The grand saga of Game of Thrones wrapped more than a year ago after eight seasons, and the finale will likely go down as one of the most divisive in TV history. Some fans were so unhappy with how the series ended that a petition to remake Season 8 began circulating and gaining traction after the finale aired and revealed how the surviving characters' stories ended. Now, Game of Thrones' Charles Dance weighed in on how the show ended, and it turns out that he too was disappointed.
Speaking with PopCulture.com, Charles Dance revealed that although he hadn't heard about the petition to remake Game of Thrones Season 8, he "would sign it" if there was one. The venerable actor, who played Tywin Lannister from the first season until he was killed off at the end of Season 5, elaborated on how he felt about the ending, saying:
I mean, I saw it. I continue to watch the whole series even after I'd been killed off in the lavatory. Because I just thought it's a fantastic television show, you know? I was very lucky to be part of it. I loved it; there were storylines [where] I wanted to know what was going to happen to these people! I know that the finale satisfied a lot of people. It also disappointed a lot of people, and I'm afraid I am in the latter camp.
Charles Dance was mostly full of compliments for Game of Thrones, and most fans would likely agree that the show was fantastic in its heyday. That said, as somebody who kept watching even after he was no longer part of the show, he still counts himself as among those who were disappointed with the finale, and seemingly not just because there was only one Lannister left standing when the final credits rolled.
The finale definitely delivered some twists that weren't going to please everybody, ranging from Jon killing Daenerys to the Starks all going their separate ways to "Bran the Broken" becoming King of the Six Kingdoms. Throw in the fact that the finale came at the end of the shortest season of the entire series that had to wrap the threat of the White Walkers in the North and the fight for the Iron Throne in the South, and perhaps it's not surprising that even Game of Thrones stars might not be diehard fans how of how everything ended.
Charles Dance credited showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss for their work on Game of Thrones, but also revealed what about the finale really rubbed him the wrong way:
I think David and Dan raised the bar when it came to television screenplay writing. They are phenomenal. And for the whole thing to end up as a committee, I just thought, 'Hmm, no.' I would say I was somewhat underwhelmed by [it].
The actor didn't hold back from sharing his thoughts on how the show ended, and he evidently would have signed the petition! Of course, a remake of Season 8 was never going to happen, even before HBO finally addressed the petition, and more cast members have spoken up in defense of the final season than criticizing it.
Nathalie Emmanuel, who played the ill-fated Missandei, stated that fans "can’t ask for receipts on art," while Carice Van Houten, a.k.a. Melisandre, thinks fans are ungrateful. As for Gemma Whelan, whose Yara Greyjoy actually survived to the end of Game of Thrones, she thinks fans have the ending all wrong. Even Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's comments about wanting to sign the petition came across as more joking than what Charles Dance had to say.
For now, Game of Thrones fans (including Charles Dance) can always hope that the Targaryen-centric prequel will be less disappointing. Called House of the Dragon and based on George R.R. Martin's history of the Targaryen dynasty, the project should be pretty different from Game of Thrones, and not just because there will probably be even more incest with more Targaryens in the mix!
If you're in the market for some new shows in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our 2020 fall TV premiere schedule.
