Game of Thrones’ final season was controversial and poorly-written. We should have known that the “compacted” season would end up being shambolic for the compressed storylines, but wow, the showrunners really f–ked it all up. Still, the show broke all kinds of audience records and engagement records, and the final season picked up 32 Emmy nominations. So many actors from the show got nominated: Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington in the lead categories; Alfie Allen, Nijolaj Coster-Waldau, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams in supporting and Carice van Houten in the guest-star category. One of The Wrap’s pre-Emmy cover stories is all about GoT, with interviews from the actors. The main interview is with Sophie Turner, who is more reflective on the final season now that some time has passed. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
The craziness with all of the GoT acting nominations: “It’s unbelievable, to be honest. I had just kind of figured, “This is how it goes: Lena will be nominated in supporting and Emilia in lead.” I looked at the list and was blown away by the fact that there were so many of us nominated.
On passionate fans: “The fans are incredible and so loyal, and we love them because of the fact that they’re so, so passionate. I cannot fault them there. But when people were saying that there was no effort, that the writers were terrible … The most effort was put into this final season. We were shooting for an incredibly long time, nearly 11 months. We did the most night shoots anyone has done ever, I think. I felt a little defensive, and I think I’m entitled to feel like that.
Whether she was okay with Bran “winning” the Iron Throne: “I suppose it’s not really the Iron Throne anymore. [Laughs] I think it’s true what Tyrion was saying: Bran holds all of our stories, and we can’t move on unless we remember our history. Daeneyrs had to die. Cersei was a mad queen. Arya is too much of a free spirit. Sansa probably wouldn’t want to rule the seven kingdoms anyway — she wanted to stay in the North and defend the North. I really think Bran might be the perfect person for the job.
Her own dream ending: “I thought Arya would kill Cersei. And I would like to have seen Sansa and Cersei reunited, or Arya and Cersei. But there were so many ways the story could have turned out. I felt very passionately about the ending for Sansa, and I was very happy with the ending that turned out for her.
Whether she’s done crying at the end of GoT: “I think the biggest moment is yet to come, when I really break down. I think it might be at the Emmys, because the Emmys are going to be the last time that we’ll ever see each other, at least as a cast. Or maybe I’ll never really say goodbye. It’s really my family, and because we love each other so much, it’ll be goodbye to the characters but not to each other.”
Sometimes, I can go days without thinking about GoT and then suddenly I’ll remember some sh-tty scene from the final season and it makes me rage-y all over again. Sophie just reminded me of how Cersei’s death SUCKED. God, why did they do that? Why did Cersei suddenly need to become the tragic heroine who used peasants as a human shield? Why did Cersei think that she could outsmart a dragon and a dragon queen? Why did they allow Cersei to die in Jaime’s arms? AWFUL. As for what Sophie says about Bran basically being the only one who really could rule the Six Kingdoms… blah. If Bran’s nomination to leader was put in those “who else will do it” terms, it would have actually been better. But no, we needed Tyrion to tell us that Bran had the best story. *RAGE*
Photos courtesy of HBO/GoT.
Honestly, as I look back at the season, the only thing that still ticks me off is Bran getting the throne. There was NO lead up to that, which I guess was part of the point, it was supposed to be a shock, but there could have been a better explanation that Tyrion and “he has the best stories.” Even saying that Bran is no longer a Stark, and he has no loyalty to any particular house at this point, and he understands history, so he will be a good leader (which I think is basically what Tyrion was TRYING to say) – would have made more sense.
Bran let thousands die horrible deaths by dragonfire.
He’ll be a horrible king.
Bran sat there in his chair and told Theon he was a good man so Theon died for him!! Bran is the worst!
but, I think the writers were TRYING to go for the bit about how he knows history and isn’t a Stark etc. They just….missed.
I get what they were going for, but it still doesn’t make sense . Knowing history doesn’t mean you’ll use that knowledge for good. And not being a Stark anymore just means he’s abandoned the values the Stark family used to stand for.
Though, they seem to stand for “it’s all about getting what I want” now, so maybe he is a Stark.
Maybe Bran didn’t know that Dany was going to go nuts, it didn’t seem like she decided until she did it.
UGH, another comment about everyone worked so hard filming. Sophie, no one disputes that!
At least this time she mentioned writing. I really wish the actors would just acknowledge that more. It’s the writers people are pissed at, not the actors!
I had almost zero problems with the final season except the way that Cersei died, I wanted something more grand for her. But I can see how Bran fits as king, I always thought if was fine. I feel really bad for the actors, I dont know what people expect them to say.
They don’t have to say anything.
Or they can say they’re sorry people are disappointed, but they hope that people enjoyed the journey.
Or they can say they appreciated that fans acknowledge the great work they did while at the same time being disappointed with the end.
They don’t have to get pissy that fans aren’t happy. They should want the fans to be happy.
@Lauren.
These actors worked side by side with the crew member for years, a decade even. They known them by their names, befriended their families etc. Now even though both showrunners are hated by the got fanbase, can u honestly say they shouldn’t get “pissy” if their friends and ppl who they are indebted to are attacked?
If it wasn’t for D&D – no one would even know who Emilia, Sophie, Maise, Kit etc were. They are indebted to D&D.
I hated the end too but Bran wasn’t picked because he personally had “the best story” but because of his ability to GreenSee/double life as the Three-Eyed Raven meant that he had access to EVERYONE’S stories. Remember Bran is literally omnipotent; he can witness any event anywhere on the planet at any point in history, he can enter the mind of any person or animal. He can basically time-travel, read minds, and mind-control people. And he’s more or less immortal.
Whether he still has enough humanity to be able to rule with compassion is another matter.
But isn’t all of that a reason he’s unsuitable? Coming off mad kings and queens and rulers abusing their power, was the best solution *really* to get someone who could mind-control people? Didn’t the last 3ER live a really long time? So basically Tyrion and these fools set someone with an unnaturally long life up on the throne and said, “we will just pick a new ruler when he’s gone.” If Bran lives as long as the previous 3ER, who’s to say anyone will still be alive to remember that they’re supposed to vote for his successor? Bran could go mad with power (or just mad) and who could stop him once he’s on the throne? It’s just more of the same.
I found that the show tried to make Cersai sympathetic several times when in the book they don’t at all. In the first season she cries about a baby that her and Robert lost after it was born, never happened in the book. I did kinda feel bad for her with the whole faith militant thing but that’s just because I hate those religious fanatics lol
I’ve read the books and I agree. I actually suspected she killed that child because it was Robert’s, she mentions it was a dark haired baby
I get that the actors feel defensive of what they made. But the writing in the last couple of seasons got steadily worse the further off book they got. The complexity suffered because D&D were essentially writing ASOIAF fanfiction and no amount of ‘hard work’ by everyone involved was going to save that trainwreck.
The only way Bran works for me as king is if he’s reframed as an evil king. Throughout the seasons, the clues all lead there. He had to be ruthless and unfeeling to survive. That’s Brian’s story, and that’s what shaped him. Anything else is revisionist history.
“Sometimes, I can go days without thinking about GoT and then suddenly I’ll remember some sh-tty scene from the final season and it makes me rage-y all over again.”
This happened to me yesterday! I was so enraged out of nowhere after hearing one of the songs from the show!
Same! And I think Jon should have been king. Even if he didn’t want to at first…it was his responsibility. Ned would have wanted that, too. Weird how Sophie left Jon Snow out of her list of possible rulers.
in the books John comes across as a bastard, of course, but a bastard raised and educated and trained well by his father, the head of a great household. when he goes to the wall his leadership potential is so apparent he’s made steward to the head guy within, I think, the first year. He also has the resolve to make the hard decisions (executions). When the free folk start pouring over the border he has a sensible and compassionate approach in welcoming them and utilizing them to man and repair the various neglected keeps along the wall. The old guard are freaking about becasue “they’re free folk!” but John keeps reminding them, we are the protectors of MEN and the free folk are human. He’s too forward thinking though which is his undoing
Me too. The show was ruined.
I’m surprised that she and the media press for the Emmy run thinks that many people still care. The ending was so horrible it pretty much ruined the rest of the show for me, and it WAS my favorite of all time. I’m not rewatching.
Imma need all of the GOT peeps to stop gaslighting us about that *hitty finale and final season. We KNOW. We SAW it. It SUCKED.
I have the same cycle: not thinking of GoT, then thinking about it and getting angry. I like MISS it. We spent so many years talking about it. If the show had been given the ending it deserved, I probably would regularly rewatch my favorite episodes and probably semi-regularly rewatch the series. But now, it’s like “meh.” The poor ending makes me not invested in the series anymore, even though the vast majority of it really was brilliant.
Anyways. I see Sophie’s point! She’s entitled to feel how she feels about the show. You can tell they all put a lot of work in. The writing certainly isn’t on the actors.
Just because there was a lot of effort in it doesn’t mean it can’t be shit, and in this case it is. Disregarding criticism on the basis of the production had a lot of effort put in is honestly just plain stupidity.
I always have to comment when GOT pops up lol. I was so invested in that show, and I’ll enjoy any interview with all connected with it. And I do commiserate with the actors because of the backlash. It had to suck nasty pelotas reading the script, acting out those scenes which took what probably felt like decades and in subzero temps, then watching it with the rest of the world and then bearing an ongoing negative bomb which continues to get dropped.
That being said, y’all, I needed a show to binge these last weeks of summer and GOT jumped into my brain…almost as quickly as the exciting rush of watching a show I love came, so did the dropped shoulders and heavy sigh of having to relive missed opportunities for proper closure lol! How sad is that?
I’m a little tired of Sophie and her endless bootlicking of Benioff and Weiss.
Her latest superhero movie flopped. Plus there are probably not many GOT actors atm who are ready to regularly cover up for D&D. I mean Lena, Kit, Peter, Emilia checked out quite a long time ago.
It’s really grating on me too because she’s so condescending about it.
Sorry but welcome to the real world Sophie, sometimes no matter how hard you work the job you do sucks or is not well-received, for various reasons, and we all still have to show up every day and do it anyway, and we don’t get Louis Vuitton contracts for it either.
She’s not a very good actress, so if she can get a job in a future Star Wars movie by kissing D&D’s behinds, then I’d say at least she’s smarter than she is talented.
I liked the final season. Some of my most memorable scenes from the entire show are from S8. Yes, the writing got slack but we’ve been prepped from S6 that the story was essentially on fast forward. I turned a blind eye to that and focused on what was good (Melisandre, Arya, Lyanna Stark, the cinematography!) And how does it not make more sense for Jon to end up north of the wall with Tormund?!
Bran as Master of Whispers makes sense. But not King.
I am still unhappy at how they basically railroaded Daenarys. All that build up to her coming back and taking over and then …oh no, she’s ‘mad’, power’s gone to her head…ugh. They took what could have been a heroine for our times and undermined her. And if that is what Martin intends to write…well, that is if he ever finishes his work.
The final season was rotten. Period. I am disappointed with the writers, not the actors. Every plot “twist” ham-fisted. It was a terrible season and I will be avoiding anything else that the people responsible for that rubbish are involved with.