David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners behind Game of Thrones, are not attending Comic Con 2019 after all.

According to Entertainment Weekly , HBO updated its panel lineup on Wednesday for the San Diego convention, with five previously listed names erased. Benioff and Weiss are no longer listed as attending, along with director Miguel Sapochnik, actor Iain Glen, who played Jorah Mormont, and actress Nathalie Emmanuel, who played Missandei.Those that are still coming include Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), and Conleth Hill (Varys).Comic Con 2019 was expected to be Benioff and Weiss’ first public appearance since the finale of Game of Thrones in May this year. The entire final season proved to be a divisive one , with professional critics and fans alike voicing their disdain for various writing decisions, character motivations, and the overall high-speed pace of the final six episodes. Benioff and Weiss served not only as showrunners on Game of Thrones, but also the writers on the vast majority of episodes throughout the series' eight seasons, including the final four episodes of season eight.

The reception was so heated that more than one million supposed fans signed a petition calling for the final season to be rewritten with “competent writers.” Even Lena Headey, famous for her role as Cersei Lannister, professed to wanting a “better end” for her character.

It’s not clear if Benioff and Weiss made the decision to skip their Comic Con panel as a result of the public’s reception to season 8, but it will almost certainly be a popular topic of discussion during the event. According to Entertainment Weekly , HBO has stated no reason for the attendance change.In a bit of irony, the news also follows the reveal of the 2019 Emmy nominations , which include 32 nominations for Game of Thrones. Benioff and Weiss received a nomination in Writing for a Drama Series for their work on “The Iron Throne,” the final episode of the series.In an appearance at Con of Thrones, Coster-Waldau defended Benioff and Weiss, reflecting on how much impact the series has had on its fanbase and pop culture.

“For anyone to imagine or to think that the two creators of the show are not the most passionate, the greatest, the most invested of all, and to for a second think that they didn’t spend the last 10 years thinking about how they were going to end it is kind of silly,” Coster-Waldau said, according to Huffington Post. “And also know that they too read the comments. And it is, even though you sit on your own and go, ‘F—ing stupid writers. A–holes.’ They really ― like everyone on Game of Thrones, every single person and there are thousands ― we worked our asses off to make the best show we could for the ending.”

The Game of Thrones Comic Con 2019 panel will be held in Hall H at 5 p.m., so expect plenty of reactions on social media and from IGN.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he kept his HBO subscription for Chernobyl. Follow him on Twitter.