Lili Reinhart is calling out Game Of Thrones fans after a petition has circulated online demanding the HBO show to redo the series' final season. "Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers" the Change.org petition is titled, and has amassed over seven times its 100,000 signature goal (currently at 786,946 signatures and counting, at time of writing).
"David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on," the petition's description reads. "This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen, HBO!"
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The petition comes after a particularly controversial episode of the series in which Daenerys Targaryen appeared to go full mad-queen and destroy Kings Landing, along with almost all of its innocent civilians. To put it mildly, audiences weren't happy. There's just one more episode of Game Of Thrones this Sunday before the long-running show wraps up, but fans don't trust the showrunners to give it the ending they feel it deserves.
Variety posted about the viral petition on Instagram, prompting Reinhart, who plays Betty Cooper on Riverdale, to hop into the comments with her thoughts on the matter.
"This is not how television works," she wrote. "TV shows are not fan service. It's ridiculous of people to think they can demand creative change from artists."
Reinhart continued the sentiment on her Instagram stories. Addressing "the people coming at me" for her comment on the petition, she said, "It's inappropriate as an audience member to demand change from an entire crew of writers, creators, performers, etc. just because it did not satisfy you."
She added, "Fans, of course, are an incredibly large reason why shows are successful...But it does not excuse certain destructive and disrespectful behavior towards people who have dedicated their entire lives to creating a show or film."
This topic may hit close to home for Reinhart due to the fact that similar petitions have been made about Riverdale, and the show just had a controversial season finale of its own that suggested the possible death of a major character.
It's highly unlikely HBO will ever act on the Game Of Thrones petition since it's already busy with the prequel, Bloodmoon. Plus, we still have the finale to look forward to — or, depending on how you feel about the show, dread.
This article was originally published on May 17, 2019. It has since been updated.
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