Of course, Coster-Waldau and his co-stars weren’t writing the scripts and shouldn’t be taken to task for the odd choices their characters may have made in season eight. But in a new interview with the Independent, though, you can tell Coster-Waldau is weary of the subject, something he’s no doubt been asked about since the show’s 2019 end.
“It was expected,” he said of the backlash. “How are you ever gonna make an end that’s gonna satisfy everyone? That’s a very difficult thing. I absolutely think people are entitled to whatever opinion they have, but it’s a television show. Someone told you a story and you didn’t like the ending. It’s really annoying, but…”
The article also notes that Coster-Waldau was reportedly being paid over $1 million per episode as Game of Thrones ended its run, so perhaps that helped make the criticism easier to take.
Posted by cmaia1503
22 Comments
I mean, I don’t think it was a case of “can’t make everyone happy.” It was more like “the whole thing felt ultra-rushed, it derailed every character arc, and basically nobody liked it.”
he should actually saltier than anyone honestly, his ending was absolutely atrocious and undid 8 years of character development smh
he’s right that it’s impossible to make an ending that satisfies everyone but it is impressive that they managed to make an ending that satisfied *no one*
Honestly I agree. It wasn’t a good ending but people need to get over it. There’s so much conversation about “this show used to have a huge cultural impact and no one talks about it anymore because of the ending” but people have been saying this very thing every week on the internet for years now. It’s giving Harry Potter fans who aren’t able to move on from something they enjoyed.
Nikolai is an actor who had no say in the writing. The fact ppl still come up to him in 2025 to complain about a show that he finished filming over 7 years ago is insane. He has every right to complain and say its annoying b/c it is. For better or worse the show is done and has been. If you don’t like how they got to the ending, oh well, its just a tv show. It had its moment and time has moved on
https://preview.redd.it/e1p8ir0x98mf1.png?width=1034&format=png&auto=webp&s=f3f365955fd80d73461f8227cfb299a9966df0d1
I agree and I can see why it would be particularly frustrating for an actor has literally no control over these things
But it’s clear that people threw their wallets at HBO for a long time because of this series and got repaid with a sloppy lazy shitty product not due to any outside force other than the desire to keep our money while making a cheaper product.
On one hand, the ending was objectively bad, mostly in its execution. On the other hand, he’s not wrong that it’s just a tv show and the way that a lot of GOT fans reacted (e.g. demanding that they remake the last season, harassing the actors, etc.) was embarassing
I think hating the ending is just the popular thing to do. It wasn’t actually that bad, just rushed. By the storylines ended well in my opinion.
If I still haven’t gotten over the ending of HIMYM, I am never getting over the ending of GoT.
I know it’s probably different if you’re Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as people see you and think of GOT, but in actual real life I feel like the last time I heard someone mention GOT was probably like a month after the final aired. Even on the internet, I only ever see it mentioned if the post is like specifically about shows with bad endings.
I absolutely understand having criticism of the ending (or of the entire show, or any body of work). But I do think it must be exhausting to be routinely asked about it, when trying to promote other projects, years later. It was like when Kit Harington was promoting some movie and some “journalist” presented him with an online petition to remake season 8. How disrespectful to the project he was promoting and how disrespectful to the teams of people who worked hard to make a show. Actors, wardrobe, stunts, special effects, directors, editors, etc all worked really hard with the scripts they were given and to have a bunch of strangers protest that is uncalled for, imo…actual criticism has its time and place.
Not that I dont agree with him but is there some new Game of Thrones coming out or what? Both him and Sophie Turner got articles pushed talking about GOT after what feels like forever.
His character’s ending was ESPECIALLY disappointing, so he must get this a lot!
People invested several years of their lives into this show. They reserve the right to be disappointed. I never saw it, but it was unmissable. I was in college and every morning after an episode people would be gathered in the hallways, cafeteria, steps etc breaking down every scene, every little nugget. I know a lot of millennials who still can’t get over it.
I agree with him 100%!!
>how are you ever gonna make an end that’s gonna satisfy everyone?
Well, no, but that ending didn’t satisfy anyone, and that’s the problem
I understand why it would be annoying to be connected to such a negative response when you yourself did nothing wrong, but… direct that anger towards the dummies (D & D) who murdered the show with their incompetent writing.
He’s probably tired of personally hearing about it. I imagine that he hears is a lot, and from some of the most intense people who would make all of us say get over it.
Sure, it’s a tv show but people invested hundreds of hours in screen time to watch it and deserved a better ending.
I admire his commitment to still sharing this belief! It’s very professional really. I think he’s too disciplined to ever say what we really feels about it.
he’s being super nice about it lol. The ending was not good, but it wasn’t the cast’s fault and complaining to them about it nonstop isn’t going to solve anything.
Having said that, Jamie’s ending was terrible. A complete backslide and destruction of character development in like five seconds lol.