It wasn't the proudest day in the history of Westeros. Thousands of people took to Facebook Live on March 9 to watch the premiere date for Game of Thrones season 7 be revealed. But instead of the simple announcement people were expecting, fans were treated to the sight of a slowly melting block of ice and were asked to type the word "Fire" into the comments repeatedly in order to make the ice disappear faster and show the premiere date.

Perhaps the melting ice stunt would have been a great idea if only the execution had not been plagued with problems. So many people flooded the Facebook page that it crashed several times, leaving fans in a state of suspense that quickly boiled over into annoyance. Eventually the premiere date of July 17 was shown, but not before earning plenty of mockery online.

As it turns out, Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff were among those who found the whole melting ice reveal a little underwhelming. As reported by The Daily Beast, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau mentioned a discussion he had with Weiss and Benioff about the March 9 reveal:

"I spoke to Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] about that and they were like, “Oh god… That’s embarrassing.” Everyone was like, “What’s going to happen?” “What’s going to happen?!” “It’s melting!” “It crashed!” “Oh my god!” It’s like, just walk away… just walk away. It’s just a date! You know, I was actually thinking, “Is there going to be a backlash and people will think, ‘F— you guys for that!’” but that’s really happened with every time the show kills off a major character: Never again! F— you! I’m never going to watch this show! and, you know, they keep coming back."

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones

Since its debut in April 2011, Game of Thrones has found itself consistently generating controversy, usually for some development within the story. The first major backlash was felt when popular character Ned Stark met a sudden and gruesome death before the end of season 1. More controversy ensued when the show pushed the violence envelope with its horrific and bloody Red Wedding massacre, a sequence that claimed the lives of several fan favorite characters.

Controversy of a different kind occurred when Game of Thrones ended its fifth season with a cliffhanger that left viewers in suspense as to the fate of Jon Snow. While the melting ice stunt may not have riled fans as much as the Jon Snow cliffhanger, it still left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.

Next: Game of Thrones Season 7 Effects Are Bigger & More Visually Complex

Game of Thrones season 7 premieres Sunday, July 16 @9pm on HBO.

Source: The Daily Beast