Kit Harington Has a Charged Message for ‘Game of Thrones’ Fans Over Series Finale Reaction

Kit Harington has been around the block or two and could predict that Game of Thrones‘ final season would divide fans with its controversial twists in the last two episodes and had a message for them.

Warning, Spoilers for the Game of Thrones Series Finale Follow!

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published after the finale, but done during production, Harington predicted that the final episodes would be controversial because of Daernerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) apparent change in personality.

“I think it’s going to divide. But if you track her story all the way back, she does some terrible things. She crucifies people. She burns people alive. This has been building,” Harington told the magazine. “So, we have to say to the audience: ‘You’re in denial about this woman as well. You knew something was wrong. You’re culpable, you cheered her on.’”

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were criticized by fans for their writing in the final season, especially for “The Bells,” in which Daenerys killed innocent people in King’s Landing. That set-up the series finale, in which Jon Snow (Harington) killed Daenerys after realizing she would likely never stop fighting wars, and that Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya (Maisie Williams) would forever be in danger.

Harington also feared the final episodes would be considered sexist, a critique the show has faced almost since the beginning because of its treatment of female characters. He thought people would attack the show because both Danys and Cersei are killed. But he was quick to point out that both of them are not good characters.

“The justification is: Just because they’re women, why should they be the goodies? They’re the most interesting characters in the show,” Harington told the magazine. “And that’s what Thrones has always done. You can’t just say the strong women are going to end up the good people. Dany is not a good person. It’s going to open up discussion but there’s nothing done in this show that isn’t truthful to the characters. And when have you ever seen a woman play a dictator?”

While Cersei and Dany did not survive the Game of Thrones, Sansa did. She became the leader of Winterfell and The North, which chose to remain a kingdom independent from the rest of Westeros, which will be ruled by her brother Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright). Arya also survived, but she chose to go beyond the final frontier of Westeros to see what is out west.

Harington’s prediction that the final season would divide proved to be correct. Since “The Bells” aired, a Change.org petition calling for the entire final season to be remade passed 1.1 million signatures.

“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,” the viral petition reads. “This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen, HBO!”

Photo credit: HBO