‘Game of Thrones’ Cast Was So Shocked by Final Season Script — Almost Everyone Had Issues with It

The ending of Game of Thrones shocked more than just the fans, it also took the cast by surprise. Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen, opened up to Entertainment Weekly about how she felt when she first read the final season’s script.

The fate of her character upset many viewers, and Clarke admitted that she had a hard time accepting it herself.

When Clarke learned that Daenerys would attack King’s Landing, killing thousands of civilians, and then be killed by Jon Snow, she couldn’t believe it. She had to read the script seven times before it sank in.

After that, she broke down and cried. She even went for a long five-hour walk to process what she was feeling. Clarke said, “What, what, what, WHAT!? Because it comes out of f**king nowhere. I’m flabbergasted. Absolutely never saw that coming. […] I cried. And I went for a walk. I walked out of the house and took my keys and phone and walked back with blisters on my feet. I didn’t come back for five hours. I’m like, ‘How am I going to do this?’”

A couple of days later, during the first table read with the cast, Clarke noticed Kit Harington’s reaction to their final scene together. He also started crying and was just as shocked by how their characters’ stories ended. According to Clarke, Harington couldn’t believe it either.

The Game of Thrones cast reactions at the finale table read pic.twitter.com/Ebdnya6yNB

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It wasn’t just the fans who found the ending hard to swallow—many of the actors had to come to terms with it as well. When the final season was released, Harington spoke about his feelings in an interview.

He said he felt “defiant” about the criticism. “Whatever critic spends half an hour writing about this season and makes their [negative] judgement on it, in my head they can go f*** themselves. I know how much work was put into this … Now if people feel let down by [this final season], I don’t give a f*** — because everyone [working on the series] tried their hardest. … In the end, no one’s bigger fans of the show than we are.”

Harington expected the ending to divide fans and even worried that the last two episodes would be called sexist. He pointed out that both Cersei and Daenerys, two powerful women, fall by the end. “You can’t just say the strong women are going to end up the good people … It’s going to open up discussion … And when have you ever seen a woman play a dictator?” He also shared his disappointment that Jon Snow didn’t kill the Night King but admitted the twist worked well for Maisie Williams’ character, Arya.

Nathalie Emmanuel, who played Missandei, felt heartbroken reading about her character’s sudden death. She said it was painful that Missandei died in chains, just like she had lived as a slave. Emmanuel, who was the only woman of color regularly featured in the later seasons, talked about how the show was criticized for its lack of representation.

She explained that her and Grey Worm’s characters symbolized a lot for many fans because they were so few. Emmanuel wished she had more scenes in the final season, especially with Daenerys or Cersei, to give her character more depth and show her brilliance before dying. She thought this might have made the ending easier for people to accept.

Conleth Hill, who played Varys, told Entertainment Weekly that the last two seasons were frustrating for him and not his favorite. He felt that Varys lost his intelligence and edge, wondering how a character so smart and well-connected could be so unaware of important things. Hill was disappointed not to have a final scene with Littlefinger, his character’s nemesis, or any reaction to Littlefinger’s death.

He also felt the show lost some of its uniqueness after running out of the book material it was based on. Despite his frustrations, Hill wasn’t unhappy with the series overall.

Lena Headey, who portrayed Cersei Lannister, had mixed feelings about how her character died. She would have preferred Cersei to die in a big fight but later appreciated the final scene showing Cersei and Jaime dying together. Headey revealed that a scene of Cersei’s miscarriage was cut from the final episodes.

Sophie Turner, who played Sansa Stark, wished there had been a reunion between her character and Cersei or even Arya and Cersei.

However, she was happy with her own character’s ending. Maisie Williams, who played Arya, said her biggest regret was not having a scene with Cersei, maybe even killing her, “even if it means [Arya] dies too.” Still, Williams accepted Arya’s happier ending in the last season.

Gwendoline Christie, who portrayed Brienne of Tarth, was upset with her character’s story arc. She admitted she had certain expectations based on the books before the show and found some of the writers’ choices hard to understand. Christie also noted that Brienne had been important to her in terms of how women are seen in media and society.

Joe Dempsie, who played Gendry, also expressed disappointment with the finale, as did former cast members Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) and Natalia Tena (Osha). Still, Dempsie defended the showrunners, saying he knew they did not want to ruin nearly ten years of work with a bad final season.

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