Although his character was long dead, Charles Dance continued to watch Game of Thrones through to the end, and like many fans, he had some issues.
Are the floodgates finally opening? First, we had Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) joke that he “almost” wanted to sign the infamous petition calling on HBO to “Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers,” which gained steam after the series finale disappointed a lot of fans and has nearly 2 million signatures as of this writing. Now, Coster-Waldau’s onscreen father Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) has taken it a step further.
Speaking to PopCulture.com, Dance (who actually didn’t know about the actual petition) was blunt: “If there was a petition, I would sign it.”
"I mean, I saw it. I continue to watch the whole series even after I’d been killed off in the lavatory. Because I just thought it’s a fantastic television show, you know? I was very lucky to be part of it. I loved it; there were storylines [where] I wanted to know what was going to happen to these people! I know that the finale satisfied a lot of people. It also disappointed a lot of people, and I’m afraid I am in the latter camp."
Of course, Dance was also quick to credit Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who received a ton of blowback after the show ended. “I think David and Dan raised the bar when it came to television screenplay writing,” he said. “They are phenomenal. And for the whole thing to end up as a committee, I just thought, ‘Hmm, no.’ I would say I was somewhat underwhelmed by.”
By that, we assume he’s referring to the ending where a group of lords and ladies elected Bran Stark king and resolved to choose the rulers of Westeros from there on out. Clearly, Dance wasn’t the only fan who found that less than satisfying.
Of course, it’s unlikely a petition is actually going to result in HBO doing anything, but hey, it was big enough for HBO programming chief Casey Bloys to respond. “The petition shows a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the show, but it wasn’t something we seriously considered,” he said not long after the series finale aired. “I can’t imagine another network would.”
Still, I wonder if we won’t see more people involved with Game of Thrones criticize the ending as the years go on. From the start, Dance has never been shy about voicing his disappointment, but he was already off the show for years when it ended. For others, I imagine it’s still a bit too close, and indeed, many have come out in defense of the divisive ending. Who knows what some distance will bring?
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