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 More than 19 million U.S. viewers watched the series finale of
television's "Game of Thrones" - a record audience for HBO, the
cable channel said on Monday.
HBO, a unit of AT&T's Warner Media, said Sunday's 19.3 million
live television audience and viewers on its HBO GO and HBO NOW
apps exceeded the previous high for the fantasy - 18.4 million,
for the penultimate episode a week ago.
The finale was also the most-watched single telecast ever on
HBO, surpassing the previous record set by crime drama "The
Sopranos" in 2002, HBO said.
"Game of Thrones" is available in over 150 countries worldwide,
but HBO said viewing data is not easily retrieved in many of
those markets, making a global figure impossible to calculate.
Mixed reviews, a stray water bottle and pleas for a spinoff for
feisty teen assassin Arya Stark marked the end of "Game of
Thrones," which ended with a final twist over who would rule
Westeros.
The finale proved as divisive as Season 8 itself, with the hard
fought Iron Throne melted down and the saga ending in what some
called an anti-climax.
But British actor Isaac Hempstead Wright said on Monday he was
thrilled at how the show had transformed his character, Bran
Stark, from a 10 year-old boy in a wheelchair to the man finally
chosen as king.
"Bran becoming king is a victory for the still and considered
people of this world, who too often get sidelined by the
commotion of those who are louder and more reactionary,"
Hempstead Wright, 20, wrote in a guest column for The Hollywood
Reporter.
USA Today's Kelly Lawler called the finale "a disaster ending
that fans didn't deserve," adding that it was "hacky; it was
cliched."
Britain's Radio Times was kinder, with blogger Huw Fullerton
writing there were "some bits I liked, one or two I loved, an
awful lot that leaves me scratching my head. But I will say, it
ended better than I expected given the last two episodes."
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Over 1.2 million fans worldwide had signed a Change.org petition by
Monday, criticizing Season 8 and calling for a remake.
Television series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were silent
on Monday. The executive producers had said they planned to go
offline when the finale aired.
"We'll be in an undisclosed location, turning off our phones and
opening various bottles," Weiss told Entertainment Weekly earlier
this year.
Many fans were more upset about the series coming to an end after
eight seasons.
"I thought it would be more of a dramatic ending," healthcare worker
Christine Lethune told Reuters at a viewing party in New York. "I'm
mad, I'm mad that this is the last episode. I wish that there was
more after this."
Fans spotted another modern prop that made its way on camera - a
plastic water bottle seen partly hidden behind the boot of character
Samwell Tarly. The sighting followed dismay and jokes over the
sighting of a stray paper coffee cup glimpsed during episode 4,
aired two weeks ago.
HBO last year ordered a prequel, co-written by George R.R. Martin,
the author of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book saga on which the
series is based. It will be set thousands of years before the events
of "Game of Thrones."
On Monday, many fans wanted a sequel based around Arya Stark (played
by Maisie Williams), who is last seen aboard a ship to explore lands
unknown.
"Arya was the only good part of Season 8. Give us the spinoff,"
tweeted Riley McAtee, an associate editor at sports and pop culture
website The Ringer.com.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Diane Craft and Rosalba
O'Brien)
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