Golden Globes 2020: Kit Harington scores lone Game of Thrones nomination

There are always some divisive choices in the Golden Globes nominations list – but this Game of Thrones decision is truly baffling.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Game of Thrones, which used to reliably break award-show records with its high number of nominations, has scored just one measly Golden Globe nod for its final year.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2020: Full list of nominations

In this year’s announcements, Kit Harington was nominated for best performance by an actor in a television series, drama, and will face off against Brian Cox for Succession, Rami Malek for Mr. Robot, Tobias Menzies for The Crown and Billy Porter for Pose.

Harington played Jon Snow throughout the series.

This is an objectively funny choice since Harington’s wooden performance has never been the show’s strongest. Particularly in season 8, his character, Jon Snow, had nothing to do except mope about not wanting to take the throne from his lover-aunt Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), mope about not wanting to kill Daenerys and then mopily kill Daenerys.

Emilia Clarke was killed off by her lover in the finale. Picture: HBO/ Supplied

The HBO juggernaut ended in May to substantial backlash, with millions of fans even signing an online petition to reshoot the eighth and final season. The six-episode final stretch of a once-lauded drama was filled with rushed writing, slapdash plotting and characterisation and baffling choices – not to mention sloppy gaffes such as the infamous coffee cup.

Even so, there are legitimate areas that could have been more deserving of Golden Globe nods — such as directing or acting from performers who actually had things to do. No matter the incompetence of the writing, the season still boasted its typical well-orchestrated action set pieces and excellent performances by Gwendoline Christie, who had the season’s only critically acclaimed moment when Brienne was knighted in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau both didn’t get much to do, as Headey’s Cersei Lannister was resigned to looking out a window all season, while Coster-Waldau’s Jaime Lannister was consummating a love seven years in the making, then changing his mind five minutes later to go die instead. They’ve both been the best actors in the cast for years but have yet to be recognised.

Coster-Waldau and Headey delivered standout performances throughout the series. Picture: Alamy

Clarke got a thankless task trying to make sense of nonsensical writing for Daenerys – but she did an admirable job with what she was given. She had to convey a fan-favourite character turning evil with only facial expressions since the script didn’t give her anything else to work with. This, too, would have made more sense to reward with a Golden Globe nod.

Clarke is deserving of a nomination. Picture: HBO/ Supplied

Instead, the show was shut-out, and only a mediocre performance from its biggest nothingburger of a character was recognised. It’s a ridiculous choice, but since season 8 was ridiculous television, this is oddly fitting.

The 77th Golden Globe Awards will air in Australia on January 6, 2020, hosted by Ricky Gervais.

This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced here with permission