'Game of Thrones' fans' petition for final season do-over hits milestone
Following the penultimate episode of the massively popular HBO series 'Game of Thrones,' a Change.org petition has surfaced urging the network to 'remake 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 with competent writers.' The petition has already gained more than 350,000 signatures from disgruntled viewers who were upset with Daenerys Targaryen's big twist in the penultimate episode, where the mother of dragons burned Kings Landing to the ground.
[SPOILER ALERT: This article will discuss Season 8, Episode 5 of "Game of Thrones."]
"Riverdale" star Lili Reinhart wasn’t shy when sharing her thoughts about certain "Game of Thrones" fans petitioning for a remake of the eighth and final season of the hit HBO fantasy series.
Reinhart, who stars as Betty Cooper in the popular CW series, slammed "Thrones" fans who are so upset with the direction the final season has taken thus far that they signed a petition demanding HBO remake it completely. As of Friday afternoon, the petition, titled "Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers," had more than 860,000 signatures.
![Lili Reinhart attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Camp: Notes on Fashion" exhibition on Monday, May 6, 2019, in New York.](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/05/1200/675/AP19127066376079.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Lili Reinhart attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Camp: Notes on Fashion" exhibition on Monday, May 6, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
"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’s creator wrote. "This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen, HBO!"
But Reinhart, responding on Instagram to Variety's article about the petition, explained recreating the season "is not how television works."
"This is not how television works," the 22-year-old wrote. "TV shows are not [a] fan service. It's ridiculous of people to think they can demand creative change from artists."
As Refinery29 notes, the actress may be sensitive to the topic because petitions have been made about "Riverdale" in the past, including one called "Cancel Riverdale."
Benioff and Weiss began the show as an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novels. However, the notoriously slow author’s story was outpaced by the TV series in Season 6. Although the show creators received guidance from Martin, they’ve been largely on their own ever since. And it appears fans took notice. Season 8 alone has been marred by groans about the darkness of the massive Battle of Winterfell in Episode 3 and countless complaints have been made about the series fast pace since Season 6. However, the final straw appears to be Daenerys Targaryen’s big twist in the penultimate episode.
After spending the entirety of the series being built up as the savior of Westeros, the mother of dragons set the city she came to rule ablaze rather than accepting its surrender. Now that she’s a murderer of countless innocent people, hundreds of thousands of viewers don’t have faith in the show to adequately address the story in one more episode.
Fox News' Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.