Warning: This article contains spoilers for the most recent episodes of Game Of Thrones.
While it’s had its great moments (shout out to Arya Stark, Night King slayer), it’s fair to say the final series of Game Of Thrones has proven to be one of the most divisive – so much so that there’s a petition for the writers to remake it.
Over 400,000 disgruntled fans have signed a Change.org petition entitled “Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers” after the controversial development in the latest episode.
It saw Daenerys’ decision to torch the city of King’s Landing, along with the innocent people in it, and fans have debated whether this was a betrayal of her characters.
Arya and Gendry’s romance has also been a topic of debate, as has the decision to kill Cersei and Jaime Lannister with a load of falling rubble.
Writing on the petition page, creator Dylan D wrote: “David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on.
“This series deserves a final season that makes sense.
“Subvert my expectations and make it happen, HBO!”
As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had gathered 413,000 signatures.
The TV version of Game Of Thrones overtook George RR Martin’s books quite some time ago, despite the writer being five books ahead of the show when the first season aired.
George has made no secret of his disappointment at the timeline, which left him no choice but to tell the showrunners plot secrets in order for them to finish the programme without any source material.
He was forced to address claims he’s finished the final two books in the series earlier this week, after actor Ian McElhinney (who played Barristan Selmy) was quoted as telling attendees at a fan event that they were done.
Writing on his blog, George labelled the claims he’s finished The Winds Of Winter and A Dream Of Spring as “crazy”, rubbing salt in the wound by adding: “DREAM is not even begun; I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six.” [sic]
He continued: “Why would I sit for years on completed novels? Why would my publishers — not just here in the US, but all around the world — ever consent to this?
“They make millions and millions of dollars every time a new Ice & Fire book comes out, as do I. Delaying makes no sense.
“Why would HBO want the books delayed? The books help create interest in the show, just as the show creates interest in the books.”