‘Game of Thrones’ Actor Charles Dance ‘Would Sign’ Petition to Remake Final Season (Exclusive)

Game of Thrones star Charles Dance has not been shy about his disappointment in the series finale, but now he tells PopCulture.com that he would have signed the viral fan petition to remake the ending of the series if he had seen it. Dance played the villainous Tywin Lannister on the series, right up until Season 5. As a viewer, Dance was not impressed with how the show ended.

In an interview about his National Geographic series, Savage Kingdom, PopCulture.com asked Dance about the Game of Thrones finale. Last week, his co-star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau joked that he “almost wanted” to sign the viral petition to remake Game of Thrones Season 8 in an interview with Variety. Dance had not heard about the petition, but said bluntly: “Well if there was a petition, I would sign it.”

Dance had kind words for everyone he worked with on HBO’s fantasy epic, including the embattled writers and showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Most humbled by his time on the show, he did not point fingers as to why the ending left him disappointed but made his feelings clear.

“I mean, I saw it. I continue to watch the whole series even after I’d been killed off in the lavatory,” Dance laughed. “Because I just thought it’s a fantastic television show, you know? I was very lucky to be part of it. I loved it; there were storylines [where] I wanted to know what was going to happen to these people! I know that the finale satisfied a lot of people. It also disappointed a lot of people, and I’m afraid I am in the latter camp.”

Dance credited Benioff and Weiss for the strength of earlier seasons of Game of Thrones, saying that their adaptation was what made the series work. However, he felt the final installments lacked the drama needed to satisfy the story. “I think David and Dan raised the bar when it came to television screenplay writing,” he said. “They are phenomenal. And for the whole thing to end up as a committee, I just thought, ‘Hmm, no.’ I would say I was somewhat underwhelmed by.”

Dance is not alone. For those that are unaware, Coster-Waldau was referring to a viral petition on Change.org, addressed to HBO, titled “Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers.” At the time of this writing, it has well over 1.8 million signatures, with some still trickling in to this day. So far, Dance’s name has not been added.

HBO finally responded to the petition last August when the network’s president of programming, Casey Bloys, spoke to Entertainment Weekly. “The petition shows a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the show, but it wasn’t something we seriously considered. I can’t imagine another network would,” Bloys said.

Game of Thrones is finished, but a prequel series called House of the Dragon — with a new set of writers and producers — is now in the works, slated for release in 2022. The original series is streaming on HBO and HBO Max.