Kit Harington Admits GAME OF THRONES' Final Season Was "Rushed" And That "There Were Mistakes Made"

Kit Harington Admits GAME OF THRONES' Final Season Was "Rushed" And That "There Were Mistakes Made"

Game of Thrones season 8, which was also the show's last year on our screens, was met with a resoundingly negative response from fans. Now, Kit Harington has addressed that and his scrapped spin-off...

By JoshWilding - Aug 12, 2024 02:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Game of Thrones
Source: GQ (via SFFGazette.com)

It's fair to say that any TV show is going to struggle to make everyone happy during its final season, but Game of Thrones' last batch of episodes were almost universally despised (so much so, that many fans campaigned for the whole thing to be remade).

The fates of several characters upset longtime fans and Bran Stark being on the Iron Throne...well, that wasn't something it seemed anyone wanted to see. 

In a new interview with GQ (via SFFGazette.com), Jon Snow actor Kit Harington acknowledged the frustration and disappointment people had with season 8, admitting he doesn't necessarily disagree with the criticisms. However, it seems he and everyone else were ready to move on. 

"I think if there was any fault with the end of ‘Thrones,’ is that we were all so f*cking tired, we couldn’t have gone on longer," the actor admitted. "And so I understand some people thought it was rushed and I might agree with them. But I’m not sure there was any alternative. I look at pictures of me in that final season and I look exhausted. I look spent. I didn’t have another season in me."

When we last saw Jon, he'd killed Daenerys Targaryen and been sent back to the Wall. However, with Ghost and the Wildlings by his side, he ventured into the Haunted Forest with them to continue protecting the North from any new threats. 

Adding that "everyone is entitled to their opinion" when it comes to how the show ended, Harington also alluded to his own issues with how things played out. "I think there were mistakes made, story-wise, towards the end maybe. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work."

It looked like there was the possibility of redemption for Jon in a planned sequel series that had been in development at HBO with the working title Snow. We've since learned that it's been scrapped, though now for lack of trying according to Harington.

"What I can tell you is it was HBO that came to me and said, ‘Would you consider this?’ My first reaction was no," he revealed. "And then I thought there could be an interesting and important story about the soldier after the war. I felt that there might be something left to say and a story left to tell in a pretty limited way."

"We spent a couple of years back and forth developing it," Harington continued. "And it just didn’t...nothing got us excited enough. In the end, I kind of backed out and said, ‘I think if we push this any further and keep developing it we could end up with something that’s not good. And that’s the last thing we all want.'"

With that, his time in Westeros has ended but he boarded another major franchise in 2021 with Marvel Studios' Eternals. Despite early plans for him to return as Dane Whitman in Blade, the character hasn't been seen since. 

"I'm not gonna pretend I took that [role] because it was different and interesting. If Marvel calls, you gotta do it," he joked, sharing no new updates on his MCU future.

Let us know your thoughts on these comments in the usual place.

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ItsNotForMeWahh
ItsNotForMeWahh - 8/12/2024, 2:08 PM
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MercwithMouth
MercwithMouth - 8/12/2024, 2:14 PM
As one of the very few people that liked season 8...

I don't know where to go from there.
Nomis929
Nomis929 - 8/12/2024, 3:07 PM
@MercwithMouth - No, I'm with you as well, I thought the last season was a good way to wrap up the show.
MercwithMouth
MercwithMouth - 8/12/2024, 3:21 PM
@Nomis929 - I loved that most of the characters got an ending that they more or less "deserved", as opposed to the ending we wanted for them.
Nomis929
Nomis929 - 8/12/2024, 4:40 PM
@MercwithMouth - I agree.

I guessed that Daenerys would lose it once she got in "power" all the way back in season two. Plue..she is a targarion, they are a bit Crazy.

Cersi And Jamie died together just like that witch told cersi how she die would as a teen.

The Hound, although he died for it, got revenge on his brother.

Tyrion became the Hand of the King again as he was the best at it.

Samwell Tarly was appointed as Grand Maester.

Brienne of Tarth became a kinght and commander of the kingswatch.

Sansi became a queen as she always wanted.

Arya became an adventurer lik she want be as a kid.

And Jon went back to where he felt most accepted at, the "free" folk where being a "bastard" didn't matter.

I honestly never understood the backlash from a lot of "fans" although I suspect it was mostly an internet creation as i saw people saying they were goign to hate season 8 even Before it air due to the shorter season, etc.
Urubrodi
Urubrodi - 8/12/2024, 5:11 PM
@Nomis929 - Where the characters ended was not the problem, how they got there was. The execution was rushed. It needed at least one more season to wrap things up properly.
TheLight
TheLight - 8/12/2024, 5:40 PM
@Nomis929 - "I honestly never understood the backlash from a lot of "fans" although I suspect it was mostly an internet creation as i saw people saying they were goign to hate season 8 even Before it air due to the shorter season, etc."

The fact that that's your takeaway as to why people, including myself, didn't like season 8, then your view in my opinion is extremely limited. It was a rushed affliction. Many of the storylines that were opened by different characters in previous seasons that would've connected to S7 and S8 to give it more ground and fulfillment were cut out and never brought up again not to mention all of the characters pretty much de-evolving into stick figures of what they used to be, Jon Snow being one of the most heavy of fatalities. I read all of the books and watched the show and S8 was extremely disappointing to me.

If you like season 8 cool for you, but don't claim that the backlash was strictly an "internet creation".

TheLight
TheLight - 8/12/2024, 5:40 PM
@Urubrodi - Exactly.
99OPTIMISTPRIME
99OPTIMISTPRIME - 8/12/2024, 2:22 PM
But was it rushed? Wasn't there like a one or two year gap in-between Seasons 7 and 8? I think the writers just choked. Tried to play around too much with subverting expectations, and screwed up.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 8/12/2024, 2:39 PM
@99OPTIMISTPRIME - it's, because they didn't know sh!te after Jon was killed, well they guessed right who are his parents, but you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to "guess" that.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 8/12/2024, 2:40 PM
@RegularPoochie - and I meant that's the only reason that Martin let them even do the show, lol.
Ziggidy7
Ziggidy7 - 8/12/2024, 2:28 PM
Yes yes we get it already. Goddamn.
TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 8/12/2024, 2:34 PM
I don’t care. I enjoyed the entire series.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 8/12/2024, 2:36 PM
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Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 8/12/2024, 3:01 PM
Biggest fumble ever.

For me, even bigger than the SW sequel trilogy.
Nomis929
Nomis929 - 8/12/2024, 3:09 PM
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DianaGohan
DianaGohan - 8/12/2024, 3:32 PM
Okay controversial opinion here but quite frankly... Jon Snow should have died after "Mother's Mercy" and STAYED DEAD. Yeah I know know "oh but what about the battle of the bastards and that whole romance he has with Daenerys?" Like sorry but isn't like a lot of the appeal of a story like Game of Thrones about a more realistic fantasy world where not only can death happen at more random moments you don't expect but you don't GET do overs and that dead is dead? It feels like bringing him back cheapens that or makes him feel like this more chosen hero which feels like it's going against the point of this story. So you know if Kitt didn't have anything in him he really shouldn't have come back after 5 and they shouldn't have bothered focusing on his story. And before you say "but what about all the other directions it could go into" well that's true for a lot of GoT characters but that didn't stop them from dying did it?
TheLight
TheLight - 8/12/2024, 5:43 PM
@DianaGohan - Would you be saying that if it was Daenerys?
Fares
Fares - 8/12/2024, 3:49 PM
I know this sounds crazy but I'm just spitting out random thoughts here. Do you think it would make any financial sense to remake the last couple of GOT seasons with the original cast and all?

Like, would that grab the world's attention to such a level that it becomes a logical thing to contemplate?

I mean if the metrics suggest that it could very well be a profitable venture and a good business move for the long-term health of the GOT franchise, isn't it worth thinking about?

I imagine that a Song of Ice and Fire will be adapted again sometime in the future, and hopefully when it happens, George will have completed the story, but I don't see that being soon enough to not seriously think about the idea I'm presenting.

I don't know, if I sound crazy, tell me.
ItsNotForMeWahh
ItsNotForMeWahh - 8/12/2024, 4:07 PM
@Fares - Just make it an animated series in a few years. Get Beau on it
Ojeet78
Ojeet78 - 8/12/2024, 3:58 PM
Rhaegal and Drogon surviving an Ice Dragon and wight ridden battle (in complete darkness) only for Rhaegal to quickly fall to a bunch of scorpions from the iron fleet was the metaphor for the quality of season 08.
RitoRevolto
RitoRevolto - 8/12/2024, 4:15 PM
The first mistake was HBO buying the tv rights to a set of unfinished books from an author who wasn't releasing the books on a steady schedule and is (sorry GRRM) old as [frick].
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/12/2024, 4:45 PM
I don't think it was that rushed, just that both last seasons should've been 10 episodes each to give it a tiny bit more breathing room.

Still, Jon and The Wall was my favourite storyline and would've liked to see more of that. Indeed not much to do though, so maybe a movie at best could work.
Moriakum
Moriakum - 8/12/2024, 5:12 PM
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TheLight
TheLight - 8/12/2024, 5:49 PM
We know Kit, we know.

Even you admitted it yourself.



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I will never forgive what S7 and onward did to my boy.

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