We are more than a year removed from the rollercoaster ride that was the final season of “Game of Thrones.” The last episodes of the series aired at a time when the entire world seemed excited about what HBO had up its sleeve for the ending of a nearly 10-year epic. But to say fans were disappointed in the final season would be an understatement, as each passing week presented an episode that seemed to be more and more upsetting. This led to an eventual petition for HBO to redo everything and pretend the final season didn’t exist. Obviously, despite a huge number of signatures, that didn’t happen. But one of the series’ stars thought the whole petition was pretty “hilarious.”
Speaking to Variety, Jamie Lannister, errr, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, talked about the finale of “Game of Thrones” and specifically the controversial final season. And while the actor was diplomatic with his views of the ending, he did think it was a bit ridiculous to try to petition a network to redo the finale. In fact, it was so ridiculous, he almost wanted to join in on the protest.
“Obviously, I heard about it. I was aware of the petition for a new ending, which I thought was hilarious,” the actor explained. “I almost wanted to donate to that petition. HBO saying, ‘You’re right, so many people want it, we’re going to do it.’ I think everyone had their own opinion.”
He continued, “I find the world of fandom really interesting. Everyone wanted something specific and different from what they got. It’s a combination of — you imagine an ending; but also, I think if you’re a hardcore fan, it was really upsetting that it ended. You lived with this for eight seasons. There is still a massive community dedicated to ‘Game of Thrones.’ I think there was a real fear that was going to go away. It had to end.”
As for his own thoughts on the finale, and his character’s fate, Coster-Waldau isn’t quite ready to dissect it. And he believes that fans should probably wait longer before rendering final judgment.
“It was great. It was fine,” he said. “How do you end that story? Let’s talk about this in 10 years, then you can talk about it. But now, I think it’s a little too recent.”
If you’re sad “Game of Thrones” isn’t returning and the spin-off seems to be perpetually delayed (thanks in part to COVID and the fact that HBO has changed course a number of times on what direction it wants to go in), you can see Coster-Waldau in the upcoming film, “The Silencing,” which arrives on VOD today.
