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Sophie Turner slams petition demanding Game of Thrones season 8 redo

"It's disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years," the star tells The New York Times.

Bonnie Burton
Journalist Bonnie Burton writes about movies, TV shows, comics, science and robots. She is the author of the books Live or Die: Survival Hacks, Wizarding World: Movie Magic Amazing Artifacts, The Star Wars Craft Book, Girls Against Girls, Draw Star Wars, Planets in Peril and more! E-mail Bonnie.
Bonnie Burton
4 min read
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Some fans aren't happy with what happened to their favorite characters in the final season of Game of Thrones.

HBO

Game of Thrones is over for good, and some fans can't stop howling about the final season.

But watch out, smallfolk. Sansa Stark will have none of it. 

Change.org petition asking HBO to redo the entire season has amassed almost 1.4 million signatures as of this writing. The petition calls on HBO to replace Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss with new writers.

"David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on," posted a fan named Dylan D. of Forth Worth, Texas, who started the petition last week. "This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen, HBO!" 

The petition has been praised and criticized, with none other than Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, calling it "disrespectful." 

"All of these petitions and things like that -- 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," Turner told The New York Times in a story published Monday, the day after the finale

Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, had even stronger words. 

"I think no matter what anyone thinks about this season -- and I don't mean to sound mean about critics here -- but whatever critic spends half an hour writing about this season and makes their [negative] judgement on it, in my head they can go fuck themselves," Harington told Esquire last month. "'Cause I know how much work was put into this." 

While the petition itself doesn't detail specific plot grievances, many fans were notably upset when Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) executed Lord Varys with Drogon's fire in the penultimate episode, then proceeded to storm King's Landing and burn to death men, women and children after the bells of surrender sounded. 

Many fans thought Daenerys' brutal actions seemed entirely out of character. In the comments section of the Change.org petition, viewers also share their issues with the last episode, The Iron Throne. 

"Reminded me of an essay exam, where you suddenly realize you have 10 minutes left then write a bunch of shit to tie it all together as quick as possible while disregarding everything else written before it," one wrote. 

The petition has, of course, inspired some jokes as well. "So far we have over 20,000 signatures on our petition to never remake Doc Hollywood," one Twitter user wrote.  

Another fan, who goes by the name Wolfman Monsterman, started a separate Change.org petition last week urging fans to stop signing petitions forcing TV shows and movies to "meet your demands." 

DB Weiss, David Benioff

Some fans want writers David Benioff (left) and D.B. Weiss replaced. 

Art Streiber/HBO

"It's time to take a stand against those taking a stand against witnessing narratives unfold in ways we didn't expect and pledge to never sign a petition demanding those fat cats in Hollywood adhere to our stupid, stupid ideas," states the petition, which has a little over 2,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning. 

On Friday, Dylan, who started the petition calling for new Game of Thrones writers, posted an update sharing his passion for the show and further explaining why he started his petition. 

"I didn't make this petition to be an entitled, whiny fan," he wrote. "I made it because I was immensely disappointed and needed to vent. Do I have a solution? I've got plenty of ideas, but no, I'm not a Hollywood writer. But you don't need to be a mechanic to know your car is broken."

HBO didn't respond to a request for comment.

Watch this: Game of Thrones season 8 finale: Our watch has ended

Game of Thrones might have disgruntled some of its fans this season, but that hasn't stopped them from tuning in every Sunday to see whether their favorite character survives another day. Sunday's finale broke HBO records, drawing 19 million viewers. The penultimate episode, The Bells, attracted 18.4 million viewers who watched on HBO, HBO Go and HBO Now.  

Actor Pilou Asbæk, who plays Euron Greyjoy, believes that working on a popular series means dealing with a passionate fan base. 

"The diversity of the fans and the passion they bring to the table is admirable, and you want to have all of it," Asbæk told The Wrap on May 13. "You cannot satisfy one billion people, it's not possible. But you want to have them commit to the show, even if they don't like it."

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Originally published May 15.
Update, May 17: Adds that the petition now has more than a million signatures. 
Update, May 21: Adds Sophie Turner reaction to the petition.