Actor John Bradley from Game of Thrones says he hopes fans will reevaluate the divisive series finale. Bradley played Samwell Tarley on the popular HBO series from author George R.R. Martin and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. Game of Thrones ran for 8 seasons on the network, creating one of the most talked about shows of all time that ended on an especially controversial finale that divided fans over its outcome. The eighth and final season was a shortened one, clocking in at just six episodes compared to the usual ten, causing a stir over having enough time to complete the saga.
Starring Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, and Rory McCann, Game of Thrones is based on "The Song of Ice And Fire" series by Martin, which tracks the fictional world of Westeros and the nine kingdoms at war with each other over "The Iron Throne." The adult-themed drama series was well-known for its shocking moments, especially "The Red Wedding," which is still referenced today as one of the most horrifying scenes in a TV show. Bradley's character was a member of the Night's Watch, a group of men who guarded The Wall, a giant ice wall that was built to keep out a group called The Wildlings, as well as the powerful enemy known as The White Walkers.
While speaking to Variety on their podcast Just For Variety, Bradley is asked about his response to Game of Thrones fans who weren't happy with the finale, saying that he hopes fans will reevaluate it sometime after the "wounds have healed" over their disappointment. He also addresses the accusations that showrunners Weiss and Benioff simply "didn't care" about the show anymore by the time they got to the final season, saying, "If [Weiss and Benioff] didn't care, they wouldn't choose to be standing in a field in Belfast at 3 o'clock in the morning for months on end. They wanted to make it as good as possible, and it’s a shame if people didn’t like it because we did try our best to make something very special.” Bradley also address the fandom at large and how Game of Thrones became impossible to please everyone with the finale, saying it "meant too much to people for them to ever be satisfied." Here's Bradley's full quote on the topic:
"It is highly unlikely that we were ever going to please everybody. Chances are we were going to please a fraction of people. We almost couldn't win. It almost meant too much to people for them to really ever be satisfied. And who knows, when the wounds have healed a little bit in a few years' time, maybe people will reevaluate it and be able to see it as a complete thing."
Since Game of Thrones, Bradley appeared in an episode of the British show Urban Myths and is now set to make his venture back into features with Roland Emmerich's Moonfall, starring Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry, as well as Marry Me with Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. This year will see the return of Game of Thrones in the form of a prequel series called House of the Dragon, which takes place 200 years prior to the events of the original series and stars Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Milly Alcock, and Paddy Considine.
Bradley makes a good point about Game of Thrones meaning so much to fans that a satisfactory conclusion was always near impossible. With so many threads being pulled and so many storylines to wrap up, it's always difficult to accept the final fate of beloved characters, especially after spending eight years with them. While the finale will continue to be debated, there's a good chance that Bradley's hopes will come true, as there are sure to be fans who rewatch the series at a later date and come to terms with how it all played out. Of course, it could go the opposite way as well, with fans being even more disappointed, but in the end, Game of Thrones captured the cultural zeitgeist, for better or for worse, and kept people entertained, enthralled, shocked, and dismayed for eight seasons. Hopefully, House of the Dragon can reclaim even a fraction of that attention if the Game of Thrones mythos is to live on.
Source: Variety