Game of Thrones star Michael McElhatton hasn’t watched season 8 because of its bad reviews. Based on the Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin, HBO’s epic fantasy series premiered in 2011 and soon became one of the biggest shows on television, both in popularity and budget.
Blending Lord of the Rings-style sword-and-sorcery and medieval English history, Game of Thrones built its sprawling story of different factions vying for power in a fictional kingdom over the course of seven seasons before climaxing things in an even-more-epic season 8. However, fans were largely disappointed with the way things played out in that eighth season, as the show eschewed nuanced storytelling in favor of expensive effects-laden battle scenes and broad dramatic happenings. Indeed the show’s creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss became the true villains in many fans’ eyes, as they guided Game of Thrones to its divisive conclusion.
By now many Game of Thrones stars have weighed in with their own takes on season 8 and the fan reaction to same. The latest to speak out is McElhatton, who played Roose Bolton on the show until the character was killed off in season 5. Speaking to Express, McElhatton revealed that he was personally so put off by the bad reviews for season 8 that he hasn’t even gotten around to watching it yet:
“I didn't (watch it), you know, I have not seen the final season. I always watched them a little bit later, I absolutely loved them, but I wasn't kind of chomping at the bit to see (the final episodes). And then I guess - I will watch them one day, but it got such negative press, didn’t it? I mean, I just, I was really disappointed. And it's such a shame. But I will watch it someday. But I haven’t, I've seen up to the end of season seven.”
McElhatton went on to argue that Game of Thrones was in some ways a victim of its own success, wondering “How can you be that big and that original and that new for eight seasons?” He added, “Eventually something's got to give. And in a way, maybe it might have been better to finish at seven seasons."
Of course ending after seven seasons was not really an option because Game of Thrones still had so many storylines to resolve at that point. Unfortunately, those storylines arguably needed much more time to play out than was allowed for in season 8’s six episodes. The need to cram so much into six episodes created a sense that everything was being rushed, and some beloved characters were given very unsatisfying resolutions as a result. Game of Thrones also suffered from using up all the material from Martin’s original books by the end of season 5, leaving Benioff and Weiss with much less of a blueprint to follow in wrapping up the story. The more the show’s budget increased, the more the showrunners relied on CGI spectacle to compensate for poor plotting.
Obviously overall Game of Thrones is still considered a classic show, and anticipation is indeed high for HBO’s coming GoT spinoffs. But there is still a lot of fan bitterness over the way things resolved in season 8. And some like McElhatton, who sounds like he did follow the seasons that played out after he exited the show, actually can’t bring themselves to experience the disappointment that came with the final run of episodes.
Source: Express