‘Game of Thrones’: Sophie Turner Slams ‘Disrespectful’ Fan Petition

Sophie Turner remarked on the fan petition to remake Game of Thrones Season 8 on Monday, calling it “disrespectful” the folks who worked on the show.

Turner gave an interview with The New York Times after the finale aired on Sunday, discussing the mixed reaction to the final season. She even addressed the Change.org petition to re-do the entire season, which now has well over a million signatures. To Turner, true fans would not disrespect the creators like that.

“All of these petitions and things like that — I think it’s disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season,” she said. “Like 50-something night shoots. So many people worked so, so hard on it, and for people to just rubbish it because it’s not what they want to see is just disrespectful.”

At the time of this writing, the petition is over 1.3 million signatures and still steadily climbing. It is titled “Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers,” referencing showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who wrote most of the season by themselves.

The person behind the petition, Dylan D., made a follow-up post last week tempering their initial outrage. They wrote that the petition “was simply me venting a bit,” and was intended to “send a message” not affect any real change.

“I haven’t heard from anyone HBO-related. I don’t think people can reasonably expect HBO to completely remake the season, or any part of this particular series,” they wrote.

In the post, Dylan even spared sympathy for the cast and crew, admitting that they “didn’t make this petition to be an entitled whiny fan.”

“I feel for the actors and actresses too. I am sure some of them are happy with their arcs or perhaps are just happy to be done with the series so they can move on, but I am also sure that many are disappointed with the writing of their characters and the plot here in the end. They put their souls into these characters, and they could be every bit as disappointed as we are.”

The cast has had mixed reviews of the season, making some apparently tongue-in-cheek comments about the “bittersweet” ending. However, all of those who have commented on the petition have called it an insult to the shows cast, crew and producers.

Next weekend, HBO will air a feature-length documentary on the making of Season 8 titled Game of Thrones: The Last Watch in the place of the series. It airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. The next novel in the series is expected soon, although no release date has been announced yet.