The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. 

Game of Thrones petition to remake season 8 is 'disrespectful' says star Sophie Turner

Turner is 'not surprised' by viewers' criticism of the final season

Clémence Michallon
New York
Monday 20 May 2019 19:30 BST
Comments
Game of Thrones: Bran Stark offered opportunity to rule Iron Throne

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Warning: the story below contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season eight.

Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner has spoken out against a petition launched by fans to remake the show’s eighth and last season.

The actor told The New York Times in an interview published the day after the series finale aired that she finds viewers’ criticism of the show “disrespectful”, especially given the amount of work that went into crafting the fantasy drama’s final episodes.

Game of Thrones’ eighth season has caught significantly more flack than previous instalments, to the point that more than a million people have now signed a petition to give it a redo.

Asked about the backlash, Turner said: “Honestly, I’m not surprised. People always have an idea in their heads of how they want a show to finish, and so when it doesn’t go to their liking, they start to speak up about it and rebel.”

She added: “All of these petitions and things like that – I think it’s disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season. Like 50-something night shoots.

“So many people worked so, so hard on it, and for people to just rubbish it because it’s not what they want to see is just disrespectful.”

An online petition posted on Change.org not long after The Last of the Starks (the fourth episode in the eighth season) aired on 5 May had more than 1.2m signatures as of Monday.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The Independent‘s critic called Game of Thrones’ series finale “misjudged and hammy”, and found that it “lacked emotional resolution”.

Game of Thrones is available on NOW TV in the UK, and on HBO in the US.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in