Conleth Hill (Varys) was “frustrated” by the final two seasons of Game of Thrones

The general narrative around Game of Thrones goes something like this: for years, it was among the hottest things on TV, the rare show that was both incredibly high quality and incredibly popular. Then, at the height of its success, that quality started to falter and finally collapse in the final season, resulting in a vicious fan backlash.

I think that narrative is over-simplified — the final couple seasons had redeeming qualities just as the early seasons had problems; and based on the success of prequel series House of the Dragon, enthusiasm for the show clearly hasn’t gone away — but it’s a plausible reading. I definitely had my criticisms of Game of Thrones season 8, many of which came down to, “This feels rushed.”

You get the idea that some of the actors feel this way too, although most of them haven’t said so openly. That’s where Conleth Hill, who played Master of Whisperers Varys for all eight seasons, breaks the mold.

Conhill Hill: “I thought I’d done something wrong” after reading final Game of Thrones scripts

Speaking to The Times, Hill was honest about his feelings regarding the last couple seasons of Game of Thrones. “I felt that last series was a bit rushed,” he said. “I was inconsolable, but now I’m fine about it.

"I thought I’d done something wrong. Right up until the last two series, I had no complaints at all…I just felt frustrated with the last couple of series because Varys wasn’t the all-knowing character he had been."

It’s true that Varys seemed to have a bit less to do in the final two seasons than he did before. That was true of a lot of characters as the show entered its home stretch. It did seem to me that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss were a bit too eager to wrap things up. It felt like they flattened the show out a bit as they rushed towards the finish line, even though HBO reportedly wanted to make more episodes. Hill may be alluding to that when he says, “I think the writers wanted to do one thing to end it and the studio HBO wanted to do another.”

Conleth Hill (Varys) was “inconsolable” over Game of Thrones season 8

When HBO was rolling out the final season, they released video of the Game of Thrones cast and crew assembling to read through the scripts for the final season. One clip of Hill went viral among fans: as they’re reading Varys’ death scene, Hill places his script on the table and sinks into his chair, arms folded. The interpretation was that he was frustrated with what he was reading.

I don’t usually like to engage in much armchair psychology — like, okay, maybe he didn’t like the script, but maybe lots of things; maybe he was hungry, maybe he was sleepy, or maybe that’s just the way he looks and there’s nothing wrong with it — but after hearing Hill say he was “inconsolable” for a while over season 8, I’m inclined to think he might really have been ticked here.

You can currently see Hill on his TV show The Power of Parker, where he plays the title role (with a full head of hair).

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h/t Express