Kit Harington, the actor who played Jon Snow in the acclaimed series Game of Thrones, expressed his outrage at fans who, in 2019, created an online petition demanding the refilming of the eighth and final season. In a new interview with the New York Times, released in January 2026, Harington labeled the movement, which gathered almost two million signatures, as an act of “idiocy” amplified by social media. The fact remains relevant because it illustrates the intense and lasting debate about the show’s ending, which divided opinions worldwide and, especially, among the Brazilian audience, one of the most engaged with the series.
The actor revealed that he was genuinely angered by the petition, which directly attacked writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, calling them “terribly incompetent”. Harington defended his colleagues’ work, stating that both were deeply dedicated to the final season. Thus, he felt the campaign disrespected not only the creators but all the collective effort involved in the production over nearly a decade.
The Defense of the Collective Work
In the interview, Harington was straight to the point. “I was shocked by the huge negative reaction,” said the actor, adding that the petition “really infuriated him”. He questioned the fans’ stance with a scathing “how dare you?”. For him, the scale of the negative criticism was only possible thanks to the social media ecosystem, where radical opinions often gain more prominence. Despite the discontent of a portion of the fandom, Game of Thrones remains an undeniable cultural phenomenon, with spin-offs underway and its legacy intact on streaming platforms.
This episode serves as a strong reminder of the complex relationship between widely popular works and their audiences in the digital age. Meanwhile, Harington and other cast members have moved on with their careers, but the memories of the years dedicated to Westeros remain. The petition case, still accessible online, has become a case study on the impact of modern fandom. Therefore, even years later, the discussion about the series finale continues to generate reflections on expectation, authorship, and the thin line between constructive criticism and simple online hostility.
