Darryk

I think D+D screwed up the story so bad that it's hard for anyone to make prequels to it. Typical, they got to the top despite their sheer incompetence, and then pulled the ladder up behind them.

Good grief, was the writer of that article deliberately being ironic? I mean, there are maybe some things D+D could be given credit for in the success of Game of Thrones, but world-building is clearly the thing that they were 100% incapable of and 100% dependent on GRRM for.

Well their Star Wars trilogy is reportedly dead. Turns out there is some justice in the world.

In answer to the article's question of "why did they pick this moment to admit they had no idea what they were doing?", I'm wondering if maybe it's because they didn't expect the panel to go public. I mean, if not for one quick-thinking tweeter, would this Q&A have ever seen light of day?

"I wanted to downplay the fantasy elements" from the guy whose primary objective was to get a zombie polar bear in the show.

The level of arrogance and nonchalance with which they regard their own dismal failure (and complete lack of desire) to do justice to the richness of the source material is stupefying.

I love Mauler, his reviews are like a form of therapy.

Anyone see D+D's interview with that Japanese magazine? Talk about delusional.

Is this confirmed?

Game of Thrones finishing means he can work at his own pace now? Whose pace was he working at before?

It's a fair point but the fact that the ending of LOST and GoT were such disasters kind of indicates that maybe GRRM is onto something with taking his time to complete the story. He should have kept it tighter though.

Damon Lindelof took a shot at GRRM over it, he's probably been waiting for his chance for years. Of course it doesn't really count as revenge for Lindelof because GRRM didn't write the end to GoT, whereas Lindelof did write the end to LOST, but it would be interesting to see how GRRM would respond if a reporter did bring that up to him.

Well at least Natalie Tena criticised Game of Thrones season 8. That makes her, I think, the second cast member after Charles Dance to defect to the rebellion.

Once you're in the club, you're in the club. Big companies will only start taking notice of how criticism of D+D when it starts hurting them in the pocket.

Yeah, they know they can't defend it, that's the key thing. They're not willing to come out and defend any of their story decisions, because they simply couldn't be arsed. That's the most infuriating thing about all this. I don't know whether they're good or bad writers; I know Benioff wrote 25th Hour which is highly rated; my problem is with their attitude. I could forgive someone for being a bad writer, I can't forgive them for having a lazy attitude toward the source material. The cast members keep insisting D+D cared so much about it but I don't buy it, not when the screenplays are filled with so many examples of just plain sloppy writing. I mean how hard is it to double-check which surname is supposed to be given bastards born in King's Landing? (Gendry Rivers, frigging hell) Again, I get that the cast doesn't want to openly criticise people they've worked with for 8 years, but at least don't insult our intelligence by trying to pretend everything is a-okay when your showrunners aren't even willing to show their faces.

Apologists defend these by saying they are all in-jokes to the cast. I don't care. The bad jokes they keep making throughout the screenplays are indicative of their shoddy and a careless attitude as a whole toward writing this series, which in turn is reflected the clumsy storytelling.

They took the script down, it seems, LMAO! Who is driving these constant cover ups, HBO or D+D? Are they seriously stupid enough to think this helps them?

Has there been anything from Dinklage since season 8 ended? Haven't seen him at any of the Comic Con events, haven't seen him make any statements; unlike a lot of the other main cast members who have publicly defended D+D and their shitty ending. Unless I missed something, seems like he's the only major cast member who hasn't gone Mouth of Sauron on us. I can only imagine his private thoughts on reading this mess of a screenplay.

No doubt, I mean look at these gems: This is actual writing from an actual Emmy-nominated script.

I don't know which is worse....the possibility that they completely missed the irony of what they just wrote here...or that the irony is intentional, and they were actually deliberately writing the end of Game of Thrones as though it was an episode Arrested Development. NARRATOR Westeros will be safe in the hands of these smart, experienced people. BRONN We need to build more brothels! *laughter from the audience*

Also the script reveals that Drogo didn't actually intentionally burn the throne, it was just a "dumb bystander" that happened to be hit by enough fire to completely melt? I don't know which is stupider.

Arya What's west of Westeros? Jon and Sansa look at each other. They both failed geography. "They both failed geography" LMAO, what is this shite?

I love how they ended the panel without taking any fan questions. Like, could that be any more of an admission they screwed up? I don't blame the cast for their PR-scripted statements like "well, the hate for season 8 was just a media-led campaign" and "every season has had controversy". It's not their fault big companies like HBO have them by the balls and can ruin their careers if they don't fall in line. Just would be nice if there was a bit more honesty around it rather than this blatant attempt to sweep it all under the rug. People keep saying "it's just a show", well, I agree, "it's just a show", so why are they trying to cover it up like it's some kind of political scandal? Season 8 sucked, HBO. We know it, you know it, you don't have to be so goddamn gestapo-like about all of this.

D+D not being there will certainly take the awkwardness out of the event. The actors obviously won't criticize D+D, but there will be much more of a light-hearted and good-humored feel to it, kind of like at the recent Con of Thrones where one of the moderators jokingly asked Jerome Flynn "how long before Bronn bankrupts the realm?" and he responded "you seem to have some presuppositions about how he might perform in the role". I think he knew the moderator was referring to one of the major gripes with the ending, but he took it in good humor. I wonder if anyone's told Conleth Hill that he's become somewhat of a folk hero on the message boards because of his reaction at the table read.

Personally I see this as an admission from them that they screwed up and can't defend it.