After nearly two years of waiting, Game of Thrones is finally back for its last hurrah. With just two more episodes to go and an epic battle in Kings Landing expected for Sunday's penultimate installment, it's fair to assume the show's devoted fanbase would be pumped. Instead, many of them are worried the show's ending will turn out to be a massive disappointment, particularly after the most recent episode, "The Last of the Starks," subverted expectations in all the wrong ways. Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones Season 8, through Episode 4.
"Last of the Starks" featured the deaths of two major characters, a long-awaited hookup and a host of other juicy developments. It also saw a number of prominent characters, particularly Jaime and Daenerys, suddenly revert to their worst tendencies, seemingly abandoning all the growth they'd undergone in the previous seven seasons. Many viewers complained about Euron's "sneak attack" on the Targaryen fleet on social media, puzzling at how Dany failed to spot all the boats as she was flying above. And pretty much everyone was gobsmacked by THAT Starbucks cup, left right in front of Dany in the Winterfell Great Hall. According to BGR, the episode has, by far, the lowest score of any single episode of Game of Thrones, 6.6 out of 10. That's far lower than the previous worst-ranked episode, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," featuring Sansa's marital rape in Season 5, with 8.1 out of 10.
With the Night King dead and the much-anticipated Long Night lasting just a single evening, fans are worried that the show's ending will also feel rushed and sloppy.
In keeping with those concerns, one keen-memoried redditor put together a compilation video titled "Signs we ignored," featuring the some of the show's leading cast members doing publicity ahead of the final season, noting a common theme among these interviews. Each of the actors essentially hints—or even flat-out says—the fantasy epic's conclusion is letdown, then waves off the comment as a joke.
When asked to describe Season 8 in one word, Kit Harington simply says "disappointing." Deadpan British sarcasm, the harsh truth, or a bit of both? Perhaps most telling of all are Nathalie Emmanuel and Emilia Clarke's facial expressions when an Entertainment Tonight correspondent asks, "are you happy with how things ended?" They both look sort of queasy before launching into an obviously fake cheer of "best season ever!" And Peter Dinklage's praise of D.B. Weiss and David Benioff just oozes insincerity; you can just see it in his eyes.
You can watch the interview compilation below, courtesy of the r/freefolk subreddit and user Hlra25.
Of course, it's possible these jokes are just jokes, a little harmless fun. The Game of Thrones cast does so many interviews, it's only natural they might want to liven up their responses when they're asked the same kinds of questions—many of which they cannot really answer—over and over for weeks on end. But the similarity of these responses across the cast and with multiple outlets is a little worrisome in retrospect. Here's hoping the show manages to turn things around after the flubs and disappointments of Episode 4. We'll have to wait until Sunday night at 9 p.m. to find out.
