Game of Thronesweathered someserious criticismover the course of its final season — and according to actorNikolaj Coster-Waldau, it weighed on some of his costars.
Speaking on a panel at aGame of Thronesconvention in Nashville over the weekend, the actor, who played Jaime Lannister, said the cast discussed the “intense” online criticism over a group chat.
“Every season has been intense in terms of the attention and discussion, but it was extraordinarily intense for a final season,” he said, according toThe Huffington Post. “And we have this WhatsApp group, the actors, and I saw some people getting a little upset because some of the stuff is vicious, and if you make the mistake of [starting to read] all that s— … because if [the fans] get really angry about something ― I’m sure you did, some of you ― so you write to each other and go, ‘F—ing a–holes. This is so not what would happen! They ruined, they butcheredGeorge [R. R. Martin]‘s world!’ It’s just fun for you, but of course some got a little upset.”
The eighth and final season of the HBO show was criticized forediting mishaps,dimly lit battle scenesand what some fans argued wererushed storylines. The series finale, in particular, faced some of theharshest backlash, prompting viewers tolaunch a petitioncalling for the final season to be remade with different writers. The petition, launched onchange.org, racked up over 1.6 million signatures.
Helen Sloan/HBO
Coster-Waldau, 48, isn’t the firstGame of Thronesstar todefend the final season.
“People always have an idea in their heads of how they want a show to finish, and so when it doesn’t go to their liking, they start to speak up about it and rebel,”Sophie TurnertoldThe New York Times.
“All of these petitions and things like that — I think it’s disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season,” continued the 23-year-old actress, who played Sansa Stark. “Like 50-something night shoots. So many people worked so, so hard on it, and for people to just rubbish it because it’s not what they want to see is just disrespectful.”
Isaac Hempstead Wright, whose character Bran Stark ultimately prevailed as King, called the petition “absurd.”
“I can’t even fathom it. It’s just ridiculous,” he toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “It’s ridiculous that people think they can just demand a different ending because they don’t like it. I have stupidly taken it quite personally, which obviously I shouldn’t. In my opinion, it’s a great ending.”
“I think no matter what anyone thinks about this season — and I don’t mean to sound mean about critics here — but whatever critic spends half an hour writing about this season and makes their negative judgment on it, in my head they can go f— themselves,” the actor toldEsquirein April.
Harington, 32, also pointed out how hard the cast and crew had worked over the past decade.
“I know how much work was put into this. I know how much people cared about this,” he said. “I know how much pressure people put on themselves and I know how many sleepless nights working or otherwise people had on this show. Because they cared about it so much. Because they cared about the characters. Because they cared about the story. Because they cared about not letting people down.”
source: people.com
