Damon Lindelof Has Some Words For GAME OF THRONES Haters

I'm still disappointed in the internet at large for giving Damon Lindelof so much grief that he ultimately left Twitter, because regardless of your thoughts on the Lost finale (which I loved) or Prometheus (which doesn't hold up very well), the guy is an intelligent, interesting writer that has has a knack for being entertaining.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly about his new season of The Leftovers, Lindelof spoke so much about his love for Game of Thrones that the outlet asked him to write about his thoughts on the previous season of the mega-hit HBO series. (He gets into some spoilery territory here, so if you aren't caught up, I'd back away slowly if I were you.) The writer/producer/showrunner doesn't have kind things to say to the haters out there, and after professing his love for the show — and specifically the "Hardhome" episode, calling it "one of the most excellent hours of television I’ve ever seen" — he had some harsh words for those who pick apart the series:

I don’t watch television to find things to gripe about, and I think we live in a clickbait-y media culture that exists to pick things apart. I love-watch Game of Thrones, so I’m immensely forgiving of things that perhaps are not the strongest attributes of the show. And despite the fact that George R. R. Martin has flamed the Lost finale, there is a schadenfreude aspect of me saying, “Well, I kind of hope Game of Thrones sucks at the end, too, so they’ll know it feels to have somebody say that to you.” But I don’t think the Lost finale sucks. And I want Game of Thrones to end awesome, because I’m a huge fan, and I have every reason to believe that it is going to end awesomely.

But when you are in the zeitgeist, and when you are loved, there’s this part of it—people threaten to stop watching, people say “it’s not as good as it used to be,” people say, “If you kill this character, I will stop watching the show.” One of the things that people fell in love with about Thrones was its willingness to kill anyone—but you can’t kill Jon Snow, you know? You can kill anyone—but you can’t kill Tyrion. And you can’t kill Dany. As long as you don’t kill those three. And it’s like: “But I thought you loved the show because we killed Ned Stark! He was the un-killable character!” So we have to be willing to do that. 

… And I see people pushing against Thrones where it’s like, literally from week to week, someone will say, “This is the most excellent show, this season is firing on all cylinders, it’s never been better.” And then because of one story move—Stannis burns his daughter—suddenly [the reaction is] like, “I cannot watch this show anymore. I’m quitting you, Game of Thrones.” And I’m thinking: “No, you’re not. Don’t be an ass.” That’s like my 8-year-old saying, “We’re not best friends anymore.” When I see a blogger—thank God I’m not on Twitter anymore, because I get into all sorts of trouble—or a critic, or a recapper say, “I’m done with your show,” if I were running that show I would call them up and say, “You are not allowed to watch my show anymore. I’m going to f–king alert everybody in your life to watch you. I’m going to hire a private eye to tap your media consumption, and you better not ever watch it again. Are you sure you want to do this?“ 

It’s like you get in a fight with someone you love, you storm out of the room, and you say this is over. And then an hour later, you’re apologizing for being an asshole..."

While I agree with most of his points here, I still think there's room for people to lodge specific complaints about the season if they take issue with things. But the idea of swearing off the show because they kill a character has always struck me as a little too reactionary, and rants like these are exactly why I miss seeing Lindelof on social media. If you want, you can read more of his thoughts at EW.