Kit Harington has finally put words to a feeling that stayed buried for years after ‘Game of Thrones‘ ended. The final season sparked endless debates, but one moment stood out more than all the others: the fan petition that demanded the show be remade with “competent writers.”
The actor who spent nearly a decade playing Jon Snow, that online campaign didn’t sit well. The petition went viral, gathered millions of supporters, and publicly questioned the people who created the series. Harington has now opened up about why it genuinely made him angry.
Kit Harington Calls The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Redo Petition Disrespectful
Kit Harington told The New York Times that the 2019 petition to remake Season 8 truly upset him. The campaign originally aimed for 15,000 signatures, but it exploded across the internet and eventually reached more than 1.8 million people calling for a rewrite of the final season with “competent writers.” The way the petition was worded hit him especially hard.
Related: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Kit Harington Joins The Wizarding World Of ‘Harry Potter’
Harington reacted by saying, “How dare you?” and made it clear that he felt the demand crossed a line. He said the petition directly disrespected writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who had spent years building the world of ‘Game of Thrones‘. In his view, the online space allowed anger to grow into something that ignored the human effort behind the show.
The Backlash Hit Him When He Was At His Lowest
Harington revealed that he was in rehab when Season 8 aired. That meant he missed the early reactions and only saw the backlash once he came out and looked online. The level of anger shocked him, especially after everything the cast and crew had gone through to finish the series.
In case you missed it: “I Gave Him A Decade”: Kit Harington Is Ready To Leave Jon Snow’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Legacy In The Past
He even recalled that a single battle scene took 55 straight days to film, and how everyone was working long hours under intense pressure. Seeing fans dismiss all that work with a petition made the reaction feel deeply hurtful. It felt like a rejection of everyone who gave years of their lives to the show.
The petition quickly became a huge talking point, and HBO was well aware of it. Casey Bloys, who ran programming at the network at the time and now serves as CEO, said in 2019 that they knew fans were calling for a remake but never seriously thought about doing it.
Bloys explained that big shows always faced strong opinions when they ended and said the petition only showed how passionate fans were. But it never changed the network’s plans. Season 8 faced many complaints, but for Kit Harington, none of those issues made the petition acceptable.
