THE director behind some of the most loved Game of Thrones episodes has agreed with fans that the final season of the show was too rushed.
Neil Marshall – who directed Blackwater and The Watchers on the Wall – said that while the characters all ended up where they were meant to be, things “weren’t set up well enough”.
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The least season of the super-popular HBO show suffered from a major fan backlash when it aired earlier this year, despite pulling in record numbers of viewers.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online while promoting his immersive horror experience in London, Kraken Screamfest: Director’s Cut, Neil said: “Ultimately all the characters ended up where they were meant to be, but I think some of them got there in a bit of a rush.
“I agree that it was a bit of a rush. It felt like things weren’t set up well enough. But they all ended up where they were meant to be, though, I got that.”
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Fans mainly took issue with the direction some of the characters took, such as Daenerys turning evil very quickly, as well as the White Walker storyline being resolved in a couple of episodes.
The season pulled in a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 50% compared to 90% of the other Emmy award-winning seasons.
Creator of the books George RR Martin also shares this sentiment, saying the cuts to the story the showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss implemented in order to finish it were “traumatic”.
The author told Fast Company: “It can be… traumatic. Because sometimes their creative vision and your creative vision don’t match, and you get the famous creative differences thing – that leads to a lot of conflict.
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“The [final] series has been… not completely faithful. Otherwise, it would have to run another five seasons.”
Neil was behind two of the most epic battle scenes in the show. Blackwater (Season 2, Episode 9) follows Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) as he defends the capital city of Kings Landing against the invader Stannis Baratheon.
While The Watchers on the Wall (Season 4, Episode 9) depicts Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch as they fight against the Wildlings at Castle Black.
Neil also opened up about which of the battle scenes was his favourite – and he chose Blackwater, especially because he was pulled into direct at the last moment.
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The director added: “I think the Blackwater was kind of a crazy episode because I was put in at the last minute. The original director had to step away and I was given like week’s notice.
“It was the most insane week of my life trying to plan that whole thing in a week and opull it off. But we did it and we did some amazing stuff in it.
“So maybe for the acheivement factor, I think maybe Blackwater [is my favourite episode].”
Kraken Screamfest: Director’s Cut will take place from Thursday, October 31 to Friday, November 1, at 2083 Acton Mews, Haggerston, London E8 4DG.
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