Game Of Thrones Actor Was “Frustrated” By Final Two Seasons, And Here’s Why

The final two season of HBO’s Game of Thrones are not as beloved as the first six, and not just by fans. Actor Conleth Hill, who played Varys on the fantasy series, said in a new interview that he felt “frustrated” by the final seasons due to the changes to his character and how they felt “rushed.”

“I thought I’d done something wrong,” Hill told The Times, referencing how his character changed in the final seasons. “Right up until the last two series, I had no complaints at all. I just felt frustrated with the last couple of series because Varys wasn’t the all-knowing character he had been.”

Hill said he believes the Game of Thrones writers and the executives at HBO were not in agreement about how many seasons there should be–and this caused issues, in his eyes.

“I felt that last series was a bit rushed. I was inconsolable, but now I’m fine about it,” Hill said, as reported by IGN.

Andrew Miller’s book, Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, includes a passage that states showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff pitched HBO on the idea of having two shorter-than-normal seasons and then two theatrical movies to close out the show.

HBO management reportedly did not like this idea, and convinced Weiss and Benioff to end the series after Season 8, without the movies. Given this context, many have speculated that Seasons 7 and 8 felt rushed because Weiss and Benioff were said to have grander plans to finish off the series that were ultimately scaled back.

George R.R. Martin, who wrote the books that got adapted into Game of Thrones, was reportedly not happy with the direction that the HBO series took for its final three seasons. For its part, HBO is said to have wanted to make at least 10 seasons of the show to wrap things up properly.

HBO’s newest Game of Thrones show is House of the Dragon, a prequel series focusing on the Targaryens. The first season was a big success, and production is now underway on Season 2. There are multiple other Game of Thrones spin-offs in the works, including a series focusing on Jon Snow.