Duncan Lay: Are Game of Thrones fans still upset over the finale one year on?

The controversial end of Game of Thrones copped plenty of criticism but one year later, are we able to look back with a little more perspective and appreciate the ending a little more? Duncan Lay asks if fans will ever be satisfied.

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It’s hard to imagine that, just one year ago, we were preparing for the final season of Game Of Thrones. Still, these days, it’s hard to imagine that only a few weeks ago we were wondering which movie to see at the cinemas.

Of course, the final season did not exactly end on a triumphant note. The surprise, controversial finish copped plenty of heat and there was even a petition signed by more than a million fans to reshoot the final season and try something different.

So, one year on, are we able to look back with a little more perspective and appreciate the ending a little more?

For many people on Team Dany or Team Jon, who spent eight years desperately hoping their hero would end up on the Iron Throne, the answer is certainly no.

But does that just prove we are all a fickle bunch, who are never satisfied?

Fans were outraged neither Daenerys nor Jon Snow made it to the Iron Throne. Picture: HBO

The final Star Wars gave us the wish-fulfilment ending. All the boxes were ticked and all the “hero’s journey” character arcs were completed. And yet the fans screamed as if someone had stuffed an angry Porg down their pants.

GoT spent years trying to subvert traditional expectations but when it doubled down on that for the ending, it found itself about as popular as the guy who asked the band to play Rains Of Castamere at a Stark family reunion.

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This reminds me of the Will Smith film I Am Legend, based on a book of the same name. It was smashed after its release for dramatically changing the book’s ending to take out the big twist.

In the book, Smith’s character discovers the “vampires” see him as the baddie, because he
has been slaughtering them for years and they hate and fear him. To him, he is the monster.

The film tried to include this shocking twist — but test audiences hated it, so they filmed an alternate ending that had Smith as the hero. Which real audiences then hated.

Perhaps if they had not gone for dubious CGI vampire/zombies and instead used real actors, maybe we could have accepted their “humanity” more and thus agreed with the book ending.

Then again, the test audiences were American, a nation whose major contribution to cinematic nuance was to put baddies in black hats and heroes in white ones.

But anyway, back to GoT.

You could say it was a victim of its own success. The outstanding earlier seasons left us demanding an even better climax. Brilliant was not good enough. We wanted more.

So, can a major series ever come up with an ending that will shock, surprise and still show us most of the characters getting the ending they deserve? Well, Avengers Endgame managed all of that.

Maybe GoT should have made Jon Snow’s suit of armour magically able to fly, Gendry’s hammer capable of summoning lightning and The Hound’s shield impervious to every weapon.

Now there’s an idea for a Season 8 reshoot. They could even call it Endgame Of Thrones.

Although, sadly, we know who will end up the winner this time. The copyright lawyers.