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 Some 600,000 fans worldwide had signed a Change.org petition by
Thursday criticizing Season 8 of the HBO series and calling for
a remake.
"This series deserves a final season that makes sense," said
Dylan D, from Texas, who launched the "Remake Game of Thrones
Season 8" petition ahead of Sunday's series finale.
The story of warring families in the fictional kingdom of
Westeros has drawn to a close with ever more bloody battles and
favorite characters being killed off.
"Season 8 was very disjointed and rushed. Characters were
hastily written off and plots became twisted. It was not a good
close to a great series!!!," wrote Marilyn Marnell, one of those
signing the petition.
HBO did not return a request for comment on the petition.
The show was created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who have
taken the story beyond George R.R. Martin's source material book
series, "A Song of Ice and Fire."
Despite the criticism, the eighth and final season of the
Emmy-winning series has broken records for HBO, which says it
has so far averaged 43 million viewers per episode in the United
States alone - a 10 million increase over Season 7 in 2017.
Among television critics, reviews have gone from 92 percent
positive for the Season 8 opener on April 14 to 47 percent
favorable for the penultimate episode, "The Bells," which aired
on May 12, according to review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com.
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"The Bells" saw character Daenerys Targaryen descending into madness
and destroying the Westerosi capital of Kings Landing with her
dragon. Some fans thought that was too sharp a departure for
Daenerys, who had previously said she wanted to create a better
world.
"This is definitely not how it was supposed to go. Daenerys
Targaryen has gone rogue," wrote CNN.com's AJ Willingham.
Meanwhile, British website Bark.com is launching a "Game of Thrones"
counseling service offering expert advice on how fans can deal with
the loss of the show, which first aired in 2011.
"'Game of Thrones' is one of the most popular TV programs of our
time, so I'm not surprised that people are devastated it's going to
end," Kai Feller, co-founder of Bark.com, said in a statement.
"I think there will be a fair amount of superfans out there who will
need to chat with a professional when the show ends."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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