NFL athlete Aaron Rodgers became the latest celebrity to criticize Game of Thrones' final episode. After eight seasons, HBO's sprawling fantasy epic officially came to a close. Members of the cast have since gone on to post their emotional farewells to the show, including Gwendoline Christie, who played Ser Brienne of Tarth. George R.R. Martin, who authored the books upon which the series was based, also penned a touching tribute. Fans, however, have been passionately divided about the finale, as well as season 8 as a whole. Some even went as far as to sign a petition begging HBO to remake season 8 without showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Titled 'The Iron Throne', the series finale saw the characters dealing with Daenerys' decimation of King's Landing. After talking with Tyrion Lannister and his sister Arya Stark, Jon Snow made the hard decision to kill his former lover before she had a chance to inflict her increasingly bloodthirsty dominance upon the rest of the world. The rest of the episode saw the remaining characters seek to decide who instead of Daenerys to be Westeros' new ruler. At the behest of Tyrion, a council of Lords and Ladies voted in favor of Bran Stark taking on the responsibility. The decision was a huge shock to many fans...and not in the same, positive way Game of Thrones has previously managed to shock - with many people, including the likes of William Shatner, expressing their disappointment.
In a recent locker-room interview, as posted by WISN 12 News on Twitter, Rodgers was asked whether he was satisfied with the ending to the show. The response from the Green Bay Packers' quarterback was swift and blunt. "No!" he said, to a round of laughter. "I love the show and it was a great ten years...but...but no!" Rodgers then went on to convey the reason for his dislike for the ending, focusing exclusively on the decision for Bran to be named King. "You come down to the end and Tyrion says the person with the best story is Bran?! Who, by the way, said three episodes ago that he wasn't Bran Stark anymore? No!" You can check out the full interview below, in which Rodgers lists everyone he believes had better stories:
Rodgers is clearly no stranger to the world of Westeros - in more ways than one. The athlete actually had a cameo in the show's penultimate episode, titled 'The Bells', which saw Daenerys Targaryen descend fully into madness and massacre the entire city in dragon fire. The fact that, despite playing a victim of Daenerys' rampage, he still wishes Dany had ended up on the throne is a surprising one. Then again, he wouldn't be the only fan who believed the character (played by Emilia Clarke) was mishandled at the end. He also wouldn't be the first to suspect that Benioff and Weiss had prioritized their upcoming Star Wars project over the show.
Whether one believes that the show concluded perfectly or indeed fumbled the ball is obviously subjective and a matter of opinion. Rodgers certainly makes a lot of good points, however, especially regarding the overall trustworthiness of Bran. In either case now, though, there is little that can be done except rant. Game of Thrones is officially over, for better or worse, and no petition is going to change things. All fans can do now is wait and see whether the in-development prequel heed any lessons there are to be learned. And hope that the still-to-be-completed books offer a more widely more satisfactory conclusion.
Source: WISN 12 News