SPOILERS for Game of Thrones.
Aaron Rodgers is famous for being the Green Bay Packers’ quarterback, and for dating some famous ladies too. But did you also know that Aaron Rodgers was a Game of Thrones superfan? “Was” not “is.” He was such a fan of the series that Weiss & Benioff gave him a tiny little cameo in the penultimate episode, “The Bells.” As it turns out, Aaron Rodgers isn’t just a vapid jock either – he has major questions about the GoT finale, which he did not like at all. Honestly, I love that Aaron thinks this way:
Aaron Rodgers is not happy about the “Game of Thrones” ending. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the Green Bay Packers quarterback-turned-GoT actor revealed he didn’t appreciate Bran Stark being the character to claim the Iron Throne in the TV show’s very hyped series finale.
“I love the show and it was a great 10 years … but no,” he said. “You come down to the end and Tyrion says the person with the best story is Bran? Who, by the way, three episodes ago said he wasn’t Bran Stark anymore. No, Jon had a better story. Daenerys had a better story. Arya had a better story, Sansa had a better story, Tyrion had a better story, Varys had a better story. Bronn, lot better story. Jaime, better story. Cersei, probably better story. Any Baratheon … probably better story.”
“I think Daenerys probably should have been on the Throne,” he said. Of course, he also had a theory he was happy to share. “If Bran, the Three-Eyed Raven, who’s all about the health of the realm … let’s think about what he did: He basically wanted the throne the whole time because he’s the one who told the Starks, knowing that Sansa would tell Tyrion, knowing Tyrion would talk to Varys, knowing they’d scheme for Daenerys’ death, knowing that would piss her off, which led her to be the mad queen. So he, the entire time set this whole thing up? And at the end he goes, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be king, but why’d I travel all this time to be here?’ ”
While Rodgers is far from alone in his displeased reaction to the “Game of Thrones” finish, he can understand why things went down the way they did in Westeros.
“I love the show, but the writers were also doing Star Wars,” he said, “so I think they might have been a little busy this last season.”
YES. This is the whole Bran-the-Broken conundrum, which we discussed yesterday: what does Bran know about the future, and what situations does he manipulate? If Bran knew that Tyrion would ask him to be king – which Bran’s “Why do you think I came all this way?” implied – when did Bran know that and did he orchestrate Dany’s “madness”? Did Bran know that Dany would kill everybody in Kings Landing and he let it happen? I like that Aaron is all “Justice 4 Dany” too – Dany got such a raw deal. Bran, Tyrion and Jon basically used her to get Cersei off the throne and then they orchestrated her murder by justifying it with “she’s crazy, y’all.” Basically, I think I’m an Aaron Rodgers stan now???
Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.
But what would be the GoT fan World without discussions and disagreement 😉
I’ve always been an Aaron Rodgers stan. I didn’t need his opinion on GoT for that.
Well, I see his overall point – the line about “who has a better story than Bran” was kind of dumb* and the part about “why do you think I came all this way” was also kind of dumb, because it made people think “did Bran orchestrate the whole thing?” (which I think is a dumb theory, but it comes from dumb dialogue, so there you are) – but he’s wrong about one big thing. Bran is not the one who told Jon or the other Starks about his heritage. Bran thought Jon was a bastard. Samwell is the one who figured out that he was legitimate. Remember the whole, “his name is Jon Sand, not Jon Snow,” and Sam is like no its not, and Bran says “bastards from Dorn are called Sand” and then Sam fills him in. Sam is also the one who tells Jon. So that part of Aaron’s theory is out the window, so to speak.
*I think part of that was supposed to be that Bran has ALL the stories, but Tyrion did specifically mention falling from a tower and surviving
Bran saw Jon’s birth.
Yes, but Bran thought he was still a bastard. Sam is the one who tells him that the marriage between Rhaegar and Ellia (is that her name?) was annulled and that another marriage was performed. Sam is the one who told Jon about his heritage, in the crypts, after Dany told him she killed his father and brother.
Yes, Bran only goes to “search” or whatever it is that he does, after Sam told him who Jon was
Bran told Sam that now is the time to tell Jon about his parentage, so Bran orchestrated the timing of that which was right when Sam was pissed with Dany since she had killed his father and brother. Hmm… now I wonder what was going on with Bran and how much did he orchestrate it. There was also a theory that Bran may have been in the mad king’s mind hence the king’s repeatedly saying burn it all, probably because somehow Bran showed him the vision of the Knight King.
Bran insisted Sam tell Jon, immediately. Bran told Sansa and Arya. Bran saw Rhaegar and Lyanna’s wedding in his visions. He was active in this. Just because he didn’t have the original “aha!” moment doesn’t mean he wasn’t active in it.
I didn’t say he wasn’t active, but Aaron’s point was actually wrong. Sam still could have said “no” and not told Jon.
His point was that Bran did manipulate this. He’s right. Why would Bran insist that Sam tell Jon and not himself? Because he knew Sam was upset over his family, and that Jon would trust him.
Quick correction to your point. Yes, Sam also found out the truth but it was Bran who insisted Jon know – and that Sam would tell him – before the battle against the NK. There was no logical reason to share that information then, not when they needed the alliance with Dany and someone with Brans knowledge would be fully aware of the impact it would have on her. I would have been so much better with the way the show ended if Bran was shown to be a villain because so much would have made sense, rather than “well I guess they did this because they needed the plot to work out a certain way”.
I love the people that are like, “Bran planned the whole thing!” Just…no. We saw Bran repeatedly mention, much like Jon, that he didn’t want it. His, “why do you think i came all this way” was a quip, which is essentially what Bran’s dialogue had been reduced to in the last few seasons. (See: “you’re a man now” “almost” and a ton of other lines i don’t remember, but he’s definitely been quite dry with his humor this season) Additionally, it doesn’t make sense in the lack of scope we have about Bran’s powers, and arguably him being king is a terrible thing when you can see all of the possible futures and make a decision for, oh i don’t know, an innocent man to be wrongly executed sparking a war of 5 kings in order to get the outcome you want. It doesn’t make sense.
And y’all, D&D are not that good. And if you really think that, well, bless you. I guess we all need something to make sense of this mess.
They used her to get rid of Cersei AND the night kings army and they never gave her any respect.
yea nooooo im not going to (white)wash Dany into innocent blonde maiden who got tricked by the dirty men thing…..
Dany could have actually LIBERATED kings landing…instead she incinerated innocent people who didnt get a chance to select or reselect their allegiance….she just “CERSEI -in CO LOPPED OFF MY BFF’s HEAD and HURT MY DRAGON –F YAL” which is not the way.
Dany is awful and honestly always has been she likes title and blind allegiance even in her unnecessary brutality.
I really wanted tyrion to die…. he’s been a schemer who thought he was better than varys but pretty much a snakier varys…..and to see that Jon was in jail for what weeks or months and Tyrion COMES OUT HAND OF THE MONARCH AGAIN i literally screamed at the tv GTFOH
and aaron forget also that not only were the showrunners busy with starwars THEY ALSO were busy trying to REIMAGINE slavery with the CONFEDERATE ….smdh
We know we never had a say. But we’re allowed to disagree with it and discuss our reasons why/what we’d prefer yeah? Plus the season just ended so people want to get in their feelings. It was fine to talk about GOT constantly and theorize when everyone was positive and things were possible, but now that it JUST ended, people need to shut up?
I’m not as upset about the ending as some online, though I vented about it for a good half hour with my roommate. I also just started watching last month so my disappointment pales in comparison to those waiting 2 years for it to end. I will say if there’s still this level of vitriol or vocal dissatisfaction in a few months, then it’ll be ridiculous like the Star Wars stuff. But for these next few weeks after the finale, it’s okay for people to vent imo.
I think its okay for people to vent, but some of the venting feels more like attacking of others who have different opinions, and then those people attack back, and it gets kind of heated. You see it just in these comments. It’s a TV show. I don’t mind how it ended, I wish they had an extra two episodes, but just because people view it differently than you doesn’t mean they are “wrong.” (that’s not just to you, that’s just how I feel in general. Overall I liked the last season, but I feel like if I say that people act like I’m dumb lol.)
I don’t get why people forget that yes it’s a tv show but it’s also a book series that we’ve been waiting for the ending for the story of for decades.
It’s a cultural watershed whether people want to dismiss it or not.
@Maria but the book series didn’t end with the tv show, did it? we’re talking about the TV show, which DID end. there’s still books to come – the books have not ended and you are still waiting on that ending.
@Olive- we are unlikely to get the books at this point. Maybe the Winds of Winter, but not the rest.
I would assume this will be the only ending. I hope I’m mistaken.
GRRM is 70 and a very slow writer at this point, with other projects ongoing as well. I can’t imagine he’ll live to write the last book. It’s been almost 8 years since the last book, with no release date announced for the next one.
You know the writers f*cked up when random celebs can riff actual character development better than they can on the show. But I’m sure they were too busy with Star Wars to put in effort…
This ending could have been done so beautifully…..had there been another season.
What we got was the rushed, lazy, sloppy, fast forwarded (and convoluted to the point of absurdity in order to make everything go faster) version. It’s a shame such a great cast and crew were wasted on this.
Totally.
I have read somewhere the actor who played Varys was sorry he hadn’t the chance to turn a scene where Varys reacts to the news of Littlefinger death. That would have been AMAZING. Personally I was waiting for Varys and Tyron reactions to that news, when they all were in winterfell. But no. There were so much details that has not been treated.
Agree – some amazing scenes were skipped, mostly when characters learned important information, because they were rushed and maybe too lazy given the work that would have had to go into those dialogues.
Because everyone is talking about it, and I live with men and football, I’ll read a quick response from some player. He sounds just as butthurt as anyone else because their player didn’t win. Any one of us could, can, make a fine argument for any character’s rise to royalty. We could! I have no doubts. Cripples, bastards and broken things were on tap throughout the saga and that’s what’s left. And Stark retribution.
Ugh – of COURSE Aaron Rodgers would be a Bronn fan. Sorry, he was a cutthroat (an entertaining one, but a cutthroat), who was basically thrown into scenes at the end and had no impact other than making jokes because the audience liked him. And his last scene was the joke of all jokes – signed, someone who has tried so hard to at least see what they were trying to do. I do agree with him that their Disney deal made them rush to end this project.
Also, I still can’t believe the new King’s name is Bran the Broken! Really? Would mine be Original Jenns the Farsighted? Also, his name is Brandon. But I’m guessing the writers forgot that?
In that case, mine would be Delphi the Neurotic.
Sorry Aaron ~ GO BEARS!!
you know the showrunners and set team aint GAF because there were those major gaffs like the starbucks cup and jaime’s two full hands… let alone they 1.25 (never really 1.5 or 2 hour) episodes that WAS NOT WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY PROMISED.
i was like oooooo wow they really are phoning it in.
If a quarterback manages to offer a more interesting, well-thought theory for what was going in this season then actual screenwriters of the show it tells us how much they failed.
He speaks no lies.
I’m a huge football fan (and have been a lifelong Packers fan) so I have long been obsessed with Aaron. OMG I have to go back and look for the cameo! <3
I LOVE the State Farm ad he’s in with the dog!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_nO82KBYqk