Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill calls final season backlash a ‘media-led hate campaign’

Game of Thrones star Conleth Hill has called the negative response to the eighth and final season of the hit HBO series as a “media-led hate campaign”. The much-anticipated last instalment of the show went on to be the most divisive ever with showrunners David Benioff and Dan B Weiss under fire for below par scriptwriting and poor portrayal of women.

The actor, who played Varys on the show, joked, “I don’t regert starting the petition,” referencing the online petition signed by hundreds of thousands of fans demanding that HBO remake the final season with “competent writers”.

“We’re very grateful for your fandom over the years and I think this is the reality rather than a media-led hate campaign,” Hill told the audience during the fan event at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend. According to Variety, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau said the show’s ending could not have pleased everyone, adding people must exercise restrain.

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“It comes to an end it’s gonna piss you off no matter what because it’s the end. If you hated the ending, if you loved the ending, that’s great, just don’t call people names,” he said. The actor also defended his character Jaime’s story arc, which ended under a pile of Iron Keep rubble with his sister (and lover) Cersei.

“I thought it was perfect for him to end in the arms of Cersei, it made sense to me, that’s just my opinion,” Coster-Waldau said as some fans in the audience expressed their disagreement.

Also present for the panel were Maisie Williams, Hempstead-Wright, Jacob Anderson and Liam Cunningham.

Benioff and Weiss, who were scheduled to appear at the event, pulled out two days before the panel due to “production and schedule conflicts”.

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