Game of Thrones brought its massive eight-season saga to an end in May, and to call it "divisive" would be a massive undersell. A lot of people were disappointed by the final season as a whole, and Daenerys' foreshadowed-but-abrupt decision to roast King's Landing will likely go down as the most polarizing twist in the series' history. As it happens, however, the two creators of another popular series are not among those upset by Game of Thrones Season 8. Rick and Morty creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland weighed in.
Dan Harmon, who made headlines last year for an offensive sketch that resurfaced online, revealed that he "was afraid to watch it" at first because he didn't want it to end, then shared his feelings once he did watch:
I knew it had to end, and I was as satisfied as I possibly could be watching a staple in my life wrap up and all of the characters taking each other out. As a showrunner, I was amazed at the amount they were able to accomplish — especially given the meta-reality of having run out of books to adapt. Watching The Hound fight The Mountain on the stairs, I was like, ‘This is all great, man.’ I was aware of the disappointment factor with [Daenerys Targaryen’s] dark turn. I’m not going to say fans are too cynical and ungrateful, but I guess I did just say that.
According to Dan Harmon's comments, fans are the ones with the problem rather than the show. His acknowledgment that the show had to deal with a big problem when it ran out of books to adapt is one noted by a lot of fans, but not all agree with Harmon that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss accomplished something truly remarkable once they struck out on their own.
Good for Dan Harmon that he's such a fan! Viewers can probably all agree that Game of Thrones Season 8 looked great (when it wasn't too darkly lit to see anything), at the very least.
Dan Harmon didn't state that he was 100% thrilled with the eighth season, but "as satisfied as I possibly could be" isn't a bad endorsement! As for Rick and Morty fans, they don't have to worry about that show's final season any time soon since it scored that massive renewal. Of course, more than a year has passed since one of the co-creators said that big breaks between seasons aren't going to be an issue, and Season 4 has yet to happen, so...
Rick And Morty Season 4: What We Know So Far
But what of Dan Harmon's Rick and Morty co-creator, Justin Roiland, and his feelings about Game of Thrones Season 8? The sauce-loving Roiland, who's had a weird new Hulu show in the works, went on in the chat with EW to say this:
I echo all of Dan’s sentiments about the show. Structurally, I think it was great. I just selfishly wanted more episodes. I wanted to get to those plot points at a slower pace. I didn’t want it to end either. I wished it was stepped out over three more seasons, or three of four more episodes.
Justin Roiland's words about Game of Thrones Season 8 are less glowing than Dan Harmon's, and they actually echo the feelings of a lot of fans who were fine with the plot twists but simply wanted the show to have spent more time getting to them.
If there were more episodes or seasons, as Justin Roiland suggested, then perhaps "The Long Night" could have been longer, Dany's descent into Mad Queen territory could have been more nuanced, and the finale might have had higher stakes. Alas, we'll never know what could have been. Maybe Roiland's commentary suggests that Rick and Morty fans won't face the same issues in that show's final season, even if that's quite a long way off!
The fourth season of Rick and Morty is on the way to Adult Swim, but you may want to check out our summer TV premiere guide for some options sooner rather than later. Rick and Morty Season 4 won't debut on Adult Swim until November.
