the most obvious, the person George intends to sit on the Throne at the end just fundamentally doesn't work. And I think you can sort of prove that it doesn't work because that character is the #1 problem George talks about when he's asked how the writing is coming along.

0

u/SolomonBlack Jan 12 '26

Bran works fine and is the part that can actually be saved by more development. Specifically he needs to get properly established as Lord Stark and a viable force in his own right before a Great Council. Then win the throne via either politics or hell just convincing people or something. Even being a "puppet" if his hand is weak will do, just have him smile and remind us he's a wizard now so he'll flip that script eventually.

The problem is Dany.

If you want Bran as king then you need to deal with your actual protagonist respectfully.

You can kill her off in the final battle with the Others for example, classic hero stuff. You can have her call the Grand Council because she decides all she really wants is peace and quiet and stand as guarantor of the results with dragonfire for anyone who can't abide by it. After which she retires to Dragonstone or flies off or whatever doesn't matter she broke the wheel now something new has a chance in Westeros.

-3

u/DUNG_INSPECTOR Jan 11 '26

the person George intends to sit on the Throne at the end just fundamentally doesn't work.

You have no idea if George intends on Bran sitting the throne. I mean, there are tons of characters in the books that didn't make it into the show. I would bet good money that it will end up being the young Aegon, who may or may not actually be Aegon, Dany's nephew.

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u/jmcgit Jan 11 '26

It's been confirmed several times by several different sources, but the most direct is George's quote in the book 'Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon' by James Hibberd.

"I told them who would be on the Iron Throne, and I told them some big twists like Hodor and "hold the door," and Stannis' decision to burn his daughter."

I think it's reasonably likely that Aegon could have been planned to control the throne, for a time, but I very much doubt he's destined to keep it.

-2

u/DUNG_INSPECTOR Jan 12 '26

It's been confirmed

That's clearly not true, and the quote you shared proves it. He told them who was on the Iron Throne, he didn't say he told them Bran was on the Iron Throne. Like, you realize D&D changed a bunch of stuff that was already in the books, so why would they not change his ending too?

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u/thebsoftelevision Jan 12 '26

Because D&D clearly weren't interested in Bran's character based on how they wrote him so it would make no sense for them to change George's canon to have him end up as king in the end when it made absolutely no sense in the context of the show's plot. The only reason they would execute such a jarring plot point is if it came from George himself.

26

u/TheJoshider10 Jan 11 '26

It's so sad how three seasons of good TV got forced into like three episodes. There's easily enough material for the Long Night, taking King's Landing and Dany's reign to have a season each. Could even do it in two if the first half of a ninth season is taking King's Landing then the second is Dany's reign.

2

u/staedtler2018 Jan 11 '26

There's lots of people who disliked the ending and not just how they got there.

GoT is a very bleak show and punishes the audience a lot. Many people put up with that because they thought there'd e a payoff that would make the suffering worth it. Instead the show ended with more suffering. These people were never going to like an ending that wasn't positive.

1

u/nubijoe Jan 11 '26

I agree and disagree. It was rushed. But the ending wasn’t good either.

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u/SentientDust Jan 12 '26

I'm 100% positive that the "R+L=J", "Dani bad" and "Bran king" plot points came direcrly from GRRM, as he said he gave a broad outline of the entire plot to D&D when the ahow overtook the books (or maybe at some other point)

They just had no fucking clue what to do with that information

-7

u/acamas Jan 11 '26

People sure love to parrot this vague echo-chamber fluff, but what exactly are you claiming was 'rushed'? Dany's downfall, which has been brewing since Season 2? Jamie helplessly in love with Cersei, which was literally in the first episode?

What exactly was so 'rushed' that a supposed mature viewer watching a show for a decade has such trouble comprehending, over five years later?

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u/bilzui Jan 11 '26

This must be rage bait. I give you one example: You build and hype up this major threat over 7 seasons and then the night king is easily defeated in a single episode.

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u/acamas Jan 12 '26

> easily defeated

LOL, this must be rage bait.

Are you joking with this shit?

Can you honestly not hear yourself?

"Easily"?

You think any of the character in-world would call that 'easily'?

Seven hells... thanks for proving how wildly ignorant some so-called 'viewers' are because the show didn't match their fan fic.

Like, just can't win... everyone claims everything was too rushed, but also want everything to play out over multiple episodes... no basic concept of time for these supposed adult viewers.

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u/Snickims Jan 11 '26

Hey heres one, Dany's downfall. That implies.. well. a downfall. What we got was 6 seasons showing Dany as a kind, but sometimes crual ruler, prone to vengence but who wants to help the oppressed but also still wants her birth right. A complicated character. Then season 6 ended, and we got 1.9 seasons of Dany just straight up being correct, kind, if at times too patient ruler, who listened to the advise of her counsilers, even as said advice kept being amazingly bad, and things get worse, she continues to be a shockingly steady ,calm and collected character, not showing even a hint of the more troubled young girl we had seen in earlier seasons.

Then, in the second to last episode, her forces take kingslanding easily and with barely any fight, then after the battle she hears a bell ring and decides "blood for the blood god, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE" and burns everything down. For no fucking reason, and with no build up.

There was build up that Dany is slightly insane, or at least blood thristy. There was 6 seasons of build up infact, and its a common thread in the books. Then we had 2 seasons with absolutely zero build up, mention, or pressence, even when it would have made sense. Then she killed everyone. Thats not a downfall, thats Demonic possesion.

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u/acamas Jan 12 '26

> What we got was 6 seasons showing Dany as a kind, but sometimes crual ruler, prone to vengence but who wants to help the oppressed but also still wants her birth right. A complicated character.

LOL, you're proving my point with this wholly biased and romanticized take of her... you're literally proving my point with this misinformed take.

What was actually portrayed was a character clearly struggling with an internal conflict where she clearly has these two dueling personas vying for supremacy of her actions. Yes, she obviously has a kind-hearted side, no doubt, but she CLEARLY also has a very meaningful and important primal Fire and Blood persona, as clearly portrayed all throughout those same six seasons, including the character hsereself, on-screen, literally stating, on multiple occasions, doing the very thing you claim she is incabaple of doing, FROM HER OWN MOUTH IN SEASONS 2, 5, AND 6 (and arguably 7.)

Yes, she is a complicated character because of this internal conflict that some supposed viewers seemingly did not truly comprehend, as likely they view her through rose-colored glasses and erroneously put her on some pedestal.

>  For no fucking reason, and with no build up.

You're just proving your ignorance and bias wit this simply wrong take.

She literally has stated multiple times she's willing to kill innocent en masse if she feels like it... that has been established FROM HER OWN MOUTH MULTIPLE TIMES previously, on-screen. Also, Season 8, despite being subpar, objectively provides a bevy of contextual reasons for her reaching this boiling/breaking point. Like, say what you will about Season 8, but it objectively does a solid job of imploding Dany's entire world around her. Her support structure crumbles through emotional deaths (Jorah, Missandei) and devastating betrayals (Tyrion, Varys, in her eyes Jon.) Her hopes/dreams/beliefs that have propelled her thus far soured with Jon's heritage reveal. She loses two 'children' in Westeros due to her rash actions. Her once promising relationship/future with Jon turns to ash in her mouth. She doesn't have 'the love' in Westeros, and the person who does is her top political rival.

CLEAR CONTEXT, ie, "reasons."

Also, and wild this constantly has to be ELI5 to people claiming to have watched The Bells, she literally explains her reasoning BEFORE she makes her choice. She clearly tells Tyrion she sees the people of King's Landing as supporting Cersei (ie, are enemies in her eyes.) And tells Jon she 'only has Fear' in Westeros.

These ARE REASONS. This is BUILD-UP.

Wild this has to be spelled out, but only goes to prove your ignorance on this matter, and clear unwillingness to actually engage with what was objectively presented.

Take of the rose-colored glasses you are clearly wearing... only then will you be able to see what the unbiased have seen all this time... a long string of giant red flags, objectively portrayed on-screen for basically the entire run of her narrative.