As each season of Game of Thrones has aired its dialogue has declined, according to new chart data.

Dissatisfied Game of Thrones fans have been busy signing a petition calling on HBO to remake the hit TV show’s final season – with signatures now reaching the one million mark.

The Change.org petition set up by a disappointed fan hit out at Thrones 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,” the petition page reads.


While it might not have any relation to the quality of the writing in the final season, new data obtained using opensubtitles.org shows that the number of words in each episode of GOT declined as each season progressed, with season 8 recording the least amount of dialogue.

a) This isn’t INHERENTLY bad, obviously. I just like the earlier dialogue-heavy stuff so much personally b) I wonder which S6 episode that is c) you don’t really need to see this lovely graph if you’ve looked at the scripts themselves—the difference is stunning. — J❄️anna Robinson (@jowrotethis) May 24, 2019

Topping out at around 50 words per minute, the lowest number of words per minute used in season 8 sat at approximately 15, according to the chart data created by github user mrquart.

Reacting to the data, some fans blamed the lack of dialogue for the show’s difference in quality.

“This says a lot… unlike the S8 episodes themselves,” tweeted one fan. Another said: “The thing I find most frustrating and damning about this is how the show’s popularity directly correlated with trading in dialogue & world building for increasingly empty spectacle.”

This says a lot… unlike the S8 episodes themselves 😉 — ay98182 (@ay98182) May 25, 2019

The thing I find most frustrating and damning about this is how the show’s popularity directly correlated with trading in dialogue & world building for increasingly empty spectacle. https://t.co/aMns8Ee8uR — ssr jeff ruberg (generic holiday reskin) (@jeffinitelyjeff) May 24, 2019


“‘She’s my queen’ or ‘you’re my queen’ or ‘I don’t want it’ = roughly 60 percent of Jon Snow season 8 dialogue?” a third person joked.

“She’s my queen” or “you’re my queen” or “I don’t want it” = roughly 60 percent of Jon Snow season 8 dialogue? — Mike Lenahan (@misterlenahan) May 24, 2019

See more reactions to the data below:

This seems very appropriate given the increasingly cinematic nature of the show. When it followed the books there was more conveyed via words. Later, on its own, it became more visual. — Jay Sherer (@JaySherer) May 24, 2019

So, other than the overall trend, I find it surprising that 2.10 had less dialogue than 2.09 (Battle of Blackwater). — Robert Reed (@robreedwrites) May 24, 2019

I got the feeling there was apprehension writing dialogue for certain characters after they left the source material, especially Cersei. — Ryan Mongelluzzo (@rymong) May 24, 2019

https://twitter.com/tpacheco92/status/1131962049909743616

I’m interested to hear your conclusions. To me, this makes a lot of sense – you have to explain the story and characters at the beginning and if you’ve done the job right, by the end all you need is Tyrions facial expressions lol. — Kevin Harmon (@imadness) May 24, 2019

The S6:E10 opening was one of the best sequences in the entire show, and there was almost no dialogue. Not sure this means anything. — ? (@David_The_Wavid) May 25, 2019

it actually began to feel so deliberate this season, as if they set out with the goal of writing as little dialogue as possible. — scott (@sceldred) May 24, 2019

In my opinion, it takes far less creativity to execute a 20 minute special effects binge than to write memorable dialogue. I spent 80% of season 8 reading and tweeting and 20% watching. — Peter Roberts (@PGRinBC) May 25, 2019

Confirmed that neither Aaron Sorkin nor Amy Sherman Palladino ghostwrote an episode. — Danielle Nussbaum (@daniellenuss) May 25, 2019

Holy smokes. — Your Neighborhood Spaceman (@TheDeathClan) May 24, 2019

https://twitter.com/DiscourseGG/status/1132306094385192960

Meanwhile, Game of Thrones may be over but fans are still discussing the popular HBO show, with some confused by a particular scene featuring Grey Worm in the season finale.

Someone else confused was Charles Dance, who has admitted that he was less than impressed with the divisive finale to the HBO epic.

Charles, who portrayed Tywin Lannister until the show’s fourth season in 2014, has admitted that he wasn’t entirely on board with the ending either.

“I was confused,” he said during an appearance on Good Morning Britain. “I’ve watched as much as I can because there are characters like Deanerys (Emilia Clarke) – her character and my character never met – so I wanted to know what happened to these people.”