‘Game of Thrones’ lands record-breaking 32 Emmy nominations for Season 8!

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock (9046769n) A Emmy award statuettes are seen during the 2017 Governors Ball Press Preview at The Los Angeles Convention Center on in Los Angeles, Calif 2017 Governors Ball Press Preview, Los Angeles, USA - 07 Sep 2017
Photo by Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock: Emmy award statuettes are seen during the 2017 Governors Ball Press Preview at The Los Angeles Convention Center on in Los Angeles on Sept. 7, 2017

Well, we’ve had a lot of “lasts” in recent months with Game of Thrones coming to an end: last Twitter roundups, last episode postmortems, etc, and we’ll add another to the list in the form of last Emmy nominations. The 2019 Emmy nominations were made this morning and we have them all rounded up for you to peruse, and Thrones landed a record-breaking 32 nods — the most for a TV show in a single year!

There were a lot of, uh, differing opinions on the writing (and here and there on directing) of Season 8, but the world’s most popular show didn’t get there on writing and directing alone — the acting was always phenomenal, and behind-the-scenes work on special effects, score, production design, costuming and more was absolutely crucial to Thrones‘ success. The show’s final season was recognized for all this and more with the following 2019 Emmy nominations (and if you want to compare these to what the show submitted for, you can take a look at that list here):

Outstanding Drama Nominees:

Better Call Saul
Bodyguard
GOT
Killing Eve
Ozark
Pose
This is Us

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series:

Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This is Us
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Billy Porter, Pose
Milo Ventimiglia, This is Us

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series:

Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Laura Linney, Ozark
Mandy Moore, This is Us
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Robin Wright, House of Cards

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:

Alfie Allen, Game of Thrones
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Michael Kelly, House of Cards
Chris Sullivan, This Is Us

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:

Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones
Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones
Lena Headey,Game of Thrones
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
Julia Garner, Ozark

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series:

Carice Van Houten, Game of Thrones
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Apocalypse
Cicely TysonHow to Get Away with Murder
Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black
Cherry Jones, The Handmaid’s Tale
Phyilica Rashad, This Is Us

Other nominations for the show this year include:

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: 

Game of Thrones, “The Last of the Starks,” David Nutter
Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Miguel Sapochnik
Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne,” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne,” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Outstanding Production Design For a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More): Game Of Thrones, “The Bells,” Deborah Riley, Production Designer; Paul Ghirardani, Art Director; Rob Cameron, Set Decorator

Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (One Hour): Game of Thrones, Jonathan Freeman, ASC, Director of Photography

Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour): Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Tim Kimmel, MPSE, Sound Supervisor; Tim Hands, Supervising ADR Editor; Paula Fairfield, Sound Designer; Bradley C. Katona, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor; Paul Bercovitch, Supervising Dialogue Editor; John Matter, Dialogue Editor; David Klotz, Music Editor; Brett Voss, Foley Editor; Jeffrey Wilhoit, Foley Artist; Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit, Foley Artist

Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series: Game of Thrones, Nina Gold, Robert Sterne, Carla Stronge

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour): Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Onnalee Blank, Re-Recording Mixer; Mathew Waters, CAS, Re-Recording Mixer;  Simon Kerr, Production Mixer; Danny Crowley, Production Mixer; Ronan Hill, Production Mixer

Outstanding Special Visual Effects: Game of Thrones, “The Bells,” Joe Bauer, Lead Visual Effects Supervisor; Steve Kullback, Lead Visual Effects Producer; Adam Chazen, Visual Effects Associate Producer; Sam Conway, Special Effects Supervisor; Mohsen Mousavi, Visual Effects Supervisor; Martin Hill, Visual Effects Supervisor; Ted Rae, Visual Effects Plate Supervisor; Patrick Tiberius Gehlen, Previs Lead; Thomas Schelesny, Visual Effects and Animation Supervisor

Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie: Game of Thrones, Rowley Irlam, Stunt Coordinator

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series: 

Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne,” Katie Weiland, ACE, Editor
Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Tim Porter, ACE, Editor
Game of Thrones, “Winterfell,” Crispin Green, Editor

Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes: Game of Thrones, “The Bells,” Michele Clapton, Costume Designer; Emma O’Loughlin, Assistant Costume Designer; Kate O’Farrell, Costume Supervisor

Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series: Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Kevin Alexander, Department Head Hairstylist; Candice Banks, Key Hairstylist; Nicola Mount, Hairstylist; Rosalia Culora, Hairstylist

Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic):  Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Jane Walker, Department Head Makeup Artist; Kay Bilk, Makeup Artist; Marianna Kyriacou, Makeup Artist; Nicola Matthews, Makeup Artist; Pamela Smyth, Makeup Artist

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or Special: Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Emma Faulkes, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Paul Spateri, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Chloe Muton-Phillips, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Duncan Jarman, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Patt Foad, Special Makeup Effects Artist; John Eldred-Tooby, Special Makeup Effects Artist; Barrie Gower, Prosthetic Designer; Sarah Gower, Prosthetic Designer

Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score): Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Ramin Djawadi

Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score): Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, Hannah Peel

Outstanding Title Design: Game of Thrones, Angus Wall, Creative Director; Kirk Shintani, Art Director; Shahana Khan, Lead Compositor; Ian Ruhfass, 3D Lead; Rustam Hasanov, Lead Conceptual Designer

Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media Within A Scripted Program: Game Of Thrones, “Fight For The Living: Beyond The Wall Virtual Reality Experience”, HBO and AT&T

The 2019 Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on Sept. 22 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The full list of nominations is available here.

262 Comments

  1. Oh damn! I hadn’t seen the Guest Actress list yet. Yeh Carice!!! 10 acting noms is so fantastic!!

  2. Well deserved, one of my favorite seasons of television ever. Thank you David and Dan, cast and crew for a groundbreaking 8 seasons of tv. Now go get those Emmy’s!

  3. Clob,

    I’m pulling for either Maisie or Lena. I just hope vote splitting won’t cost either of them the win.

  4. The 4/6 in the Supporting Actress is a category record for ladies (both drama and comedy), only matched by The West Wing‘s supporting actors in 2002 and Modern Family‘s in two consecutive years (2011/2012), and exceeded by Hill Street Blues‘ 5/5 supporting men (yes, they got all the nominations in the category) way back in 1982 in a very different TV landscape.

  5. Wow. I wasn’t expecting this level of domination. 3 nominations for direction, 4 for supporting actress, 3 for actor. And first time ever nominations in Lead category.

  6. All well-deserved nominations! Very happy for everyone who worked their butts off to give us a worthy conclusion to this groundbreaking show (yes, that includes D&D!).

    Really hoping for some more actor wins. Go Maisie! Go Emilia!

  7. Congrats to everyone involved.

    But to be honest, this feels like a bit of a punch in the gut to me.
    A couple of months ago, I was looking forward to Game of Thrones ending with a bang and then sweeping every single award at the Emmys.

    I didn’t expect the final season to fall so hard on its face (my opinion), so I just feel empty seeing all this.

    This is not how I thought I’d react to seeing Emilia getting her first lead nomination, or seeing 4/6 Drama Series Supporting Actress nominations for Thrones.

    But this series gave us 70 hours of some of the greatest film making ever.

    And Im going to be pulling for a GOT Actress to finally get an award.

    I think Emilia will.

  8. 10 actors got nomination lol
    Even Carice. Every director that worked on S8 was nominated.

    And ofc nomination for writing. I even think that they would’ve 2 nominations in that category if they submitted Bryan Cogman.

    GoT is unstoppable this year. Unprecedented level of support from Academy.

  9. Even though she won’t win due to not enough material (though what was there she nailed!) and networking I’m so proud of Sophie for getting nominated, Christie too! Sophie’s struggles with confidence and depression were horrible to hear about.

    I predict a Lena win, not because of her S8 material (what little there sadly was, though her final scene was well acted) but for her overall performance throughout the years and her strong network. I adore Maisie and her material was strong last season but Lena has been seen as someone greatly snubbed for years, plus she’s still new in the industry relatively speaking.

  10. Wow I’m just shocked lol I’m really happy for Alfie finally reviving the recognition he deserves 🙂 all the actors nominated were fantastic with the material given to them! This was the best season acting wise for Emilia 😉 she killed it this season the supporting category ohh my heart for me is between Lena or Maisie will see what happens 🔥

  11. I remember the tweets and memes that came out in force for Melisandre after episode 3. I’m surprised but so happy Carice got a nomination! And of course Alfie! He’s been snubbed since Season 5, imo. Just consistently brilliant acting. As for the Best Actress category, I feel Sandra and Jodie are the women to beat. I absolutely love Jodie as Villanelle. Also, I’m a little sad A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms didn’t get recognition for writing or directing as it was one of the strongest episodes of Season 8. And I absolutely LOVE that Gwen is nominated! I would be so happy if either she or Maisie wins.

    And on an unrelated note – finally Schitt’s Creek gets some recognition!! A criminally underrated show.

  12. I know that getting an Emmy nod is great, but is it really that big of a deal to be nominated when every actor (edit: except for two) that was up for consideration was? I think they did a good job, but did all of them really give a nomination worthy performance? I’m not sure on that, so I think the Academy wants the cast and crew to get a proper send off after a decade, and fine, I can buy that.

    HelloThere,

    Emilia won’t win, and she shouldn’t, not with the competition she’s up against. Jodie Comer is magnificent on Killing Eve and deserves everything tbh, and I’m going to be extremely surprised if Jodie or Sandra Oh don’t win.
    Kit won’t win either, so it’s the supporting categories that we should set our hopes for when it comes to an actor winning

  13. While it certainly wasn’t their best season, the rushed pace didn’t give many spots to shine, I am excited to see a variety of actors get a nod. Alfie Allen should have been nominated a long time ago and I’m happy to see him here finally, even with the limited screen time (which many fell victim to).
    I am putting all my eggs in Maisie’s basket and she will be getting a well deserved Emmy. For a season that didn’t have time to focus strategically on one character, her story came full circle. She had some incredibly powerful moments (running through KL, Good-Bye with Sandor, Reunion with Jon, the battle at WF alone was 75% all her) that made her arc end in a strong place. Very few characters had the development pace she was allotted.

    While I have never been high on Emilia, nor Dany, she was fantastic this season. Her face told the story in the last two episodes. Just brilliant stuff. I found Dany insufferable but at the end, her end, I was just completely torn up. I was angry because I realized I actually cared more for her than I thought. For me, that’s all due to Emilia.

    I digress. The noms are a wonderful cherry on top of a truly odd and, for me, uber rushed end to this show.

  14. I’m a little confused. I remember back in season 4 a lot of fans were upset that Jack Gleeson wasn’t submitted for Best Guest Actor and that the reason given was that it was because he was billed as a main actor. How can Carice be nominated for Guest Actress? Did they change the rules or am I simply misremembering what happened?

  15. I am so happy to see the new actor/actress noms like Alfie, Kit, Sophie, Maisie, and Gwendoline!!! Of course I am just as happy for Peter, Emilia, and Nikolaj. I think I must be the only one who thinks Lena’s acting for this season was meh. I think she deserved it for other seasons she wasn’t nominated but there was nothing outstanding this year. They nominated Peter a few seasons where other actors were more outstanding so I guess they just have their faves. I hope the number of nominations doesn’t split the vote too much. I would like to see Maisie and Emilia walk away with a long overdue Emmy. And either Alfie or Nikolaj. As fabulous as Peter was this year I want one of the other two to get it. Although I wouldn’t be sad if any of them won. I want them to go out on top with total domination at Emmys, People’s Choice and SAG! And The Long Night deserves ALL the awards. Except maybe lighting lol

  16. The women of GoT (and Alfie Allen) have been completely snubbed for so long, I’m so happy they got nominated this year! I hope they don’t cancel each other out! I don’t even know who to root for!

  17. I’m about to cry from happiness! So proud of all that contributed to the show event he fans. I had some complaints about Season 8 but I still enjoyed it. Specially happy about the acting noms!

  18. AliKat,

    True, but Jack Gleeson was only in 3, which would have made him eligible if he wasn’t billed as a main actor.

  19. It is great to see so many actors nominated!

    Many put themselves up without HBO support and nailed a nomination anyway. Carice and Gwendolyn will have a nice career boost. Excellent job!

    The many nominations are expected and many wins will happen as well. Weak competition in their final season..so expected. I hope the actors actually win awards beyond the usual one win for Peter.

  20. HelloThere:
    Congrats to everyone involved.

    But to be honest, this feels like a bit of a punch in the gut to me.
    A couple of months ago, I was looking forward to Game of Thrones ending with a bang and then sweeping every single award at the Emmys.

    I didn’t expect the final season to fall so hard on its face (my opinion), so I just feel empty seeing all this.

    This is not how I thought I’d react to seeing Emilia getting her first lead nomination, or seeing 4/6 Drama Series Supporting Actress nominations for Thrones.

    But this series gave us 70 hours of some of the greatest film making ever.

    And Im going to be pulling for a GOT Actress to finally get an award.

    I think Emilia will.

    Well, it is the final year and the competition is weak this year. So GOT was going to pick up many nominations and awards. Plus GOT excelled in acting, music etc – so it is not surprising.

    S8 remains a critical and audience failure despite the industry’s nominations. “The Wire” did not win a single Emmy – it was just one of the greatest series ever. “The Americans” never got anything except at the very end. Take the nominations/awards in context and enjoy them for GOT!

  21. Mango: Well, it is the final year and the competition is weak this year. So GOT was going to pick up many nominations and awards. Plus GOT excelled in acting, music etc – so it is not surprising.

    S8 remains a critical and audience failure despite the industry’s nominations. “The Wire” did not win a single Emmy – it was just one of the greatest series ever.“The Americans” never got anything except at the very end. Take the nominations/awards in context and enjoy them for GOT!

    GOT is one of the highest rated shows of all time on IMDb and RT. It is very much a huge overall success.

  22. Ironically this over-performance means that GoT will win main award but almost everything else is open because of vote spliting. I think Peter will win again.

  23. Mango,

    “S8 remains a critical and audience failure”

    if you repeat this enough time it won’t become truth. GoT is complete success on every front.

    It’s TV version of Star Wars and what Star Wars was in 1977. Complete game-changer. First TV blockbuster.

  24. I am still irked that Cogman didn’t make the consideration list for Episode 2, but otherwise, awesome!!

  25. I can’t choose from the ladies, truly can’t.
    I think it may be Emilia, but I’m rooting for Sophie and Maisie .

    Women rule in GOT.

  26. BeardedOnion: GOT is one of the highest rated shows of all time on IMDb and RT. It is very much a huge overall success.

    I fully agree.

    S8 is not in the same category as the other seasons. Surely you noticed that!

  27. BeardedOnion,

    It’s complete nonsense to deny GoT’s success. The most popular HBO show ever, wordwide probably THE most popular, the most pirated show, the most Emmy awarded show in history. Their records are beyond counting.

    And it’s the first HBO show in history to get spin off.

  28. Well deserved nominations!
    Season 8 was not TV level of production. It is a bit unfair from this point of view. GoT season 8 should have it’s own awards.
    Anyway, my girl / our girl must win! That’s a no brainer.

  29. mau:
    Mango,

    “S8 remains a critical and audience failure”

    if you repeat this enough time it won’t become truth. GoT is complete success on every front.

    It’s TV version of Star Wars and what Star Wars was in 1977. Complete game-changer.First TV blockbuster.

    We disagree. And that is fine.

  30. James Rivers,

    “I am still irked that Cogman didn’t make the consideration list for Episode 2”
    Yes! Hell yes!
    His love letter to these fabulous characters deserves more. It already has my vote.

  31. Jack Bauer 24,
    Not the best season in the series. but nothing compares to it.
    From a technical points, its better than a lot of Warner Bros films.

    mau,
    Writing aside, I hope they top the 12 wins and go out with a record.

  32. Iul:
    James Rivers,

    “I am still irked that Cogman didn’t make the consideration list for Episode 2”
    Yes! Hell yes!
    His love letter to these fabulous characters deserves more. It already has my vote.

    It was only put up in the music supervision category. Terribly unfair…I wonder why they decided that.

  33. The Long night should win anything related to directing and sound.
    And the “dragons in the clouds” picture has already a place booked in my living room.

  34. All the nominations are absolutely well-earned. Hope everyone wins (who can, given the multiple-nominated categories).

  35. BeardedOnion

    Let me clarify my comment – the seasons from 1-7 have been strong, not all equally so. The first 4 were probably the best. The much weaker ending season compromised the entire series instead of ending it on a triumphant note.

    If you are looking at RT and imdb, that should be clear. It slipped from the top ranked TV series at S7 to #9 I think by the end? Anyway, S8 dragged it out of the top rank. Of course, RT and imdb have their limitations as a measure but the direction of movement is clear.

  36. mau:
    Ironically this over-performance means that GoT will win main award but almost everything else is open because of vote spliting. I think Peter will win again.

    Vote splitting is going to really hurt in the Drama Supporting Actress category. I’m not expecting Lena or Maisie to win and those would be the front runners above Gwendoline and Sophie.

    I think this was Peter’s best season since S4. He’s won for weaker seasons for Tyrion, so hopefully he wins again. I don’t think Nikolaj or Alfie will win and I don’t think Kit/Emilia or Carice will win. I’m going with Dink again got the actors and then hopefully Drama/Directing/Writing.

  37. Mango,

    Personally, I thought Cogman’s episode, while good, was one of the weaker episodes of the season, but I agree that they should have submitted it for consideration. In fact, I don’t know why they didn’t submit every episode, since that seems to be what they did in every other category.

  38. mau,

    this is what I was saying in the other thread. feeling the need to repeat that over and over and over
    My God

  39. mau: because of vote spliting.

    People always bring up vote splitting suggesting it will result in none/neither of them winning. I did a bit of research on this a couple years ago and didn’t find any real evidence that’s totally accurate. Several times one of the actors of multiple from the same show won. It probably matters less if there’s an easy choice between them as opposed to a coin flip.

    In the case of this year’s supporting actress… When the season was over the only one I thought earned a nomination for S8 alone was Maisie. I was 50-50 on Lena being nominated, but I guess the half that was her series role got her in. I didn’t give Sophie nor Gwendoline much of a chance. If I was an Emmy voter I’d vote Maisie out of the four every day and twice on Sunday, no question.

  40. Young Dragon:
    Mango,

    Personally, I thought Cogman’s episode, while good, was one of the weaker episodes of the season, but I agree that they should have submitted it for consideration. In fact, I don’t know why they didn’t submit every episode, since that seems to be what they did in every other category.

    It was an odd decision. Perhaps to favor D&D’s entry? We may never know.

  41. Jack Bauer 24,

    I agree that together with S2 and S4 this was Peter’s best season. So he will win for sure.

    Maisie also had her best season ever. And Emilia ofc. It’s better half for Sophie.

    One of the best for Gwen as well.

    I think for Kit and Nikolaj it’s in the middle.

    But it is the weakest for Lena. Because she didnt have much screentime. But when we speak about acting I think she was very strong in The Bells. Maybe Academy won’t care for quantity bit quality.

  42. Clob,

    Odd, last night there was a tweet from Gold Derby that Gwendoline Christie stood a chance. At once, I thought that they knew she was nominated and results were already seeping out.

    Gwendoline and Carice really stood out for the emotional impact of their scenes in Season 8. It is good to see them included – especially since they did not get the HBO support. I wonder how HBO will handle the Emmy campaigns.

    The many actor nominations are the closest the Emmy could get to the SAG Ensemble Award. I like it.

  43. Lena and Alfie’s nominations seem like a series, rather than season, nod, well deserved as they may be. For that reason, Maisie is my GoT choice in Supporting Actress (Fiona Shaw was excellent in Killing Eve , though…) and as much as I’d prefer NC-W, I think Peter gets it based on his Ep 6 monologue.

    I’d love to see Kit and Emilia win, too, but while I think she has a better chance, I don’t consider either the front runner. I do think it wins Best Drama just for the sheer epic achievement of it.

  44. mau:
    Mango,

    Submitting only one episide for writing was their MO since S1.

    So more than one entry was not unprecedented.

    This was the final year. They knew the competition was weak as many of the big shows did not screen this year. They could have gone back to the first-year practice – nice book-end to the series.

  45. Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne,” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

    And that’s a joke. Of all the scenes that were bearable to watch, it was last minutes.

    Bran had no build-up for a King.

    Jon is not being executed for killing Daenerys, because that would ruin the storyline where he’s exiled to the Wall. Unfortunately, D&D didn’t get up with something creative.

    Cersei and Jaime die under the rocks. We clearly see the entire roof falls upon them, while in epsiode 6 there are like few mountaines of rocks, and it would be enough if Cersei and Jaime stood 5 meters away…

    Tyrion is not executed aswell (not that I would prefer him to be dead, but it’s purely unrealistic and inconsistent for the sake of the fulfilling hid role). He also has time to think about the new king, and what? He wants Bran to be the King… from all the possibilities, he choses Bran who clearly said he doesn’t want it. If Tyrion had the knowledge that Bran actually forseen that, then okay, but he didn’t, so he couldn’t assume it would be a good choice. And by the way, he talked with him for like… few days? Is that enough to hdge the character (and Tyrion is not ‘excellent at judging the character”).

    Sansa claims the independency of the North from the rest of the Kingdoms, while Yara listens to that nepotic bullshit, and does not react, even though she was promised BY THE QUEEN (remember, it’s actually the Dothraki that rules the city and has some power to keep the promises in case someone would request to uphold the oath given by the queen). SHE DOES NOT REACT!!!

    The entire scene is actually the biggest let-down of this episode. It’s simply bad. Jokes are bad. Pathetic, lofty speeches are terrible.

    By the way, JON COULD ACTUALLY RUN AWAY!!! It’s the Dothraki that didn’t want Jon to be freed. And maybe Yara. Nobody else. So when Dothraki sails away, and Yara goes to her Iron Islands, who would care about Jon leaving the Wall? I suppose, he’s true to his honors like his fath… ah, yeah. Forgot about it.

    Forgot about Jon’s legacy which in conclusion had no meaning. Not that I dislike the idea of him returning into the role of a bastard – quite poethic, I did like it. But it’s not even mentioned. It’s one of the biggest things in the entire Westeros. The greatest secret. And, it’s like… ‘whatever, we have a plan for Jon to become bastard again, and bringing Jon’s legacy back is far from what we set up for him, so it’d be convinient not to mention it again, right?‘.

    Seriously, from all the rewards I can agree on, this one is a joke. And by the way, 2nd episode was WAAAAAY BETTER than this one, and it didn’t get the nomination. Guess why? Because only the finale matters, no matter how good it truly was. It’s the closure to the series, and that’s what’s going to be awarded, not an objectively good episode. So, after all, this award is truly meaningless.

  46. I haven’t seen all the shows in Lead Actress category, but Jodie Comer is far and away the best of those I do know. She is captivatingly brilliant in Killing Eve and has lost out on numerous awards to her co-star Sandra Oh, who is nowhere near as good but is better known to American audiences. Yes, Emilia Clarke’s performance was the best she has done in GoT, but that’s not saying much and I wouldn’t want her to win. The story of her health problems may win it for her though. As we’ve seen countless times, it’s often not about the best acting. [/cynical]

  47. mau,

    They are probably going to make history with the most award winning season this year.

    Mango,

    The Emmy awards doesn’t think so. It has the highest number of nominations of all time in Emmy history. And don’t forget that the ones voting for the Emmy’s are the ones with a much better view on what’s good and bad when it comes to Television.
    But I already saw it coming weeks ago that people were going to not take the professionals of the Emmy’s seriously if GoT were nominated a lot, and if the writing or the season was nominated.

    As for the Americans, as a fan of that show, only the last one deserved an Emmy nomination in my opinion.
    As for the Wire. For me one of the best series out there. Wonder why that show never was nominated, did HBO never include it?

  48. Young Dragon,

    Cogman’s episode was the easiest to write after the story boarding of this season was done. I thought Dave Hills would be a harder episode to write since it needed to have a huge bang after the long lay off. IMO Cogman is the weakest writer or the 4 writers. Alot of his stuff is just copied and pasted from the books.

  49. mau,

    Well, not exactly. The first HBO show that gets a spin-off is in fact the sopranos. Which get a prequel movie this year. September it will air in the theaters if i’m not mistaken.

    CamelHoarder,

    The Emmy’s think it have a place in the top written episodes of the year. Of all the nominations that episode landed in their top list. And I agree personally with the professionals. I think the final episode was brilliant. If it should win I don’t know. Later today I’m going to look at it per category which I think should win.

  50. I am so, so happy to see Alfie Allen finally get a little recognition from the industry for his acting, which has been incredible throughout this series. He didn’t get enough to do in S8 and I have no expectation of seeing him take home the prize, but at least his erasure has come to an end. Still waiting to see him being offered movie roles worthy of his extraordinary talent.

    I am sad to see the high point of the season, Episode 2, get so little love. Also that Ramin Djawadi got skunked.

    With regard to the Supporting Actress category: Lena is long overdue but wasn’t given the opportunity to earn it this season, unfortunately. My heart is torn between Maisie and Gwen. The nomination for Gwen is probably enough. Maisie really shone, and had the screentime and range to put in a fair claim. The voters might decide that she’s too young and will get other chances in the future, though.

  51. Firannion: Also that Ramin Djawadi got skunked.

    Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score): Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Ramin Djawadi

  52. Grandmaester Flash,

    “Jodie Comer is far and away the best of those I do know. She is captivatingly brilliant in Killing Eve and has lost out on numerous awards to her co-star Sandra Oh,”

    Completely agree with you there. I was shocked when Jodie did not get nominated alongside Sandra Oh after the first season. Her acting range is incredible via the psychopathic Villanelle. While I do believe Emilia’s best acting was in Season 8, I would think Jodie or Sandra are the top contenders.

  53. Iain Glen wasn’t on the nominating ballot so 2019 is technically a glitch Emmy’s.

    Sorry, all, I don’t make the rules….

    BUT ALFIE, GWEN, AND SOPHIE THOUGH OMGOMGOMG

  54. The fact that D&D/HBO didn’t put forward “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” for a single Emmy nomination is a) criminal, b) moronic, c) laughably petty, and d) a transparent effort to keep the focus off of what was widely (and critically) recognized as the best episode of the season. Bryan Cogman deserved a writing nom and Nutter sure as hell deserved the directing nom for that episode vs. the hot mess that was episode 4. LMAO

  55. Mango: I fully agree.

    S8 is not in the same category as the other seasons. Surely you noticed that!

    My bad, I read S8 as GoT.

  56. Outstanding Drama Nominees: For me Game of Thrones of Better Call Saul should win. Killing Eve I’ve heard is also very good but I never watched that show so I couldn’t know where that show would land with me. I hope Game of Thrones wins.

    Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series: Kit Harington or
    Bob Odenkirk for me. I hope Kit wins, Bob will have his chance with the next season.

    Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series: Emilia Clarke, Robin Wright or Sandra Oh (if she is as brilliant in Killing Eve as she was in Grey’s Anatomy). Very hard for Emilia Clarke to win. I hope she does but the other 2 woman deserve it also.

    Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: the only one I don’t know is Chris Sullivan. As for the other’s all deserve it. Hope NCW or Alfie wins.

    Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: All actresses deserve it. Hope Gwendoline wins.

    Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: I really hope Carice wins.

    Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Only watched GoT from this list. I hope Miguel Sapochnik wins.

    Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Peter Gould and Thomas Schnauz or David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. I hope David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wins, for me they deserve it for the brilliant final (for me).

    Outstanding Production Design For a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More): should be won by Game of Thrones

    Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (One Hour): Should be won.

    Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour): Should also be won by GoT

    Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series: Game of thrones should win.

    Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour): No Brainer, win for Game of thrones.

    Outstanding Special Visual Effects: Game of thrones will win.

    And the rest they should also win.

  57. Thoughts on Kit’s nomination.

    D&D really did him a disservice by choosing to have what should have been Jon Snow’s big emotional payoffs off-screen. His core characteristics are honor, steadfastness and courage, none of which lend themselves to the showy soliloquys or over-the-top emotional outbursts that define “good acting” to many people.

    While his reunion with Arya was lovely and Dany’s death emotional (but overshadowed by dragons, etc.), the scenes where Jon could’ve shone were introduced but not concluded. He got the truncated R+L=J “discovery” scene, short shrift on telling Dany about his parentage and why he could no longer love her romantically, and Not One Word of him telling Arya and Sansa that he was not technically their brother. Heck, we didn’t even get to see his pride and possible envy that Arya took down the NK. Every one of those scenes should have been included to complete the story arc of the Leading Actor!

  58. so proud and happy for sophie who has always been extremely underrated because she doesn’t play a flashy #badass character.
    Hopefully Lena wins since it’s been long overdue for her to win.
    Hopefully Nick or Alphie win and not Peter again.
    Emilia really shined this season and she has a real chance of wining

  59. Mango,

    If you are looking at RT and imdb, that should be clear. It slipped from the top ranked TV series at S7 to #9 I think by the end? Anyway, S8 dragged it out of the top rank. Of course, RT and imdb have their limitations as a measure but the direction of movement is clear.

    “Limitations as a measure” is the understatement of the year! Some critics were displeased, some mixed, and some liked it or at least certain episodes. But popular opinion was “brigaded”. S8 was problematic and likely would have legitimately slipped a bit if it hadn’t been targeted, but it was targeted on several SM platforms. Disgruntled fans started campaigning for people to vote the lowest possible numbers on RT and IMDB. IIRC, this began with Ep 3. They told how to get multiple accounts, vote, etc. When the numbers didn’t go low enough, the instigators encouraged people to go in and lower them further if possible. They posted the resulting numbers as the decline accelerated to encourage more fans to join the ‘fight’.

    This behaviour turned even darker after Ep6, when their rage turned against the entire show. So they targeted the overall rating and tried to get that down since it was now a ‘bad show.’ To add insult to injury, recently a few people posted that 4.2 was not low enough for episode 6 and more downvotes were needed. I might add that there were also (successful) campaigns to make D&D the top result of “bad writers” in Google searches and of course to get them fired from their Star Wars contracts. Anyway, I simply no longer trust indices of popularity. The Internet makes manipulation infectious and easy.

  60. Clob: Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score): Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” Ramin Djawadi

    Ah, good. I scanned through the list twice without seeing that.

  61. Stark Raven’ Rad,

    They manipulate results and then start using them as proof. Lol

    Doesn’t matter. People from the industry showed today what they think about GoT.

    I wouldn’t even be shocked if they give writing Emmy to Benioff and Weiss as a slap in the face to entitled fans. No writer wants to experince this type of hatred campaing over their work, this level of abuse and harassment, personal attacks, death threaths, online petitions and so on. If they let angry mob influence them now the same will happen to them sooner or later.

  62. THRILLED to see Gwendoline’s nomination. Especially since HBO did not submit her. I look at all the acting nominations as a way to honour every one of the nominated actors through all their seasons. I know that’s not the way it’s supposed to work, but I choose to believe that. They each rose to the writing and then above it when it didn’t meet our (or their) expectations. I agree that 8:2 was one of the finest episodes of the series, and completely ignored. I also would like to see someone other than Peter Dinklage receive recognition. Both Alfie Allen and NCW maintained their characters’ integrity despite all kinds of abusive writing. We watched Maisie and Sophie grow up and become good actors but Lena created the most complex character over time. Still, in my heart of hearts, I want to see “Brienne of f-ing Tarth” get the respect she is due!!!

  63. palushka:
    THRILLED to see Gwendoline’s nomination. Especially since HBO did not submit her. I look at all the acting nominations as a way to honour every one of the nominated actors through all their seasons. I know that’s not the way it’s supposed to work, but I choose to believe that. They each rose to the writing and then above it when it didn’t meet our (or their) expectations. I agree that 8:2 was one of the finest episodes of the series, and completely ignored. I also would like to see someone other than Peter Dinklage receive recognition. Both Alfie Allen and NCW maintained their characters’ integrity despite all kinds of abusive writing. We watched Maisie and Sophie grow up and become good actors but Lena created the most complex character over time. Still, in my heart or hearts, I want to see “Brienne of f-ing Tarth” get the respect she is due!!!

    Much to agree with here!

    Gwen did an extraordinary job with Brienne. She did not have a lot of screen time over the years and did not have make-up and costuming to help her “hold the screen.”
    Her work with NCW was extraordinary to communicate the depth and richness of that lovely relationship – well done!

    Lena did an excellent job with what she had every season. I think Cersei was more complex in the earlier seasons. By the 7 &8 th she had become more unidimensional. Not that I have any particular ideas but I would have given Lena a different death scene – Cersei deserved a grand exit but I think they perhaps did not wish to detract from the Daenerys’ dramatic flop over.

  64. Alfie Allen, Alfie Allen, Alfie Allen! Yay!
    But also Carice van Houten and Ramin Djawadi are nominated. Double yay!

  65. Jack Bauer 24,

    Miguel can’t submit 2 episodes. HBO/He wanted The Long Night.

    And I think “55 nights” and “longest battle in history” will help him in his campaign, especially since Nutter and D&D are nominated as well, so he needs to work very hard to win.

    I wouldn’t even be surprised if D&D win an Emmy for direction over Sapochnik since their episode is the only one nominated for cinematography. Category GoT wasn’t even nominated last year for some reason.

  66. Benioff and Weiss already have 3 Emmys as producers and 2 as writers. If they win as directors, they will probably be the most awarded showrunners in history.

  67. LOL. 32 Emmy nominations for 6 episodes, 3 out of 6 direction nominations, and virtually the entirety of the main cast nominated…

    I guess I know now what Hollywood thinks of Reddit. LOL.
    (I.E. not much.)

  68. Supporting actress is likely screwed due to oversaturation from one show, but I dearly hope Maisie or Lena get it. So glad for Alfie’s nom, and Rowley for stunt.

  69. kevin1989: Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series: Emilia Clarke, Robin Wright or Sandra Oh (if she is as brilliant in Killing Eve as she was in Grey’s Anatomy). Very hard for Emilia Clarke to win. I hope she does but the other 2 woman deserve it also.

    No, no, no, Kevin! You really must watch Killing Eve. Jodie Comer is an incredible actress, her portrayal of Villanelle is a tour de force.

  70. Mango,

    GoT season 8 was NOT a failure. The highest ratings for the series. Despite the criticism, people tuned in at record numbers all the way to the end. It was a massive success despite what I think was a very vocal minority of haters.

  71. Man who did cinematography in the last episide already has 3 Emmys for his work on Boardwalk Empire. And this a category where GoT never won. They weren’t even nominated last year.

    So once again, Benioff and Weiss showed how wise they are in choosing people to work with. I expect this to continue in their work with Lucasfilm.

    People keep understanding them but they made TV history. And their Star Wars will be far more successful than many expect. They know what they are doing.

    And SW won’t be their last big project that’s for sure. They are here to stay.

  72. Stark Raven’ Rad:
    Mango,

    If you are looking at RT and imdb, that should be clear. It slipped from the top ranked TV series at S7 to #9 I think by the end? Anyway, S8 dragged it out of the top rank. Of course, RT and imdb have their limitations as a measure but the direction of movement is clear.

    “Limitations as a measure” is the understatement of the year!Some critics were displeased, some mixed, and some liked it or at least certain episodes.But popular opinion was “brigaded”. S8 was problematic and likely would have legitimately slipped a bit if it hadn’t been targeted, but it was targeted on several SM platforms.Disgruntled fans started campaigning for people to vote the lowest possible numbers on RT and IMDB.IIRC, this began with Ep 3.They told how to get multiple accounts, vote, etc.When the numbers didn’t go low enough, the instigatorsencouraged people to go in and lower them further if possible.They posted the resulting numbers as the decline accelerated to encourage more fans to join the ‘fight’.

    This behaviour turned even darker after Ep6, when their rage turned against the entire show.So they targeted the overall rating and tried to get that down since it was now a ‘bad show.’To add insult to injury, recently a few people posted that 4.2 was not low enough for episode 6 and more downvotes were needed. I might add that there were also (successful) campaigns to make D&D the top result of “bad writers” in Google searches and of course to get them fired from their Star Wars contracts.Anyway, I simply no longer trust indices of popularity.The Internet makes manipulation infectious and easy.

    One of the great things from the internet is feedback from other consumers. I pay attention to these but they are not my only or even my major input.

    In the arts, there are critics whose work I have followed for years and not only for GOT – I pay attention to their analysis on many things. And in addition, I pay attention to many persons with whom I often joint enjoy other artistic products. These are opinions that I trust.

    I do not believe all from RT & imdb. However, I do NOT ignore them. I pay attention to the number of raters and the trends in the rating.

    For many years, GOT well rated on RT & imdb and seemed to considered to be valid feedback. I do not remember discussions suggesting that GOT was being overpraised – which it probably was.

    Then there was a rating shift for the final season. You describe a negative campaign. Some fans were passionate enough to “pound it” negatively but fans that loved it did not respond to make compensating positive ratings. Perhaps there were not enough of them? Or they were not passionate enough? That passion and passion “gap” alone is some information input.

  73. Ser Brocolli McBrocolliface:
    Mango,

    GoT season 8 was NOT a failure. The highest ratings for the series. Despite the criticism, people tuned in at record numbers all the way to the end. It was a massive success despite what I think was a very vocal minority of haters.

    Lol I don’t even think season 8 is the worst season? To me, season 8 was better than season 7 AND season 5.

    My ranking?
    Season 1 > 6> 3> 4> 2> 8> 5> 7

  74. George,

    As I said, I even think this level of support is there as a way to send a message to toxic fan base. And the message is – we don’t care about you.

    No show would survive this level of scrutiny and people who actually make television know this and they don’t want something similar to happen to them.

    It already happend to The Last Jedi and Captain Marvel and some other movies.

  75. mau,

    Agreed and all I could think of was good old Robert: “stop this madness in the name of your king”

    Grandmaester Flash,

    I will put killing Eve on my list. First I’m going to rewatch LOST again from next week on. After that maybe Killing Eve. (But I think I wait till season 3 is done, then I can bingewatch it.

  76. LadyGoodman:
    Thoughts on Kit’s nomination.

    D&D really did him a disservice by choosing to have what should have been Jon Snow’s big emotional payoffs off-screen. His core characteristics are honor, steadfastness and courage, none of which lend themselves to the showy soliloquys or over-the-top emotional outbursts that define “good acting” to many people.

    While his reunion with Arya was lovely and Dany’s death emotional (but overshadowed by dragons, etc.), the scenes where Jon could’ve shone were introduced but not concluded.He got the truncated R+L=J “discovery” scene, short shrift on telling Dany about his parentage and why he could no longer love her romantically, and Not One Word of him telling Arya and Sansa that he was not technically their brother.Heck, we didn’t even get to see his pride and possible envy that Arya took down the NK.Every one of those scenes should have been included to complete the story arc of the Leading Actor!

    I think some of the characters were “deactivated” for much of S8 particularly the final three episodes.

    Jon did not get the big showy scenes that would have allowed this character to dominate Season 8. Jaime was also deactivated/reset as well. Lena got nothing really. Tyrion was powered up after several relatively lowkey seasons. Arya was powered up.

    Oddly many of the storylines that energized the fandom during the first seven seasons did not seem to matter much in the end and those characters somewhat reduced.

  77. Mango,

    I’m passionate about GoT but I will never be an idiot to make 10+ accounts on IMDB or RT to make my point. I have better things to do with my time. Rather discuss GoT here. And that’s what those vocal minority did. They even targeted other episodes of the show as well. Episode 8×02 was first above a 9. It stayed even that when episode 3 aired. After episode 4 the targeting begin and it’s now on a 7.9. Same with episode 8×01. It was on a 8,8 for 3 weeks till episode 4 and it declined to 7,6.

    And why do the people who loved the season need to low to their level and making up fake accounts to make a point? They knew that their point wouldn’t come across if they didn’t. They make sure their opinion became blueprint, and the other 80% of the fans who liked it get ignored.

    It’s a shame that IMDB can’t verify multiple accounts or act on it. Because the credibility of imdb is very low at the moment if people can get away with that. (I mean without being blocked). And it also throws the objectivity of episode ratings out of the window.

    George,

    for me 4 > 6 > 1 > 8 > 7 > 3 > 5 > 2

    2 was too rushed. 5 should also have been 1,5 seasons at least. 3 didn’t much happen except at the end of the episodes. The whole Sansa being married plot dragged to long for instance. And it was the only final that I found lack-lusting compared to the other 7.
    7 was very good except maybe the detour beyond the wall but it was needed. and 4,6 and 1 were just perfect for me.

  78. kevin1989,

    They are crazy. So if they don’t like how S8 is written they think it’s normal to think that Benioff and Weiss are bad humans and that they don’t care about GoT and they should be harrasad and humiliated.

    Some even think they should be physicaly abused and some even c all for their assassination. lol It’s insane behaviour and these people need mental help.

    The same happened to Rian Johnson. Just get a life and watch something else ffs.

  79. Firannion: Ah, good. I scanned through the list twice without seeing that.

    He’s going against all different people than he did last year with “The Dragon and the Wolf,” but I’d think he has a pretty solid chance of repeating his win with “The Long Night.”

  80. “Aw, for f*ck’s sake, they didn’t nominate Rory McCann. Dumb c*nts.”

    🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓
    🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

  81. kevin1989:
    mau,

    They are probably going to make history with the most award winning season this year.

    Mango,

    The Emmy awards doesn’t think so. It has the highest number of nominations of all time in Emmy history. And don’t forget that the ones voting for the Emmy’s are the ones with a much better view on what’s good and bad when it comes to Television.
    But I already saw it coming weeks ago that people were going to not take the professionals of the Emmy’s seriously if GoT were nominated a lot, and if the writing or the season was nominated.

    As for the Americans, as a fan of that show, only the last one deserved an Emmy nomination in my opinion.
    As for the Wire. For me one of the best series out there. Wonder why that show never was nominated, did HBO never include it?

    There are many reasons why Wire never got any awards. Industry awards ( especially Oscar & Emmy) are not always reliable judges of quality. They tend to “lag” on quality quite a bit – meaning often a show has to be pointed out by critics over and over and over before the industry wises up. Sometimes I think the award voters do not actually watch any shows themselves.

    The industry feedback for both movies and TV are just one source of feedback. And for quality, they do not always get it right.

    Series tend to do well in their final year and when the competition is weak because other strong shows skip that year – Maybe the Wire just never had the right conditions.

  82. Clob:
    I’m all in for an ASNAWP win!! Go Maisie!

    Yup!!!

    #ASNAWP 👸🏻
    #ASNAWPTWP 🔪🧟‍♂️💀
    #TheHeroineOfWinterfell 🏰

  83. Ten Bears,

    Well, we’ve known for a while that he wasn’t even submitted. Still, it’s a shame. This was my second favorite season of his, the first being season 4.

  84. mau,

    I had my own problems after episode 3, I didn’t like that the WW were defeated already in episode 3. I had my way the season would go in my mind. Episode 3 they lost. Episode 4 they flee south. Episode 5 Dany loses it, Cersei dies. The NK is at the door at KL. And the final ending there. But after watching episode 4 (Which should be 2 episodes not 1), I knew that it was better that the WW were gone earlier in the season. And it make sense Winterfell is the place where winter fell. (mind blown)

    But luckily I could find my joy again and the chose they made begin to grow on me.

    Ten Bears,

    It’s a shame.

  85. Mango,

    I think problem for Wire was that HBO had Sopranos then as their flagship show and it was far more succesful show than Wire so when they campaigned for awards it was always for Sopranos. Ratings for Wire were’t that high either,

    It is similar to another small show Leftovers with strong support from critics but in era of other much more successful show.

  86. David Rosenblatt,

    I didn’t see listings for the nominees for Best Female Vocal Performance. The producers of the animated series “gen:LOCK” had submitted Maisie Williams in that category.

  87. CamelHoarder:
    Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne,” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

    And that’s a joke. Of all the scenes that were bearable to watch, it was last minutes.

    Bran had no build-up for a King.

    Jon is not being executed for killing Daenerys, because that would ruin the storyline where he’s exiled to the Wall. Unfortunately, D&D didn’t get up with something creative.

    Cersei and Jaime die under the rocks. We clearly see the entire roof falls upon them, while in epsiode 6 there are like few mountaines of rocks, and it would be enough if Cersei and Jaime stood 5 meters away…

    Tyrion is not executed aswell (not that I would prefer him to be dead, but it’s purely unrealistic and inconsistent for the sake of the fulfilling hid role). He also has time to think about the new king, and what? He wants Bran to be the King… from all the possibilities, he choses Bran who clearly said he doesn’t want it. If Tyrion had the knowledge that Bran actually forseen that, then okay, but he didn’t, so he couldn’t assume it would be a good choice. And by the way, he talked with him for like… few days? Is that enough to hdge the character (and Tyrion is not ‘excellent at judging the character”).

    Sansa claims the independency of the North from the rest of the Kingdoms, while Yara listens to that nepotic bullshit, and does not react, even though she was promised BY THE QUEEN (remember, it’s actually the Dothraki that rules the city and has some power to keep the promises in case someone would request to uphold the oath given by the queen). SHE DOES NOT REACT!!!

    The entire scene is actually the biggest let-down of this episode. It’s simply bad. Jokes are bad. Pathetic, lofty speeches are terrible.

    By the way, JON COULD ACTUALLY RUN AWAY!!! It’s the Dothraki that didn’t want Jon to be freed. And maybe Yara. Nobody else. So when Dothraki sails away, and Yara goes to her Iron Islands, who would care about Jon leaving the Wall? I suppose, he’s true to his honors like his fath… ah, yeah. Forgot about it.

    Forgot about Jon’s legacy which in conclusion had no meaning. Not that I dislike the idea of him returning into the role of a bastard – quite poethic, I did like it. But it’s not even mentioned. It’s one of the biggest things in the entire Westeros. The greatest secret. And, it’s like… ‘whatever, we have a plan for Jon to become bastard again, and bringing Jon’s legacy back is far from what we set up for him, so it’d be convinient not to mention it again, right?‘.

    Seriously, from all the rewards I can agree on, this one is a joke. And by the way, 2nd episode was WAAAAAY BETTER than this one, and it didn’t get the nomination. Guess why? Because only the finale matters, no matter how good it truly was. It’s the closure to the series, and that’s what’s going to be awarded, not an objectively good episode. So, after all, this award is truly meaningless.

    Lots to agree with here.

    The Emmys and other awards are not about absolute quality. A series just has to be better than the competition for that year.

    Many of the better series are not in competition this year and so GOT had better chances.

    If you think about it from an industry perspective, the money that HBO spent of GOT is a great thing! They want to encourage this kind of spending in the future. TV work is now almost as glamorous and respected as movie work.

    Plus it is GOT’s final year, the industry traditional ups the award to say goodbye if the show has been an industry leader. And truly GOT had great CGI, acting, music etc.

    So cheer up! GOT was always going to get many nominations and wins this year.

  88. Mango,

    I think it’s more to do that the wire was on TV at the same time the sopranos were. And that HBO put only the Sopranos on the list. So maybe they never entered because HBO didn’t enter them?

    At least that’s what I think happened with the Wire.

  89. kevin1989,

    I think every criticism of anyone’s work is allowed, but once it starts to be physiological analysis of Benioff and Weiss it loses all credibility. You don’t know them, you don’t know how work with them looks like, you don’t know how much they care or don’t care. You don’t know how hard they worked or didn’t work.

    If you think someone is not great writer it doesn’t mean he’s not great person and these lunatics are not able to understand that so everything turns into personal insults and name calling.

  90. Pigeon:
    Supporting actress is likely screwed due to oversaturation from one show, but I dearly hope Maisie or Lena get it….

    I fear you are right. Too bad. Maisie Williams had her best season since S4. Though I love Lena Headey, S8 was definitely not a showcase for Cersei.

  91. Ten Bears,
    My point of view is that while Lena, Sophie and Gwendoline maybe had a scene or two of decent dialogue, it just wasn’t enough to match Maisie’s overall season imo. To be honest I’m surprised those three were even nominated. I’m not unhappy about it, just surprised. As I mentioned earlier, if I had one vote that I was going to use on one of the GoT actresses, this season it would be easy. We should remember that Arya has always been one of the top favorite characters in the fandom, which would definitely include Emmy voters… Maisie IS Arya. 🙂

  92. Ten Bears: I fear you are right. Too bad. Maisie Williams had her best season since S4. Though I love Lena Headey, S8 was definitely not a showcase for Cersei.

    Maisie winning would make me grin from ear to ear like an idiot. And for the season she certainly deserves it. Lena didn’t have much to work with, but if she won it would be for previous years – awards shows seem to have a habit of that.

    Gwen would be a complete shocker.

  93. mau:
    Mango,

    I think problem for Wire was that HBO had Sopranos then as their flagship show and it was far more succesful show than Wire so when they campaigned for awards it was always for Sopranos. Ratings for Wire were’t that high either,

    It is similar to another small show Leftovers with strong support from critics but in era of other much more successful show.

    HBO seemed to be able to promote Westworld and GOT at the same time.

    The Wire was a “critical” success but an “industry and fan” failure. GOT8 is an “industry” success but a “critical and fan” failure. Overall GOT is a success compromised by its ending season. It missed a great opportunity to have been a triumph!

    On GOT8 – repetition does not make anything true or false. Why would you think that?

  94. Young Dragon:
    Ten Bears,

    Well, we’ve known for a while that he wasn’t even submitted. Still, it’s a shame. This was my second favorite season of his, the first being season 4.

    The Adventures of Sandor & Arya in S4 will stand the test of time. The best story line in GoT.

    It is a shame Rory McCann wasn’t submitted. It gets me every time when [in S8e2] he turns and looks at Arya and says: “I fought for you, didn’t I?”

    (at 1:18)

  95. Ten Bears:
    David Rosenblatt,

    I didn’t see listings for the nominees for Best Female Vocal Performance. The producers of the animated series “gen:LOCK” had submitted Maisie Williams in that category.

    I don’t think they have male and female categories, just Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. The nominees for that are Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Hank Azaria, Kevin Richardson and Eric Jacobson.

    https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2019/outstanding-voice-over-performance

  96. Mango,

    I don’t think the Wire was Westworld’s equivalent in terms of success. That show became more popular once it was already over.

    And it’s ridiculous to claim that S8 is failure if we know it is the season with highest ratings in history of HBO and that it is the most nominated season in history of Emmys. What critical failure? The show was nominated by critics for TCA Award this year again. For S8.

    And since show haters are so aggressive, I think we have classic case of silent majority when we speak about fans. Show haters harras actors, writers, directors, everyone who has anything good to say about S8.

  97. What an incredible haul! I’m particularly thrilled for Alfie, Gwendoline, Sophie, and Carice (all first time nominees), three directing noms, and David and Dan being recognized for writing! As someone who absolutely loves Season 8, for my money, Game of Thrones deserves every one of these nominations!

    In fact, *10* acting nominations in total – including the show’s first two ever in the Lead categories for Kit and Emilia – is an astonishingly impressive achievement. Is that a record? I’ll have to check. It’s especially notable, considering that the actor’s branch hasn’t always embraced the show as much as some of the others (with Peter Dinklage being the only one ever to win). They certainly opened their arms wide this time!

    I’m sure that vote splitting will come into play, but hopefully a few actors will be able to rise to the top and claim the trophy regardless. I’ll be rooting especially hard for Emilia in Lead Actress. As I’ve expressed many times, I believe that she did her best work ever this year. And of course, I’ll be rooting hard for David, Dan and the rest of the crew to take home their fourth Drama Series victory, which would tie them with Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, The West Wing, and Mad Men for the most ever in that category!

    Congratulations, one and all!

  98. Congratulations to the cast and crew of “Game Of Thrones”! Well deserved! ✌️👍👍

  99. mau:
    Mango,

    I don’t think the Wire was Westworld’s equivalent in terms of success. That show became more popular once it was already over.

    And it’s ridiculous to claim that S8 is failure if we know it is the season with highest ratings in history of HBO and that it is the most nominated season in history of Emmys. What critical failure?The show was nominated by critics for TCA Award this year again. For S8.

    And since show haters are so aggressive, I think we have classic case of silent majority when we speak about fans. Show haters harras actors, writers, directors, everyone who has anything good to say about S8.

    I see.

    GOT might win everything – it only has to be better than others for this year. GOT does not even need to be good. To repeat – This year is very weak year in terms of the eligible series for awards. Plus it is GOT’s final season. The industry will recognize it for being for a strong series over the years – even if it is slinking away in disarray. (Downton Abbey was a saccharine mess well before its final season – the industry awarded everyone when they finally died a well-deserved death.) Plus we also know GOT excels in many areas and merits awards in these. I am delighted for the cast!

    The ratings? I am included in the ratings……Everyone of these “haters’ are included in the ratings numbers. Lots of people watched the end of LOST…that did not make it a success with fans. Or with critics.

    Just among the regular press – The NYC headline for GOT finale was – GOT comes in for a crash landing. The NY Post (?) suggested that GOT8 should be made ineligible for any awards. The LA Times has some scathing words. The BBC examined if the series would go down ignominy. For the internet – The AV Club gave S8 a series of B for the episodes.

    Let us agree to disagree on the silent majority. If they are silent, I am not sure how we know they exist and have an opinion.

  100. mau:
    Mango,

    I don’t think the Wire was Westworld’s equivalent in terms of success. That show became more popular once it was already over.

    And it’s ridiculous to claim that S8 is failure if we know it is the season with highest ratings in history of HBO and that it is the most nominated season in history of Emmys. What critical failure?The show was nominated by critics for TCA Award this year again. For S8.

    And since show haters are so aggressive, I think we have classic case of silent majority when we speak about fans. Show haters harras actors, writers, directors, everyone who has anything good to say about S8.

    Because this is in fashion now. Outrage and anger. It gets clicks and attention. It’s not enough to criticize something or not like it. Nope everything has to be eviscerated, alongside with anyone who might think differently. GOT Season Eight for example.

  101. loco73,

    There are individuals on this WOTW site that are very positively impressed with D&D and with Season 8 that behave exactly as they report about persons that complain about D&D. Coarse and ill-mannered conduct is on both sides of the discussion.

    Well, in truth, bad manners seem to rule everywhere these days.

  102. Mango: I see.

    The ratings? I am included in the ratings……Everyone of these “haters’ are included in the ratings numbers. Lots of people watched the end of LOST…that did not make it a success with fans. Or with critics.

    Lots of people watched the end of LOST but still they’ve lost 50% of their audience from S1. Last season of Lost had the lowest ratings.

    Just among the regular press – The NYC headline for GOT finale was– GOT comes in for a crash landing. The NY Post (?) suggested that GOT8 should be made ineligible for any awards. The LA Times has some scathing words. The BBC examined if the series would go down ignominy. For the internet – The AV Club gave S8 a series of Bfor the episodes.

    Did you ignore what I said? GoT is nominted BY CRITICS for TCA Award this year.

    Some random articles mean nothing. I could quote Sean T Collins who thinks The Bells was the best GoT episode ever. Or Stephen King who loved S8. Or maybe Stephen King knows nothing about writing as well?

    Let us agree to disagree on the silent majority. If they are silent, I am not sure how we know they exist and have an opinion.

    They are silent because they don’t want to waste their time on pointless discussion. And because show haters have no respect for anyone, they turn everything into memes.The same thing happens when people talk about politics and then they are shocked that their candidate or party lost, because they never met anyone to support the opposite side.

    Just wait for blu ray sales of S8, You will be shocked.

  103. This was my idea to start putting up actresses and actors for the lead categories and not only the supporting categories. It was stolen from me and I never got any credit!

  104. I am pleased that so many of the actors received recognition. I am especially rooting for Alfie Allen and Gwendoline Christie. However I do not understand why Kit Harington (nothing against him) is nominated while Richard Madden who won a golden globe for his performance in Bodyguard is not…

  105. mau,

    Again, to repeat, let me answer the question you had – I responded to the all the nominations (including and the TCA nomination) by saying that GOT8 can win every award this year. To be nominated, you just have to be better than the others eligible in that year. This is a weak year. Plus it is GOT’s final year. Plus GOT’s excels in many things and many of the awards are on merit – I am delighted by the acting recognition. Maise, Gwen, Lena, NCW, Alfie, Peter had something fabulous almost every season. Emilia and Kit did far better than I expected in S8. Sophie is a bit of a surprise but Ok.

    I simply quoted mainly mainstream publications with credible arts sections. Many of this batch have national and international distribution. There are very few of those still available and they rarely all concur. (Collins wrote an article in Vulture that got tart responses from the readers at NY Mag. )

  106. Mango,

    So nothing matters except what you choose to matter?

    Awards from industry, from critics, high rating, nothing matters… But NYC post article matters for some reason, even if they never liked GoT that much in the past.

    But review from person who made Boiled leather is unimportant. I guess he doesn’t know GRRM’s books and themes well enough.

  107. mau,

    Just to add another : Washington Post had a long article explaining to readers why they were so emotionally distressed/drained even weeks after GOT8 had ended.

    I do not want to get into a battle of media reports. Just enough to point out that the upset fans base are not just an isolated set of internet haters.

  108. And argument “everyone thinks like me, so that means I’m right” feels extremely insecure.

    If am the only person on this planet that liked S8, so be it. I don’t need others to validate my opinion. But I’m not the only person.

    S8 is better than any fan theory about ending that I saw.

  109. Mango,

    Those articles are not created in bubbles. They are influenced by Reddit and internet haters. You can see that by arguments they use.

    I guess someone really has to try to assassinate Benioff and Weiss at Comic Con for those journalists to stop using talking points from shithole known as Free Folk.

  110. Mango:
    loco73,

    There are individuals on this WOTW site that are very positively impressed with D&D and with Season 8 that behave exactly as they report about persons that complain about D&D. Coarse and ill-mannered conduct is on both sides of the discussion.

    Well, in truth, bad manners seem to rule everywhere these days.

    Really? With isolated exceptions, I’ve found the comments here to be civil and articulate, on “both sides of the discussion.”

    As for me, I’m a bit schizophrenic: On one hand, I thought Jon got neutered and Bran turned out to be a non-entity. On the other hand, I loved Arya’s S8 story. Strangely enough, the only Arya scene I thought was underwhelming was her “highlight” – when she materialized out of thin air to pulverize NK. I’m in the minority on that one though. The fandom loved it…

    (Link to Burlington Bar, Arya vs. NK S8e3)
    at 1:00

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5wm3fY5pCY

    I was shocked that Arya would have a love scene, but the flirtation and buildup were delightful, and Maisie Williams was wonderful in her interrogation/cross-examination/seduction of Gendry.

    Like every other season, there are some story lines and characters that I personally find fast-forwardable (I’m looking at you, Euron, you cackling clown), and others that I have on a perpetual rewatch loop (“Sandor…Thank you.”)

    It’s the good stuff that I’ll remember and cherish.

  111. Jared:
    What an incredible haul! I’m particularly thrilled for Alfie, Gwendoline, Sophie, and Carice (all first time nominees), three directing noms, and David and Dan being recognized for writing! As someone who absolutely loves Season 8, for my money, Game of Thrones deserves every one of these nominations!

    In fact, *10* acting nominations in total – including the show’s first two ever in the Lead categories for Kit and Emilia – is an astonishingly impressive achievement. Is that a record? I’ll have to check.

    ***

    I’m sure that vote splitting will come into play, but hopefully a few actors will be able to rise to the top and claim the trophy regardless.

    ***

    Congratulations, one and all!

    Vote-splitting will surely dilute the chances of the four GoT nominees in the
    Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category:

    Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones
    Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones
    Lena Headey,Game of Thrones
    Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
    Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
    Julia Garner, Ozark

    I’m an unabashed Maisie Williams/Arya fan. I recognize that other folks are just as passionate about Gwendoline Christie and Sophie Turner. (I adore Lena Headey; it’s just that while she got ripped off for her work in prior seasons, Cersei kind of faded into the background in S8.)

    This is one of those times when the cliched phrase “It’s an honor just to be nominated” is the truth.

  112. mau:
    S8 is better than any fan theory about ending that I saw.

    Amen to that!

    Littlefinger faked his death.. Bran is the Night King.. Bran is every “Brandon” in the story.. The WW kill everyone..

    I mean.. ugh.

  113. Ten Bears,

    I was saying the same thing earlier, but thinking about it more, are the other two nominees very strong contenders? Killing Even is more of a threat to Emilia in the lead actress category isn’t it? I just really haven’t heard that much buzz about the other two actresses, and predictions/odds leading up to the nominations all seemed to favour GoT. And Maisie and Lena were the two clear front-runners, so.. I’m going to stay optimistic. If any of the GoT actresses win it, it will be either Lena or Maisie.

  114. Enharmony1625,

    The lady from Ozark seem to have quite good reviews. I have no idea what her work looks like compared to the GOT contingent. I am happy for the GOT women.

    Pity Rory did not submit as well. I wonder if Peter should have been submitted in lead instead.

  115. Mango:
    loco73,

    There are individuals on this WOTW site that are very positively impressed with D&D and with Season 8 that behave exactly as they report about persons that complain about D&D. Coarse and ill-mannered conduct is on both sides of the discussion.

    Well, in truth, bad manners seem to rule everywhere these days.

    I tend to worry about the blood pressure of some people. 🙂 To some, any type of criticism has them yelling “Haterrrrrr!!!!!” and having some sort of histrionics in which they appear to be fighting only with themselves. 🤪

  116. mau:
    Mango,

    Those articles are not created in bubbles. They are influenced by Reddit and internet haters. You can see that by arguments they use.

    I guess someone really has to try to assassinate Benioff and Weiss at Comic Con for those journalists to stop using talking points from shithole known as Free Folk.

    Interesting. I could have sworn a subReddit influenced the massive fundraisers for Emilia and Kit’s charities, and the appreciation of cast and crew for the hard work put in for Season 8.

    Did a meme hurt you as a child?

  117. Mango,

    I did say “with isolated exceptions.”

    And I simply reminded that “one individual” about the site’s Moderation Policy.

    Now back to Emmy nominees discussion!

  118. Pigeon,

    It’s a place where mods literally had to write warnings several times about death threats and calls for violence.

    Any place where people need to be remainded not to do those things is shithole.

    And they are having another mental breakdown as we speak. I guess they will start petition to cancel Emmys.

  119. mau:
    Pigeon,

    It’s a place where mods literally had to write warnings several times about death threats and calls for violence.

    Sounds like they have good mods that stay on top of the weirdos, so I wouldn’t call that a shithole. I guess I don’t go there often enough to get wrapped up in it. 🙂 To my knowledge, making threats against people you don’t know is not something that a majority would think appropriate. Complaining, venting, petitioning without real expectation of making something actually happen, are all just things people are free to do.

  120. Ten Bears,

    I apprecaited your tactful actions but did not wish react immediately as it may have led to more unsolicited attention from isolated parties.

    My remark was very general for that same reason.

  121. Pigeon,

    If you don’t go somewhere that often, I would perhaps caution you against defending it, without knowing what you’re defending.

  122. Ten Bears,

    Yes, Jon did get nuetered.

    Bran. Geez, after all that “for the throne” advertising.

    Arya did get quite a “glow up”. Maisie had a strong season.

  123. Sue the Fury:
    Pigeon,

    If you don’t go somewhere that often, I would perhaps caution you against defending it, without knowing what you’re defending.

    I’m not defending anywhere. I find it hard to judge forums as a whole, as they are often made up of too many people to negate all for the few rotters. Including this one. I merely meant that if the mods are warning people for saying serious threats, then they’re aware that it is not appropriate. Quite frankly, hearing people banging on endlessly about haters or ass-kissers or whatever gets boring pretty fast on any level.

    Good to know your opinion of it, though.

  124. Lena and Peter will be the only ones to win for acting in my opinion. Pretty nice to see Alfie Allen recognized, finally, though.

  125. Enharmony1625:
    Ten Bears,

    I was saying the same thing earlier, but thinking about it more, are the other two nominees very strong contenders? Killing Even is more of a threat to Emilia in the lead actress category isn’t it? I just really haven’t heard that much buzz about the other two actresses, and predictions/odds leading up to the nominations all seemed to favour GoT. And Maisie and Lena were the two clear front-runners, so.. I’m going to stay optimistic. If any of the GoT actresses win it, it will be either Lena or Maisie.

    I think Emilia has a very decent chance. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer (brilliant!!) may cancel each other out. Plus there’s sympathy for Emilia’s character and Emilia personally for coping with a life-threatening medical condition while making sure the show did go on. And she went from sweet to paranoid to quasi-tyrannical in six episodes. I agree about Lena and Maisie. Increased vote-splitting aside, it’s right that Sophie and Gwen were also recognised. But this was Arya’s year, and not only did Maisie film second longest, but her character displayed the gamut of what a character is capable of. If Maisie chooses Episode 5, where Arya has a mini-arc, it will be hard for anyone to ignore that. But there is also a feeling that Lena is due.

    And Ten Bears, that is a wonderful clip. Re-watching it, I realised that Sandor made a callback–“a bloody wedding”. Beric made a foreshadowing of the next episode–“The Lord of Light has brought us together all the same. This is his moment.” Too right!!

  126. Ten Bears,

    Personally, I thought Lena Headey did an outstanding job this season and is richly deserving of her nomination (among other things, her final scene with Nikolaj made me cry). But I do agree that if vote-splitting manifests itself anywhere, it will most likely be in the Supporting Actress race. While I would love to see Maisie take it (Arya’s arc is my absolute favorite of the season, and I believe that she did her best work of the entire series this year) and would be thrilled for Lena, Gwendoline, or Sophie as well, if I had to be impartial, I’d say that Julia Garner takes advantage of the divided love to slip through and take it. I haven’t watched Ozark, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about her on that show (I did watch her on The Americans, and she was great).

    I’m less sure about the effects of vote-splitting in the other categories where Game of Thrones has multiple nominations. In Supporting Actor, I think that Peter Dinklage have proven that he is so beloved by his peers in the acting branch and that he can rise to victory even when he has competition from one or more of his co-stars (for the record, I’d be happy to see him win again this year – I thought he had an excellent season). And in the Directing race, I think that Miguel Sapochnik is a heavy favorite to win even going up against both David Benioff & D.B Weiss and David Nutter. “The Long Night” is such a technical masterpiece and is so well-represented in the below-the-line categories that I think he’ll cruise to his second win fairly easily. Deservedly so, in my opinion.

  127. Mango,

    I haven’t seen Ozark either, but going by buzz I read in a few publications, it focused pretty heavily on GoT. Particularly Lena and Maisie, both of whom had 6 critics choosing them with 1 for Sophie, and the remaining 9 critics going for the other two nominees.

    Also..

    Arya did get quite a “glow up”. Maisie had a strong season.

    ..you can’t get a “glow up” if you were always awesome! 🙂

  128. So the same four ladies in supporting are nominated for a Saturn Award but for some reason Maisie is in a separate category called “best performance by a young actor in a TV series.”? Maisie is 22 and just 14 months younger than Sophie… and the rest in the category are males, three of which are 26, three years older than Sophie. ?? Odd category separations.

  129. Comment by NCW on his Emmy nomination:

    “It’s wonderful, I feel absolutely brilliant. I was on the phone with Gwendoline [Christie] this morning and we were laughing for a few minutes just in disbelief. For all the actors to be recognized in this final season, it’s been wonderful. It’s the icing on the cake, the cherry on top. Whatever fans feel, there’s no reaction that’s wrong. I get it. They wanted something different and they get upset, but you don’t get that many nominations if the writing isn’t spectacular and it’s been spectacular all eight seasons.”

  130. I’m pleased for GOT to be so well recognised even though it was expected. Looking at the best drama the only one I’ve seen is the BodyGuard which is excellent and stars Richard Madden but I’d be very surprised if it tops GOT. On a side note I didn’t even know Better Call Saul was still running and had assumed that spin off was only a season or two long.

    I’m also hoping Emilia, Alfie and Maisie all get their proposed awards and would say Ramin is a cert for the musical score.

  131. mau,

    I think it’s still a crime that the leftovers never won anything. Season 1 was ok. But season 2 and 3 was one of the best things I ever watched on Television. I would rate those seasons 9,5/10

    mau,

    Agree, and I really think they do care a lot. GoT was their first big project. Even the actors said and the crew that they care a lot. If they didn’t care they also wouldn’t let their crew work that hard if it was just a project they wanted to out of.
    Or else they would have given the last season to another writer. Many shows does that. Look for instance supernatural where the main writer were absent for years.

    And also it will make or break them, career wise. If GoT was a failure in the last season, a real failure as some fans claim. It seems that Disney still have faith in them, because they probably liked what they brought at the end of GoT and they don’t fear losing viewers by putting D&D with their project. Else we already would have heard something about budget cuts in their project, or some actors leaving or something.

    And I still have to agree with that the last season is rushed but that comes that a last season is always much faster paced, or much slower paced then the previous ones. Personally I like it when they are slower like Breaking Bad. The action is in the mid seasons, and the slow pace at the beginning and end. But still GoT season 8 brought us many slow paced beautiful scenes.

  132. Clob,

    Agree, I think Maisie is still robbed that she wasn’t nominated for the main actress. I think she was the real character that moved the season from point a to point b to point c etc in season 8. But luckily for Emilia she is in the support category. But for me both deserve the win.

    Mango,

    Because now they are broaden their chances. Back then they backed up sopranos fully and wanted to let the sopranos win all. And that’s also because of it’s Succes. Westworld is just like GoT viewed by many. It’s a know phenomenal. The Wire was not. The Emmy thinks about quality, HBO thinks about subscriptions. Their biggest show winning will grand them more subscriptions. The wire would not have resulted in that.

    And time changed. Back then it was all about watching your TV-screen. So 1 nomination for their biggest show was put in to make sure more people would take a subscription. And a good Maffia show sounds better for advertisement then another cop show.
    And now we have something else, we have streaming. People binge watch shows. Take a subscription for a month and watch one show in that month from beginning to end, or per season. Meaning their way of advertising needs to change. It’s not about the one big show anymore. It’s about making sure if that big show is not on the air the money keeps flowing. Meaning that as many as possible shows needs to get award nominations.

  133. Mango,

    It’s a good thing you name lost because lost is still being praised by critics and professionals. It’s also a class on many scriptwriter colleges and literature colleges. One of them is: Vanderbilt University.
    People watch and analyse lost to find the perfect way to portrait multiple kinds of characters, religious vs science debate, and other themes that that show had. Even the last season and the ending is praised by those schools who learn their students how to make a good show or book.

    It’s also a show that started a new trend of tv-shows. Many are based on LOST and LOST was the first of that kind of TV-shows. It opened a door to many new shows. And still LOST have first place when it comes to that kind of shows.

    Same with GoT I expect that GoT will also be a course on universities about writing for TV or movies. And it’s also the show that made it possible that many other shows are being made, and I expect like lost in the end it will keep its title as the best of that kind of TV-show.

  134. Ten Bears,

    And it all comes down to Arya, isn’t it Ten Bears?

    mau,

    I would fill in that petition just to make fun of petitions. Already 100 million people filled in the petition to re-shoot the latest edition of the Emmy Awards.

    Pigeon,

    Well I would advise you to stay away from 9gag. If somebody have anything positive to say about GoT season 8 they get bullied until they 1. Delete their positive opinion or 2. change it to a negative one.
    And the problem with 9gag is that the mods are the people themselves. You upvote and downvote, with to much downvote your comment will stay at the bottom of the comment list.

  135. kevin1989:
    Mango,

    It’s a good thing you name lost because lost is still being praised by critics and professionals. It’s also a class on many scriptwriter colleges and literature colleges. One of them is: Vanderbilt University.
    People watch and analyse lost to find the perfect way to portrait multiple kinds of characters, religious vs science debate, and other themes that that show had. Even the last season and the ending is praised by those schools who learn their students how to make a good show or book.

    It’s also a show that started a new trend of tv-shows. Many are based on LOST and LOST was the first of that kind of TV-shows. It opened a door to many new shows. And still LOST have first place when it comes to that kind of shows.

    Same with GoT I expect that GoT will also be a course on universities about writing for TV or movies. And it’s also the show that made it possible that many other shows are being made, and I expect like lost in the end it will keep its title as the best of that kind of TV-show.

    I only know about the fan reaction to LOST, not the industry or critical reaction so cannot speculate how universities and drama schools will handle it. I take your word on it.

    The “critical reaction” to an art work is the best indication of how it will be remembered in history and if/how it will be taught in schools.

    Simply because most books on the artistic history are writing by critics and they serve as the “memory” and “keepers of standards” in the field. The critics and academics are often the same community. There is an active conversation btw critics and academia – well, moreso than academia and the industry.

    And when I say “critics” – this is a wide number of people with some much more credible than others so check the “quality” and reputation of your critic. Read across several and read their work over years and over many different art products. Read their books if possible, see what academic programs they work in etc. Some critics you will hate, some hate but respect, some you will love and respect. For example, I really like Roger Ebert as his own writing was so wonderful, I read it even if I did not see the movie.

    So yes, GOT will be studied in schools – both strong seasons and the abysmal final season. It will be compared with Peter Jackson emotionally satisfying (but not perfect) telling of Tolkien’s masterpiece as well.

    (Sorry in advance, I am trying to wind down my posting. It is getting out of hand and I have work and summer fun – so any response will be slow.)

  136. I’m more and more starting to think that GoT will actually win Emmy for writing and that will be one big “fuck you” to internet from industry. A lot of writers and showrunners have good personal relationship with D&D and they are likeable guys, so who knows. I think petition and online harassment will actually help them.

    I don’t think writers want to let these people dictate things in entertainment industry.

  137. Iris,

    Gwen linked a Variety article on Twitter in which she also had a response to her nomination (along with many other nominees, but Gwen and NCW were the only GoT actors who had a quote).

  138. Mango: Then there was a rating shift for the final season. You describe a negative campaign. Some fans were passionate enough to “pound it” negatively but fans that loved it did not respond to make compensating positive ratings. Perhaps there were not enough of them? Or they were not passionate enough? That passion and passion “gap” alone is some information input.

    This is not true at all. I am a very passionate fan of Game of Thrones, and I loved season 8, but I am not going to create petitions are create fake accounts to increase the voting ratings on imDb and other websites. I expressed my passion and love for an episode, season, the finale etc on twitter, on here.. and that’s it. I am not going to stoop to the level of those bitter angry 5% of the fandom fans who created multiple accounts to try and destroy the show on the websites. It is ridiculous what was done. Some people forget this is a TV show and not a real thing and it takes over their lives.But saying that the people who loved the season were not as passionate about the show as the ones who hated it is completely incorrect.

  139. kevin1989:
    mau,
    I think it’s still a crime that the leftovers never won anything. Season 1 was ok. But season 2 and 3 was one of the best things I ever watched on Television. I would rate those seasons 9,5/10

    The Leftovers is great! It didn’t fully sink in for me until my second viewing though. The acting is wonderful all around (especially Carrie Coon), and oh.. the music!

  140. Dee Stark: This is not true at all. I am a very passionate fan of Game of Thrones, and I loved season 8, but I am not going to create petitions are create fake accounts to increase the voting ratings on imDb and other websites. I expressed my passion and love for an episode, season, the finale etc on twitter, on here.. and that’s it. I am not going to stoop to the level of those bitter angry 5% of the fandom fans who created multiple accounts to try and destroy the show on the websites. It is ridiculous what was done. Some people forget this is a TV show and not a real thing and it takes over their lives.But saying that the people who loved the season were not as passionate about the show as the ones who hated it is completely incorrect.

    Perhaps I was unclear in my writing – the question was if the fans that loved it were not passionate enough to fight back by pounding the rating sites in the opposite positive direction, strongly expressing their love and joy at the wonderful product and showing their gratitude?

    It was not an incorrect statement – it was a question.

    I myself did not rate, or twit, or sign petitions.

  141. Mango,

    It’s not a question of being passionate enough. Only entitled f*ckwit babies spend their time creating fake accounts to tank the ratings of a show because it didn’t give them what they wanted. Doing the opposite to “compensate” for the ratings dive is just as ridiculous, immature, and a waste of time.

  142. KIT/EMILIA/NIKOLAJ/MAISIE/CARICE/NUTTER/D&D/RILEYet.al./FREEMAN/KIMMELet.al./NINAGOLD!!!!

    (also WAY TO GO on that nom Alfie!! Too bad that you, like Lena, only had like 4 scenes this season)…

  143. Mango,

    Well the answer is, no we are passionate, but just dont waste time on that. lol

    However this is the problem with society now…. people who have an opinion (on anything) feel the need to express it (which is fine) but make sure its in your face type of expression.

  144. Honestly I am very happy for all. I really hope Emilia wins. And from the supporting I think Maisie deserves it sooooooooooooo much. Her range of emotions this season was just phenomenal and she made me feel things.

  145. Dee Stark:
    Mango,

    Well the answer is, no we are passionate, but just dont waste time on that. lol

    However this is the problem with society now…. people who have an opinion (on anything) feel the need to express it (which is fine) but make sure its in your face type of expression.

    People vary. Many would consider chatting on a website about a TV series to be stupid and time-wasting.

    Protests and Counter protesting has a long tradition – usually in street marches. But electronic versions are similar. People want to show their passion for whatever.

  146. Finally, Alfie! His work on this show has been just spectacular. I know it’s a longshot, but I’m really really hoping that he gets the recognition that he deserves for his portrayal of Theon. Just breathtaking work.

  147. Mango,

    So you dont think that creating multiple fake accounts just to rate a show lower many times because you only get one shot is ridiculous?

  148. kevin1989: Westworld is just like GoT viewed by many. It’s a know phenomenal. The Wire was not.

    I’d just say hold on a bit with those statements.

    Westworld isn’t nearly “like GoT” in viewership or widespread, worldwide popularity. The first two seasons only pulled in an average of about 1.5 million in the US initial HBO airing, was considerably less than GoT across all platforms, and actually declined on average from S1 to S2. It hasn’t produced yet like the flagship HBO needs now that GoT is done. Lovers of the show may claim it is, but we know what a “hit show” can do and WW isn’t doing it.

    At the time The Wire was on, like The Sopranos, viewership wasn’t spread around so much, but that helps with comparisons between shows of the same period. The Sopranos was their flagship and viewership record holder before GoT. Its S1 was 3.46, peaked at 10.99 with S4 and finished at 8.23. The Wire actually had really good (HBO) numbers for the time, just not to the same level as Sop. They generally averaged around 3.5-4 million before the final season. Considering the small production budget and subject matter that was pretty good when it aired, even before people started saying it was one of the best shows years later. So for the time and adjusted by what was available for viewing, I’d say The Wire could be argued as comparable to Westworld.

  149. Dee Stark:
    Mango,

    So you dont think that creating multiple fake accounts just to rate a show lower many times because you only get one shot is ridiculous?

    It is dishonest/unethical. Many consider it harmless but it best not done.

    Over the years, it is likely that GOT has benefited/suffered from this type of activity. The ratings were perhaps always too high anyway maybe inflated by this same type of activity.

    The GOT fans have supported the show in the past even when they did not get the story they wanted. Ned died, Oberyn died, Stannis died, Robb died – this fan base has rated these episodes well even though I do not think many wanted/loved these plots developments. So when they revolt – something has notable occurred. It may be overwrought and heightened but many of these fans have really been an asset to GOT for years. Many buy lots of stuff, they make stuff, they turn up to participate in all kinds of HBO promotional stuff. This passion swings both ways.

  150. Mango,

    We understand, and it’s sunny warm weather, so best to enjoy that.

    I have to say I found the lotr movies perfect from beginning to end. I have no problem at all with the adaption. It come as close as perfection as perfection can come in Television.

    As for remembered. I have to say that if you count lost and GoT. I can expect people to talk about them in 20 years. People are still talking about LOST in many places. But not so the shows that came after and tried to be like LOST. I have to say I think the ending of LOST was better then that of GoT mostly because the final of lost was 100 minutes and focus on 1 obstacle to taken care of and the rest was character moments. (Not saying I think the final season was that on par what season 1 till 3 or even 4 and 5 was but for me the final itself was brilliant), GoT could have had an even better ending if it had 100 minutes.

    Dee Stark,

    Agree, and the problem is that the people for who GoT was their lives, the actors, writers, directors, crew etc are the ones feeling that bitterness. They live that live, poured their soul and work in it. Do I think it’s understandable that people dislike the season and rating the episode a 5 or 6, yes, if you didn’t like it like the previous seasons. But I can’t understand why people would rate it an 1. That means that every other show out there is better. I mean is for instance shows like CSI who got many high rated episodes better then what GoT season 8 gave us? Does writing deserve 100% of the episode rating? For me it’s half. It’s the most important thing of TV. But directing, acting etc is for me the rest of the rating. Meaning that if the writing is shit, and the rest is great I would at least rate it a 5 or 6.

  151. Enharmony1625,

    True, the build up of the moments, the ending where you can put your own spin on it without it being an open ending. I mean do we believe Nora in the end her tale? or do we think she lied to make peace with Kevin and did Kevin knew that and just went along with it so he can live happily ever after with Nora. For me that’s the side I took. Or episode 2×06 or 3×07 Did it really happen or was it all in Kevin’s mind.

    And what is your favorite episode? For me the final itself tied with 3×06. That episode really got me. Laurie was also my favorite. I could most relate to her.

  152. Mango,

    Why would I waste my afternoon making 10/100 fake accounts? Better things to do. And the worst part is if we did it, they will just make more accounts till the episode rating is again below 5.

    But question what do you rate the episodes of season 8? 1? 5? or more 6/7 still a positive rating only less then season 1 till 7?

    Dee Stark,

    Did you saw her facial expression in the bells? (you probably did hehehe). That was just top notch acting. Or her scene with Jon in 8×04 begging not to tell Sansa that shifting from one emotion to the next. Or her beginning of episode 5, that was not just make-up that was acting as well. Or episode 6, I mean that was a moment that I really believed Dany was in love with Jon. She sold all Dany’s facets perfectly.

    Clob,

    I didn’t know that the wire had that many. But still the reason changed when back then it was on tv and they needed to promote one big show, their biggest where it all was put on the win. Now it’s all about variety, more show being nominated the better, because more shows get in the news and being bingewatched.

  153. What the heck is this list? A lot of these nominations are in no way deserved. The most ridiculous one is the writing nomination for the finale episode. Hahahaha! It’s as if they are trolling the fans. They could have picked any of the first three episodes for writing and it would have made more sense.

    As for the acting nods, there are WAY too many. Most of the GoT people on there do not deserve it for THIS season. The only explanation I can find is that they are doing like the Oscars did with LoTR Return of the King… giving awards for the entirety of the legacy. Looking at it that way, Alfie, Nikolaj and some of the others do deserve to be nominated. I just do not know if this is how Emmies should be handled.

    A few nominations I am glad to see include Djawadi, Sapochnik, and the entire crew for costumes, makeup, stunt, cinematography, etc. 🙂 These guys deserve to get recognized despite the terrible writing in the last season.

    Overall, I am quite surprised. I thought, if anything, that the Emmies would be even tougher on the last season than us fans. I really am not sure what to think about this.

  154. Mango,

    Over the years, it is likely that GOT has benefited/suffered from this type of activity. The ratings were perhaps always too high anyway maybe inflated by this same type of activity.

    This had never occurred to me. It may well have happened, and some episode ratings are indeed a bit higher than I had expected. But, honestly I don’t recall ever seeing fans urge others to UPvote on IMDB or RT. Not even on Reddit, which is very volatile and susceptible to manipulation calls. BTW, you’re right that most fans have been steadfast in their support, even when disappointed. It does swing both ways. Or it did. 🙂

  155. I’m happy for all the actors, especially Alfie and Gwen, who have been amazing and amazingly underestimated throughout the series-despite their acting chops. I definitely think Emilia worked her butt off this last season, so I’m glad she was nominated.

    I really wish A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms had been nominated for the writing award, since imo that was the best written episode of 8 hands down. To say I’m shocked that it’s the final-for writing specifically-is an understatement. It doesn’t engender that much trust in the process, to be honest. (Not saying this to fight, that’s just how I feel)

    I also wish Rory had been nominated. But that’s just favoritism. I miss that guy. 🙂

  156. Enharmony1625,

    I’m actually watching The Leftovers now. Tried initially when it aired, and quit somewhere in the third episode. On the rewatch, I liked the first 3 episodes a bit better, but 4 and 5 were meh. Now I’m on the Nora goes to the conference episode and that’s better, though I still don’t know if I’m that gripped. I’m going to force myself through the first season though since I heard it gets really good.

  157. Reek:
    Zalos,

    Maybe youre wrong

    I love WoTW. I have been visiting it for years. I have nothing but respect for the people working here. However, a lot of the posters here are obviously positively biased toward the show. It is a good thing to give credits to the show when it does great, but it is also a good thing to criticize elements of the show when they are simply not on par.

    I have been a huge fan of the novels and the show for over 5 years. I have a lot of love for the story, the world, the characters, etc. I am not just a ‘hater’. I am consciously admitting the flaws of a show I love. In this case, season 8, the show does not deserve that much praise for the writing and the acting.

    Consequently, some of these nominations make little sense, unless, like I said above, they are nominating actors for their job on the entire show.

  158. I’ve changed my mind. I will not be neutral. I am rooting against D & D in the key categories. I could accept the catastrophe that S8 was if not for the lack of effort, and hence forth I hope that the most deserving shows and actors / actresses take home the hardware.

  159. Mango: something has notable occurred

    Something notable has occurred in that the people didn’t get the ending they wanted.

  160. Zalos: Most of the GoT people on there do not deserve it for THIS season. The only explanation I can find is that they are doing like the Oscars did with LoTR Return of the King… giving awards for the entirety of the legacy.

    I assume that’s what’s going on, I have thought this would happen for a couple seasons. I mean clearly Lena Headey and Alfie Allen deserve to have won for their work previous seasons, not this one just because they happen to have died. :p

    However, I do think this was the strongest season by far for one nominee – Emilia Clark.

  161. Stark Raven’ Rad,

    Yes, he/she is right about the supportiveness of fans (to some extent) there was an outcry during the season 5 stuff which was too much as well.

    But I think there is a difference here in that this is the ENDING — endings people have imagined for years and years and theories and speculation. And none of them panned out.

  162. kevin1989: Dee Stark,
    Did you saw her facial expression in the bells? (you probably did hehehe). That was just top notch acting. Or her scene with Jon in 8×04 begging not to tell Sansa that shifting from one emotion to the next. Or her beginning of episode 5, that was not just make-up that was acting as well. Or episode 6, I mean that was a moment that I really believed Dany was in love with Jon. She sold all Dany’s facets perfectly.

    She was amazing!

  163. Dee Stark:
    Stark Raven’ Rad,

    Yes, he/she is right about the supportiveness of fans (to some extent) there was an outcry during the season 5 stuff which was too much as well.

    But I think there is a difference here in that this is the ENDING — endings people have imagined for years and years and theories and speculation. And none of them panned out.

    Is this the reason that you think it was great – because you got the end you wanted?

    Look at this way – the deaths of these characters also closed off the ending that these fans may have wanted. For example, many fans wanted Stannis to become king at the end of the series. His death meant they would not get the ending to the series that they wanted. Is that not clear?

    Let me say this – yes, at S8 many fans did not get the exact ending they wanted. This undoubtedly played a role in the response.

    In fairness, fans also mocked the S7 Beyond the Wall episode and that was before S8 ending became apparent. If you ask among the upset fans, I do not think you could get a single ending agreed by everyone. However, there is some agreement among these diverse fans that much S8 made no sense.

    Just to mention a few things – Did you see the Dothraki disappear? Beinoff said in the inside video that we have just seen the end of the Dothraki. Yet, later they reappeared and kept multiplying. Jon rode a dragon by himself and no-one seemed to think it meant anything. Varys, Tyrion saw this happen in Episode 1 and it did not occur to them that he must be a Targ. Tyrion!!!! The smart guy.

    In the end, the Starks did OK – up to end of Season 7 the majority of fans loved/liked all or even one of the Starks. Arya is one of the most beloved characters. Jon is loved. Bran was just Bran. Davos and Pod were well-liked. Daenerys has always been lower in popularity, even hated by a good many fans. Jaime was divisive. Everyone expected Cersei to go. So from a character point of view, the endings should not be that unpopular.

    So why are many fans in revolt? It will be a long time before consensus. But I think we should be willing to listen. And it is not only because they did not get the ending they wanted.

  164. kevin1989,

    Yes………….I am enjoying summer..

    I know many considered LOTR to be perfect. A few thought it was too long or have minor nitpicks. I think Tolkien’s son/family had some complaints – I am not sure what.

    I did not see any of LOST. I just heard the furor at the end. Actually many non-viewers of GOT also have only heard the fuss.

  165. Mango: Is this the reason that you think it was great – because you got the end you wanted?

    Absolutely not, but there are some people who theorized heavily, spent hours, days, years, discussing the theories, and an ending they didn’t want or expect was too much to handle. I, for one, had discussed how it may end for each character, and I was completely off, but for me, I think I have a more easy going character then some (not all) where I accept what they have given me as the ending and I am happy with it.

    Mango: Look at this way – the deaths of these characters also closed off the ending that these fans may have wanted. For example, many fans wanted Stannis to become king at the end of the series. His death meant they would not get the ending to the series that they wanted. Is that not clear?

    Yes, ending for these characters, but not ending for the show, there is a big difference… and especially after years and years with specific characters who made it all the way to the end.. it is easier to accept something like the death of Ned because you know there is much more to come, or the red wedding, or Stannis.. etc. I am having trouble explaining what I mean.. it makes more sense in my head haha 🙂

    Mango: Just to mention a few things – Did you see the Dothraki disappear? Beinoff said in the inside video that we have just seen the end of the Dothraki. Yet, later they reappeared and kept multiplying. Jon rode a dragon by himself and no-one seemed to think it meant anything. Varys, Tyrion saw this happen in Episode 1 and it did not occur to them that he must be a Targ. Tyrion!!!! The smart guy.

    I never said the season was perfect. I think if they had one more episode at least, it would have been close to perfect.. a little bit more time, a few more key scenes, but I dont think the things you mentioned warranted the reaction that resulted, the 4/10 on imdb… the tantrums etc… I am not saying that people aren’t allowed to dislike or criticize, but the way things unfolded, the petitions, the destruction of the show through ratings was so childish, uncalled for, and very disrespectful.

    I truly believe that the fan revolt I am referring to is because people didn’t get what they wanted in the end.

  166. LatrineDiggerBrian,

    It gets better and better. But it depends what your focus is. the mystery or the characters. It’s all about the characters with the leftovers.

    Dee Stark,

    This. Most of the complains are that Dany would never turn evil, she is the hero. So only an ending where she would be the big hero would be good in their minds. And the WW treat should have been until the final episode. Bran King have been made fun off. So that’s not a HOW but a WHAT. People wanted Jon to be King. Even if the writers added mulitple scenes to let the story breath more, or even have 2 seasons of 6 episodes 1 for the WW and one the rest. I think people would give the final episode a bad rating just because Dany turn dark and Bran is King.

    Of course season 8 has it’s problems I wish they would have avoided. I’m one of the many that thinks episode 4 should have been 2 episodes long of at least 60 minutes. And I think episode 1 and 2 could have been better if 2 or 3 smaller scenes with the WW treat were involved. And where that problem lies, who knows. Is it that the writers forget to add that in their scripts. Is it that there was not time or budget to shoot some scenes. Was it that the CGI team couldn’t finish it on time because GoT was pushed 1 week earlier then was planned. They told us that they would work at least till 31 of May. Or did HBO put a runtime limit on the episodes of 80 minutes with one exception of episode 3. (Maybe they wanted episode 3 to be the longest episode next to the longest battle). Who knows. Maybe all. I’m not going to blame D&D for it, they poor their hearts and soul into it.
    And to quote Gandalf: “Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. Even the very wise cannot see all ends”

    So maybe the scripts are in fact brilliant and when we read the script of the final we understand why it’s being nominated (for the ones disliking the final). And also it’s about if the writer gave enough directions etc for the director to follow. How better that is done the bigger the chance they have of winning.

  167. I am so glad to see the overwhelming number of Emmy nominations for the final season of GOT. The entire series, in my view, revolutionized serial TV production in every manner conceivable–acting, set design, make up, costuming, music….and the final season 8 took it all and hit it out of the park.

    I thank everyone associated with the series, both in front and behind the cameras, for providing all of us a very memorable experience.

  168. Reminds me of the oscars when the third Lord of the rings was nominated for everything. Yet it was the weakest of the movies. That silly ghost army is simply abysmal.

  169. Mango: . Jon rode a dragon by himself and no-one seemed to think it meant anything. Varys, Tyrion saw this happen in Episode 1 and it did not occur to them that he must be a Targ. Tyrion!!!! The smart guy.

    It doesn’t follow. There had been dragon riders who were not Targaryens, and Varys and Tyrion would know that from history.

  170. Enharmony1625:
    Comment by NCW on his Emmy nomination:

    Enharmony1625:
    Comment by NCW on his Emmy nomination:

    No surprise. NCW is on record as saying that (before filming started) that after he read the scripts for season 8 he called D&D to congratulate them on their scripts.
    I think GOT is going to win Emmys for Series, Directing and writing for the final season. I think Peter and Lena will win Emmys. Heck, I even think Emilia has a chance to win for Best Actress. LOL.

  171. kevin1989:

    Pigeon,

    Well I would advise you to stay away from 9gag. If somebody have anything positive to say about GoT season 8 they get bullied until they 1. Delete their positive opinion or 2. change it to a negative one.
    And the problem with 9gag is that the mods are the people themselves. You upvote and downvote, with to much downvote your comment will stay at the bottom of the comment list.

    Really? Ick. I’ve only ever been there briefly when someone has sent me a link to a funny animal gif. Lol. I didn’t know there was discussion part. 4chan is another one I am not a fan of. Freefolk I’ve found a few good discussions and funny things as well as some dummies (and the other GoT subreddits I ventured a look at seem a bit mad), I used to post a bit there, but honestly I can’t keep up with even forums I really like (haven’t kept up with the Bloodmoon posts here because I just don’t have time yet). Just too much. This site is the only page I make a point of checking in on.

  172. mau:
    And argument “everyone thinks like me, so that means I’m right” feels extremely insecure.

    If am the only person on this planet that liked S8, so be it. I don’t need others to validate my opinion. But I’m not the only person.

    S8 is better than any fan theory about ending that I saw.

    Well if it makes you feel any better, I loved Season Eight as well. The show ended the way it needed to and according to each character’s arc and journey. It was a bittersweet, unsettling and incomplete ending. Much like life is. I couldn’t have asked for more.

    PS I think that Tyrion’s “Ask me again in the years..” to Jon, might hopefully mean perhaps we get a limited series or movie follow-up some years down the road…after all, look at “Deadwood”!!! Plus the simmering and ongoing rumours about a “ROME” movie… keeping fingers crossed…

  173. Grandmaester Flash: It doesn’t follow.There had been dragon riders who were not Targaryens, and Varys and Tyrion would know that from history.

    Thanks, I do not know the lore.

    So it should be …might be a Targ. No-one even commented on it, not even Dany. Tyrion should have noted it as well.

    There are several lists on Episode by episode ridiculous things that occurred so the general point stands.

  174. LatrineDiggerBrian,

    So you don’t care who wins so long as GOT loses? Very mature. Also, they spent an extra year working on season 8 so they could make it the best season possible. You may not have liked the end result but to say there was a lack of effort is absurd, especially after the documentary was released.

  175. George:
    No surprise. NCW is on record as saying that (before filming started) that after he read the scripts for season 8 he called D&D to congratulate them on their scripts.
    I think GOT is going to win Emmys for Series, Directing and writing for the final season. I think Peter and Lena will win Emmys. Heck, I even think Emilia has a chance to win for Best Actress. LOL.

    Yes, he has said that. I heard him say it during his campaign for the Emmy nominations last year.

    NCW is also on record complaining about his character’s storyline for many years.

    Now that GOT is over, I would expect that he will continue to defend the series’ as long possible especially when he is with American media. It is the professional thing to do if he does not wish to impair his career.

    Plus NCW was involved the fuss around the God’s of Egypt so this is not his first time in the rodeo. He is happy to help with the damage control.

    However, when he spoke in Cologne, let us say he was more frank without being unprofessional. His comments made me chuckle.

    Last week, NCW’s stand-in (Matt) did a written Q&A and contributed some behind the scenes’ description of the responses to the S8 script. He said the main response was resigned acceptance from the principals. Matt was scheduled to do a live Q&A but when he appeared he said HBO lawyers had contacted him and he could not speak.
    It was amusing but I was sort of sorry for him. He looked quite scared.

  176. Mango:
    The GOT fans have supported the show in the past even when they did not get the story they wanted. Ned died, Oberyn died, Stannis died, Robb died – this fan base has rated these episodes well even though I do not think many wanted/loved these plots developments.So when they revolt – something has notable occurred. It may be overwrought and heightened but many of these fans have really been an asset to GOT for years. Many buy lots of stuff, they make stuff, they turn up to participate in all kinds of HBO promotional stuff. This passion swings both ways.

    I think it’s worth nothing that emotions are very different when at the end of a story versus the beginning or middle. Because when there is a lot more story to tell, there is still hope; there is till something to hold on to. When it’s over.. that’s it. And that’s a different emotional state to be in, especially with a show like this where fans have become so heavily invested.

    That being said, the show (and books) did lose people after Ned’s death and the Red Wedding. I’ve heard from several people online, and in my life that quit when these events happened.

  177. Dee Stark,

    Fair enough.

    And I get the point about “the end ending” events being different from earlier events. This is why if you are going to make a character go mad – please make sure it is clearly understood that a mental breakdown is in process from earlier seasons. Do a maniac episode early on so it is cLEAR. As clear as Cersei is a bad person. Not subtle. Do not leave the character’s fans with nowhere to go at the very end. They feel betrayed.

  178. Enharmony1625: I think it’s worth nothing that emotions are very different when at the end of a story versus the beginning or middle. Because when there is a lot more story to tell, there is still hope; there is till something to hold on to. When it’s over.. that’s it. And that’s a different emotional state to be in, especially with a show like this where fans have become so heavily invested.

    That being said, the show (and books) did lose people after Ned’s death and the Red Wedding. I’ve heard from several people online, and in my life that quit when these events happened.

    lol. we were posting this at the same time.

  179. kevin1989,

    I loved the ending of that show! It was just the right amount of ambiguity. It wasn’t so much “explained” as it was giving us enough to form our own interpretation and meaning. And I mean.. the intro song of season 2 says it all: “let the mystery be”.

    In terms of favourite episode, I’ve only wanted the series through twice, so I can’t pick a single one out. The hotel episode sticks out, but there are so many other good ones. I have some favourite moments though. Two in particular (and I’ll put it in spoiler tags since some have mentioned they are in the process of watching, or will watch it)..

    Nora sitting in the hotel room when the sprinklers go off, and we see a profile view of her with the water running off her face like tears (with “Take on Me” by Aha playing). Brilliant!

    The “beach ball” scene with Nora, Laurie, and Matt, where Nora wonders why the usher popped the beach ball when all people were doing was having fun. So good!

    My favourite character is Nora. I just loved her depth, complexity, struggle, and her feistiness.

  180. LatrineDiggerBrian,

    Try to stick it out at least partway into season 2 if you can, because that season is fantastic. As I said, I wasn’t immediately hooked, but once things picked up in season 2 I was very intrigued. Once it finished, I thought about it and thought about it and decided I had to watch it again to really take it all in. It’s a deep show.

  181. Mango:
    In the end, the Starks did OK – up to end of Season 7 the majority of fans loved/liked all or even one of the Starks.Arya is one of the most beloved characters. Jon is loved. Bran was just Bran. Davos and Pod were well-liked. Daenerys has always been lower in popularity, even hated by a good many fans. Jaime was divisive. Everyone expected Cersei to go. So from a character point of view, the endings should not be that unpopular.

    So why are many fans in revolt? It will be a long time before consensus. But I think we should be willing to listen.And it is not only because they did not get the ending they wanted.

    Yes, the Starks certainly did well in the end, and for the most part fans loved the endings for Arya and Sansa. That includes reactions I’ve watched and Twitter. I remember seeing a Tweet that was ecstatic that Arya got the “Elissa Farman” ending and a bunch of fans jumped on that Tweet to express their happiness at it. All the Sansa defenders are over the moon that she’s QitN.

    Jon is perhaps a little more mixed being “exiled” and all, but most of the issues about the ending rest with Bran being King and Dany burning KL. And it’s more nuanced than just not liking the ending. I’ve read and watched fans comment on that they liked where things ended up, but they needed more time to get there. In that way, it’s not so much the actual endings that fans have issue with.

  182. mau:
    Zalos,

    And who decides which elements of the show arenot on par?

    Everyone can decide. You shouldn’t try to use that argument as a good majority of the fans are very unhappy with the episodes. A lot of those fans exaggerate the flaws and pick at every little mistake, but there are still quite a few elements in season 8 that are impossible to defend logically. I shall not go on about that here as this is supposed to be for celebrating the nominations, but do not act like the final season is a masterpiece and deserves the highest praises.

  183. Enharmony1625: think it’s worth nothing that emotions are very different when at the end of a story versus the beginning or middle. Because when there is a lot more story to tell, there is still hope; there is till something to hold on to. When it’s over.. that’s it. And that’s a different emotional state to be in, especially with a show like this where fans have become so heavily invested.
    That being said, the show (and books) did lose people after Ned’s death and the Red Wedding. I’ve heard from several people online, and in my life that quit when these events happened.

    That’s exactly what I was trying to explain to Mango. Haha Thanks

  184. Mango,

    I believe that we had small signs of Dany only seeing one way, and that way being her way.. we have seen it since season 1…. but it was overshadowed by her goodness (which was always her end goal — what she believes to be good) and she had people around her that made her think reasonably… and SOMETIMES take different courses of action like Missendei, Selmy, and most of all Jorah… at the time of the Bells, she had just recently lost Jorah, Missendei, and TWO of her dragons… the madness prevailed.
    Its funny because on this website, before season 8.. even before season 7… there was discussions about Dany going mad… so some people had already seen it come based on her actions up to season 6…

    Anyway, ive had this discussion so many times… this is how I see it and it makes sense to me. If it didn’t to you that’s fine, we dont all have to be or think the same 🙂

  185. Enharmony1625: on is perhaps a little more mixed being “exiled” and all, but most of the issues about the ending rest with Bran being King and Dany burning KL. And it’s more nuanced than just not liking the ending. I’ve read and watched fans comment on that they liked where things ended up, but they needed more time to get there. In that way, it’s not so much the actual endings that fans have issue with.

    The one that boggles my mind the most is people wanting Jon to be king – that would make absolutely no sense.. knowing the way Jon is

  186. Hi Dee, I was disappointed Jon didn’t become King because I felt he was the best candidate but ultimately his ending made a lot of sense in the greater narrative in my view.

    I also recall you and I discussing Dany becoming the Mad Queen/becoming a villain way back before S7 and there were plenty of other contributors who saw it coming:-) I do find it strange how people suddenly now dismiss it as coming from nowhere even though I do recognise it could have been better set up.

    P.s glad you continue to contribute Dee, we don’t always agree on everything but your positivity shines like a bright light in these threads:)

  187. Dee Stark:
    Mango,

    I believe that we had small signs of Dany only seeing one way, and that way being her way.. we have seen it since season 1…. but it was overshadowed by her goodness (which was always her end goal — what she believes to be good) and she had people around her that made her think reasonably… and SOMETIMES take different courses of action like Missendei, Selmy, and most of all Jorah… at the time of the Bells, she had just recently lost Jorah, Missendei, and TWO of her dragons… the madness prevailed.
    Its funny because on this website, before season 8.. even before season 7… there was discussions about Dany going mad… so some people had already seen it come based on her actions up to season 6…

    Anyway, ive had this discussion so many times… this is how I see it and it makes sense to me. If it didn’t to you that’s fine, we dont all have to be or think the same

    I thought Daenerys was overpowered and a threat to Westeros. I opposed the Targ restoration and thought she had no right to the throne. I found her “bend the knee” and determination to rule to be tyrannical. I had long arguments with fellow posters on Daenerys being a fiend.

    Yet, I was stunned by the direction that her character took.

    Cersei had raised an argument about Daenerys as the Mad Queen – this led to a fan discussion of madness. This exchange was that Cersei would be more likely to go mad as Dany did not seem mad at all. (I did not think either would go mad.)

    The writing was abysmal. As I read elsewhere “clues are not characterization”. As I also saw elsewhere the biggest battle in S8 was between the actors and the script.

  188. Jon Snowed,

    Awww thank you for the very kind words, so sweet

    Jon Snowed: Hi Dee, I was disappointed Jon didn’t become King because I felt he was the best candidate but ultimately his ending made a lot of sense in the greater narrative in my view.

    Jon is obviously the best candidate, but does not suit his character, did not suit his story, and to be honest, I would have hated it (but accepted it LOL) if he did end up king.

    Jon Snowed: I also recall you and I discussing Dany becoming the Mad Queen/becoming a villain way back before S7 and there were plenty of other contributors who saw it coming:-) I do find it strange how people suddenly now dismiss it as coming from nowhere even though I do recognise it could have been better set up.

    Exactly!!! I dont disagree that a couple more scenes/conversations would have ADDED to the Dany is Mad story, but, it was fine without it.

  189. Jon Snowed:
    Hi Dee, I was disappointed Jon didn’t become King because I felt he was the best candidate but ultimately his ending made a lot of sense in the greater narrative in my view.

    I also recall you and I discussing Dany becoming the Mad Queen/becoming a villain way back before S7 and there were plenty of other contributors who saw it coming:-) I do find it strange how people suddenly now dismiss it as coming from nowhere even though I do recognise it could have been better set up.

    P.s glad you continue to contribute Dee, we don’t always agree on everything but your positivity shines like a bright light in these threads:)

    I believe the mad queen discussion was triggered by Cersei saying so when she rallied the Tarlys.

  190. Mango,

    I see.

    If that’s the way you see it, that’s fine. I am sad 🙁 you did not enjoy season 8, or you thought it was abysmal and didn’t make sense. Its too bad.

  191. Dee Stark,

    The Mad Queen discussion was triggerd by Cersei saying so when she spoke to the Tarly.

    It was discussed by the fans and dismissed.

  192. Mango: This is why if you are going to make a character go mad – please make sure it is clearly understood that a mental breakdown is in process from earlier seasons.

    If you’re referring to Daenerys, I didn’t see her “go mad”. Her character was carefully unfolded from the beginning, and we were often shown that she had traits that were less than admirable. You must have missed all the warning signs. She did nothing out of character and she didn’t go mad (except in the American sense of extreme anger).

  193. Mango,

    No it was discussed before that too. Casually.

    And I dont think it was dismissed by all fans.

    I surely dismissed it because I truly believed in her goodness. But people had good points about why she could become mad, and some signals of her madness.

  194. Mango,

    He was very happy with his season 8 story and ending. He was only complaining in the past about season 5 and 6 if I’m not mistaken where he made little progress with his character.

    And I’m curious what he said in Cologne.

    Enharmony1625,

    Nora is also my second favorite. And those scenes are amazing. But my favorite scene is I think

    The end scene of 3×06 when Laurie was on the boat just before she dived in the water.
  195. Enharmony1625,

    Agree, but still 6 episodes is enough to tell a story. Look at for instance Leftovers. What they did tell in just 8 episodes. And it was all deep and character moments. Or Big Little Lies. Or many others.

    Dee Stark,

    Agree, I already found her unhinged at the end of season 6. She reminds me about somebody I know, who suffers from Borderline (which make sense with her abuse she suffered as a child from her brother, and her first love is the result of rape, Stockholm syndrome at play there). Which is nothing wrong with, but it has it’s problems when you want to be a ruler, and you can see the right in the world like Dany does and want to fight for it. And she listened to Jorah and co, but they were gone and she didn’t have that brake that slowed her down.
    So I personally think Dany suffers from that. And I though I read some articles about her that psychologist think she suffered from that + PTSD from her events in Westeros (and a little bit Essos). And it made sense if you see her past with her abuse, her mood swings is a sign in my book for borderline. And her sense of destiny can be made bigger in her mind because of it. And also it make sense why she reacted the way she did in season 8. Especially episode 4 when she talked to Jon and tried to stop him from telling his sisters, and her action in 5 and 6.

  196. Dee Stark,

    If Jon would have been forced to be King I think he would go the Tommen 6×10 route. One jump out of the window. Or he would live his whole life and depression (worse depression he is in now)

    And I would advice people who though the ending of GoT was too depressing to never watch Breaking Bad.

    All the main characters who lived, are depressed at the end and probably for the rest of their lives living with the trauma Walter inflicted upon them. His son will probably never trust a single one anymore, so probably never going to be happy with a family.
  197. Grandmaester Flash: If you’re referring to Daenerys, I didn’t see her “go mad”.Her character was carefully unfolded from the beginning, and we were often shown that she had traits that were less than admirable.You must have missed all the warning signs.She did nothing out of character and she didn’t go mad (except in the American sense of extreme anger).

    I already addressed my own view of Daenerys. I always thought she was a threat and had many arguments on this board about her personal volatility and those dragons.

    Yes, I am using “mad” to describe violent abhorrent conduct. Loose language yes, it does not differentiate in terms of whether it is a clinical/medical issue, an emotional breakdown issue or a cynical display of power. Just three letters – so I confess to laziness.

    Was her fire bombing supposed to be the “third” holy crap event in the series?

  198. Mango,

    No it was already discussed before Dany moved to Westeros. It was already discussed way back when only the first book was released and people were waiting for the second one. It was discussed right after season 1, and beyond. Way back in season 3 there were huge discussions that many didn’t like what Dany did in Slaver’s bay. But that side didn’t win because: She freed slaves. and the slavers deserved death or worse in peoples minds.

    Dee Stark,

    The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
    There’s a reason why that Expression exist. Because working for a greater good can blind people, and nothing will stop them to reaching that goal. Every casualty that happen is all for reaching that greater good. Nothing is out of question to reach that. Just like with Dany who stated that those people are just casualties to reach her destiny.

  199. kevin1989,

    I take your word for it. I did not read or follow all the internet discussions but recall only the later discussions.

    But no – the potential madness was not a big discussion generally in newspapers and other internet sites. The mainstream critics who cover this series as their profession also did not raise this madness a major analytical issue at all. And these guys are very good at stuff like that.

    And I am surprised that you did not raise it more strongly in your many posts that I have read over S8 before the big burning!

  200. kevin1989:
    Mango,

    He was very happy with his season 8 story and ending. He was only complaining in the past about season 5 and 6 if I’m not mistaken where he made little progress with his character.

    And I’m curious what he said in Cologne.

    Enharmony1625,

    Nora is also my second favorite. And those scenes are amazing. But my favorite scene is I think

    The fan on websites that follow NCW very closely would probably not say he was happy with how his character turned. Perhaps better that he was happy to do an excellent job with how his character turned out. Happy to tell the media what was required to sell the product without being maudlin.

    NCW is professional and like all many actors (especially the more experienced ones) they do not “sweat” the storyline as much as fans. They do as the script and director require and dream of the future day when they can develop their own stuff.

  201. Mango,

    Oh I did it. especially before season 8 began. But I was also one that found Dany to be the big hero of episode 3, so after that I made that clear. And also I was one that said after episode 4 that I expect season 5 that Dany burn KL to the ground, which was dismissed by many that that’s not what Dany would do.

    And of course the mainstream media did not tell it. Because D&D make certain that the “Dany is the strong female hero” of the story is widely told. So that people not knowing where the story will go. And it also gets viewers, a dragon princess working for good. They already knew way back in season 1 that this is where Dany would go. Emilia told us she got many written notes from D&D when shooting that she must act differently than she would expect Dany would act as a good character. But still they kept that a secret for us and told us she is the hero.

  202. Dee Stark:
    Mango,

    No it was discussed before that too. Casually.

    And I dont think it was dismissed by all fans.

    I surely dismissed it because I truly believed in her goodness.But people had good points about why she could become mad, and some signals of her madness.

    Sorry to say, but I had a good chuckle at your expense! I confess that I sometimes thought of Daenerys as “dragonbitch” because I thought she was a fiend. I thought she was a volatile tyrant but I think if a scriptwriter is going for genocide at the “end ending” – It was required to be clear to help/prepare fans.

  203. Well, this is a nice big last hurrah–giving it as many nominations as possible, including some people who should’ve been years ago. This way they can be honored not just for their final-season performances, but truly for their entire runs on the show. I’ve tried to focus on the acting and set aside my feelings about the characters, and the S8 usage/behavior of many of them–over which the actors had no control. I was soured on a number of people, but that wasn’t their fault.

    I wouldn’t mind Emilia getting Lead Actress, and #IStandByDaenerys. Kit, too, did his best with what he was given to work with. As for the others (except perhaps Peter), I would take a win for him as an acknowledgment of his performance throughout his time on the series. The music–absolutely yes, go Ramin, no doubts there…same with almost every non-acting category; I’d love to see it get all/most of those. Definitely deserving.

    Supporting Actor…well, last time I rooted for Nikolaj, since I figured Peter had enough (read: any.) This time I’ve got to pull for Alfie, who’s absolutely been deserving and overlooked for a long time.

    Supporting Actress is hard. Gwen and Maisie had more to do than Lena and did it well, although it would be good to finally give it to Lena. I think Sophie has about a 0% chance, but it’s nice just to be nominated. She’s all right and has improved, but compared with the others? Yeah. If I were to let my attitude toward the characters throughout the season sway me (because it is a difficult choice), I’d go with Gwen. In fact, I think she is my pick, followed by Lena, Maisie, Sophie.
    Frankly, as long as Carice gets the Guest Actress I’ll be thrilled. She’s another one that’s been a long time coming, and also my new all-time favorite actress. It can’t be urged strongly enough to do oneself the favor of a lifetime by experiencing as much of her work as possible.

    Alas I just cannot hope for the writing award, even though I have no series preferred over GoT as a whole in any category. Had one of the first two or three episodes been the submission there (especially #2, the beesssst), I’d be for it. I’d certainly have gone with “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” for Nutter’s directing, too.

    P.S. Can’t the Academy nominate anybody they want?
    P.P.S. The final season of the biggest show ever was guaranteed to break ratings records regardless of the reactions. You have to watch it to react. My viewing/obsessing partners belong to the “silent majority” (i.e., they spoke aloud but didn’t write down their responses as I did), and they were very disappointed. There were no specific endings that absolutely had to play out to meet our satisfaction.
    “Winter fell at Winterfell”–yeah, I took that as “fell” as in “landed,” in the place where the dead began in earnest their engagement/attack on the living. Very much wish the defeat/retreat (and various other hypotheses) had occurred. In the end, I would’ve been glad to see “Bran is the Night King” prove true.
    Dany? Yeah, that can quit coming up…but for the jillionth time I’ll never see her turn as logical, in-character, believable, earned, or anything. Easy to predict the Mad King’s daughter eventually going mad herself, but ugh, how I loathe it as the ending for her. I can only see it as pure clinical insanity (triggered by various factors including the bells that should trigger “shame!”ful Cersei XD), and thus don’t hold it against her. ^v^ Especially since her post-bells actions were utterly senseless and had nothing to do with “victory at any cost”; she had just bloody won.

  204. Mango,

    Whether someone is “happy” with a character’s ending, and whether that constituted good writing can be two separate things. For example, I wouldn’t say I’m happy that Jaime was unable to find redemption within himself and that he failed to break away from the toxicity of his relationship with Cersei. I mean.. that would be odd to be happy about that. It’s a tragic end, and I would expect that NCW feels the same. Why would he be happy that this is how Jaime ends his arc? But it is true to his character, and it is interesting & good writing, which something that NCW has also said numerous times.

  205. Enharmony1625:
    Mango,

    Whether someone is “happy” with a character’s ending, and whether that constituted good writing can be two separate things. For example, I wouldn’t say I’m happy that Jaime was unable to find redemption within himself and that he failed to break away from the toxicity of his relationship with Cersei. I mean.. that would be odd to be happy about that. It’s a tragic end, and I would expect that NCW feels the same. Why would he be happy that this is how Jaime ends his arc? But it is true to his character, and it is interesting & good writing, which something that NCW has also said numerous times.

    Lots to agree with here.

    I was responding to whether NCW was happy with how his character turned out. He had a professionally appropriate response, not a fan’s response.

    As for the end for his character or any other character – the script could have gone in several directions and the scriptwriters chose the one they wanted. It is their discretion and the audience reacts to that.

  206. Mango: I believe the mad queen discussion was triggered by Cersei saying so when she rallied the Tarlys.

    Er, there are people that have theorized that Dany will go Mad Queen at the end since the first book came out in 1996? (including yours truly)

  207. I’m not sure that’s true Joanna Robinson (who is one of the best GOT journalists) at least addressed this issue back around S6. I’ve seen it discussed in articles and heard it in podcasts for several seasons at least.

  208. Mango,

    good point bro 🙂

    eg555:
    CamelHoarder,

    Hey, don’t forget they also got nominated for their stellar directing in that episode so. 😂

    And with that I can agree. They were quite good atdirecting the episode, can’t say. But the episode was bad overall.

    kevin1989:
    mau,

    Well, not exactly. The first HBO show that gets a spin-off is in fact the sopranos. Which get a prequel movie this year. September it will air in the theaters if i’m not mistaken.

    CamelHoarder,

    The Emmy’s think it have a place in the top written episodes of the year. Of all the nominations that episode landed in their top list. And I agree personally with the professionals. I think the final episode was brilliant. If it should win I don’t know. Later today I’m going to look at it per category which I think should win.

    We won’t find a common ground, since from what I know, you are absolutely delighted with that season, so yeah – no agreement there. I personally think it wasn’t just a bad season. It’s not because of expectations. It was simply bad, because if first season used the same “tricks” as the final one, no one would go to watch the second season.

  209. Fabulous, fabulous news, particularly for those who’ve never been nominated before – and especially for those who put themselves forward!

    So pleased and proud for Kit <3 Jon Snow's an iconic, universally-recognised figure and that's due to Kit's steadfast, wonderful work. I don't care how many lines he had this season, Jon Snow's presence was such a huge part of S8 and the show overall. Well deserved and I hope recognised with a win.

  210. George: Er, there are people that have theorized that Dany will go Mad Queen at the end since the first book came out in 1996? (including yours truly)

    Yeah, it most certainly did not start with Cersei mentioning it in season 7. I remember hearing it way back in season 4 and discussing it with my folks who were just starting to watch the show at the time.

  211. Except for the “outstanding” writing by D&D, all the nominations are well deserved. Everyone really killed it even with what they were given by the show runners.

    I have a feeling these awards, if won, will be for the body of work over that last decade rather than the rather poor showing of Season 8.

    Great job everyone! We shall not see your like again.

  212. Dee Stark,

    I always wanted Jon to be King because he was honorable and had a good heart. But you are correct. He never wanted it. Would have hated it. And in truth, he was too stupid and inexperienced to make a good ruler or even a good general. For me he was just better than most of other choices on offer.

    I think the Tree Wizard will make a decent enough King. And I was glad Jon was off the hook and happy he got out as soon as he did. I was also super psyched that he simply got to Castle Black and they all simply deserted to beyond the wall leave Bran to hold the bag in King’s Landing.

    As for Daeny, she was also a crappy ruler but a great conqueror. In my fantasies she looked around the throne room (after sitting down) and after talking with Jon she realized that she would have to keep burning everything to meet her goal of getting rid of the old order. They concoct a plot to get both of them out of the corner they fought themselves into. They either fake her murder, or simply fly off together (with or without the burning of King’s Landing but leaving in the destruction of the Red Keep.

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