Peter Dinklage has given his take on why so many Game of Thrones fans were disappointed with the show’s eighth and final season.

The concluding season aired back in April and May, but many long-term viewers of the HBO fantasy series were dissatisfied with how the show ended.

Dinklage, who played Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones, was asked by The New Yorker in a recent interview if he kept up with the divided fan response to season eight at the time.


“No. Well, everybody’s always going to have an opinion, and that means an ownership. It’s like breaking up with somebody. They get upset,” Dinklage said. “I can’t speak for everybody, but my feeling is they didn’t want it to end, so a lot of people got angry.”

Dinklage went on to praise the work of Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss as “extraordinary”.

“This happens,” he continued about the backlash. “Monsters are created. And you don’t see it coming. We vote them into office. You look the other way.”

The actor then mentioned the turn Daenerys Targaryen’s character took towards the end of the show, which proved to be a sticking point for many fans. “So for everybody to get upset because they loved a character so much and they had so much faith in that person —there were signposts all along the way for that character.

“It added up to something,” he continued. “There are people who’ve named their children Khaleesi. You’ve just got to maybe wait till the series finale before you get that tattoo or name your golden retriever Daenerys! I can’t help you! I’m sorry.


“[Daenerys] went mad. She was driven to that, and she’s a victim as well in terms of how she was treated. She went through it, and she came out angry, as a lot of us do.”

Earlier this week, Kit Harington responded to Game of Thrones receiving just one nomination at next year’s Golden Globe awards.