Actors like GoT’s Kit Harington who hated their TV collection finale

Games of Thrones, The Umbrella Academy and The Sopranos may have provided some of the most sensational television – but the final episodes of each series left loyal viewers disappointed, and even enraged.

But criticism of plot outcomes was not only restricted to fans.

Some of the stars themselves have admitted to being left frustrated with the way they saw things play out for the characters they had spent years portraying.

In a recent interview, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington finally noted that things ‘didn’t quite work’ in the final season of the smash-hit HBO series.

‘I think there were mistakes made, story-wise, towards the end maybe,’ he told GQ Hype. ‘I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work.’

Meanwhile, Netflix fans weren’t the only ones left unimpressed by creative choices made in the final season of The Umbrella Academy – which dropped on August 8.  

One particular plot point that irked viewers was the very unexpected romance between Five – played by 20-year-old Aidan Gallagher – and Lila – played by Ritu Arya, 35.

Lila is married with children to Five’s adoptive brother Diego (David Castañeda) while the teen is actually a 64-year-old man stuck inside the body of an 18-year-old.

Viewers struggled with the fact that Lila entered into a sexual relationship with Five despite first meeting him as a child – not to mention the fact that she already had a family with his brother.

David Castañeda – who has played Diego/Number Two in all four seasons – shared his disdain with US Weekly.

‘I didn’t understand,’ he said. ‘I was p*****d off. I was angry. 

‘I talked to [Creator Steve Blackman] a few times. I was like: “Hey, does this really have to happen?”‘

Here, DailyMail.com reveals which actors have spoken out against the final seasons of their hit shows. 

Game of Thrones (2011-2019): Kit Harington, Maisie Williams and Emilia Clarke weren’t happy with series’ ending 

Game of Thrones fans have waxed lyrical about the many issues they had with the show’s final season. 

From criticisms over the pacing of the plot, to the shocking outcomes such as Jon Snow (Kit Harington) killing the Mad Queen Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), viewers have had plenty of thoughts.

In the years since the finale aired, some cast members have slowly revealed that they can sympathize with the frustrations.

In a recent chat with GQ Hype, Harington said: ‘I think if there was any fault with the end of Thrones, is that we were all so f***ing tired, we couldn’t have gone on longer. 

‘And so I understand some people thought it was rushed and I might agree with them. But I’m not sure there was any alternative… I didn’t have another season in me.’

He continued: ‘I think there were mistakes made, story-wise, towards the end maybe. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work.’

Elsewhere, Maisie Williams, who played Ayra Stark, shared her regret over the fate of her character in the finale.

Speaking to EW about Ayra being denied the chance to kill Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Hadley, she stated: ‘I wanted Arya to kill Cersei even if it means [Arya] dies too.

‘Even up to the point when Cersei’s with Jaime I thought [while reading the script], “He’s going to whip off his face [and reveal its Arya]” and they’re both going to die. I thought that’s what Arya’s drive has been.’

However, the fact that her character had a ‘happy ending’ definitely came as a surprise, as she added: ‘It was a shock for me because that wasn’t how I envisioned her arc going this year.’

During a Twitch livestream in 2022, she noted that the show ‘definitely fell off at the end’. 

Clarke also hinted at her own initial struggles to come to terms with plot choices during an interview with The Guardian.

Reflecting on when she first read the script, she explained: ‘It was definitely a challenge. I walked out my door, took my keys, forgot my phone and just kept walking.’

In another interview with MTV, the actress added: ‘I get why people are pissed. I totally get it. 

‘But, me being the actor, you can’t do justice to the character that you poured your blood, sweat, and tears into for a decade without getting on the same page. So like, I’m not just going to be there being like, “Fine, I’ll do the scene, whatever. I’m so pissed.” You have to turn up.’

In a separate chat with The Times, Clarke spoke about her annoyance on behalf of her character and said: ‘I really felt for her. And yeah, was I annoyed that Jon Snow didn’t have to deal with something? He got away with murder — literally.

‘I knew how I felt when I first read it, and I tried, at every turn, not to consider too much what other people might say, but I did always consider what the fans might think — because we did it for them, and they were the ones who made us successful, so … it’s just polite, isn’t it?’

She admitted that the show would have benefitted from more episodes to allow for more dialogue.

‘We could have spun it out for a little longer,’ she said.

Gossip Girl (2007-2012): Penn Badgley and Chace Crawford were unimpressed by the show’s grand reveal

Not one but two of the main Gossip Girl actors have admitted that they were left very disappointed by the decision to make Badgley’s character Dan Humphrey the brains behind the titular character.

As fans across the globe were left rocked by the decision, Badgley stated in a 2013 interview with Vulture: ‘I have to bite my tongue there. The end was strange for me, for all of us.

‘That has been my problem with television — you start with something real, and it eventually becomes, against all odds. That’s not the writers’ fault. It’s just the nature of television.’

During their Variety’s Actors on Actors interview in 2020, Badgley’s co-star Chace Crawford hinted at disappointment as the pair discussed the topic together.

Crawford asked his former cast mate: ‘At the end of Gossip Girl the show, whatever your reaction is on whether it was smart to do that or not, that he’s Gossip Girl — it didn’t really line up with the character of Dan. Right?’

Badgley kept his answer simple as he agreed: ‘Yeah.’ 

In 2019, Gossip Girl’s executive producer Joshua Safran explained at a Vulture Festival panel that Humphrey was ‘not my intended Gossip Girl.’ 

‘We worked hard to kind of lay in tiny seeds about it being Eric,’ he revealed.

But after New York Post guessed that it was Eric, he decided: ‘We were like, “We gotta scratch that”.’

Nate then became the second choice to play the character. 

He continued: ‘One of the writers realized that Nate had never sent a tip in to Gossip Girl, which is true at least through the end of season five.

‘Nate never sent in a tip in through all of those episodes, which is when we’re like, “Oh, well then he’s Gossip Girl.”‘

However, Safran left the series in its penultimate fifth season, and the sixth season series finale even left him surprised.

‘I like to joke that Dan was Gossip Girl because I had left the show by then,’ he said. ‘But, I understand why Dan was Gossip Girl. I just had my heart set on Nate.’

The Sopranos (1999-2007): Actors James Gandolfini and Lorraine Bracco didn’t love the show’s controversial ending

The final episode of The Sopranos was divisive thanks to it’s ambiguous nature.

After six seasons and numerous awards, fans had been expecting a bit more than for Tony ( the late James Gandolfini) in a diner with his family as the camera periodically showed his POV. 

An unknown man sat at counter then heads to the bathroom, ending up behind Tony as the camera dramatic cut to black — suggesting he killed Tony with a shot to the back of the head.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the show’s late leading man was asked how he had reacted to the finale.

‘When I first saw the ending, I said, “What the f**k?”,’ he admitted. ‘I mean, after all I went through, all this death, and then it’s over like that?’.

However, he came to terms with the decision as he continued: ‘But after I had a day to sleep, I just sat there and said, “That’s perfect.”‘

Years later, the actor was asked by Channel Guide Magazine how he would have preferred to end the show.

‘I would give closure to Tony by having him whacked and fed to the ducks,’ he replied.

Meanwhile, Bracco – who portrayed Dr Melfi, Tony Soprano’s psychiatrist – said: ‘I would have wanted it to end differently. But God knows we’ve talked about that ending for five years now – we’re still talking about it.

‘People stop me in the street. “Did you get the ending? Did I miss something?” I thought it was very, very shrewd.’ 

The actress made her last appearance came in the show’s penultimate episode where she ends her professional relationship with the mobster.

Speaking about the scene on the Woke Up This Morning podcast with her former co-stars Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, she said: ‘I remember being upset [with] the direction that [creator David Chase] was bringing Melfi. I just felt like he wanted me to get rid of [Tony]. 

‘I felt that he did it in a very abrupt way. I don’t think that she should have done it that way.’

She added: ‘I would have liked for it to have been more meaningful. I think she cared for Tony. Even though he was a f*** up and he was never going to really straighten out. But I think she really cared for him. You don’t spend seven years with someone and [then] discard them. I felt bad about that.’

In 2021, series creator David Chase revealed his original plan for the ending to The Hollywood Reporter.

He explained: ‘Because the [death] scene I had in my mind was not that scene. Nor did I think of cutting to black. I had a scene in which Tony comes back from a meeting in New York in his car. 

‘At the beginning of every show, he came from New York into New Jersey, and the last scene could be him coming from New Jersey back into New York for a meeting at which he was going to be killed.’

Seinfeld (1989-1998): Jerry Seinfeld regretted going ‘big’ in the comedy show’s finale

Seinfeld came to an end in 1998 after nine successful seasons, but fans weren’t completely thrilled with the final episode.

The series concluded with Jerry, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander) and Kramer (Michael Richards) getting arrested for unknowingly violating a local Good Samaritan law in a small town. 

The DA calls several witnesses who have had negative experiences with Jerry and his friends, with their testimonies resulting in a guilty verdict. 

The shows ends with all four in prison, where Jerry gets heckled while doing standup for the inmates.  

In a 2017 interview at the New Yorker Festival, Jerry said: ‘I sometimes think we really shouldn’t have even done it. There was a lot of pressure on us at that time to do one big last show, but big is always bad in comedy.’

He went on to add that the judge should have declared a mistrial and freed all four of them, letting them off of their crimes.

‘We thought that would be fun and it was fun,’ the comedian stated. ‘I think the only mistake, if there was one, was leaving them in jail. We didn’t really have to do that.’

In April 2024, he opened up about the finale again to GQ Hype as he mused: ‘I don’t believe in regret. I think it’s arrogant to think you could have done something different. You couldn’t. That’s why you did what you did.

‘But me and Jeff Schaffer and Larry were standing around, talking about TV finales and which we thought were great. I feel Mad Men was the greatest. I think Mad Men was the greatest final moment of a series I’ve ever seen. So satisfying. So funny. 

‘And they said that they had sat and watched the Seinfeld finale, trying to figure out what went wrong. And it was obviously about the final scene, leaving them in the jail cell…’

Dexter (2006-2013): Michael C. Hall was not satisfied with the crime drama’s shock finale

The Dexter finale has been placed in many ‘worst TV show finale’ lists ever since it aired in 2013.

The crime drama was on the book series by Jeff Lindsay, and saw Michael C. Hall star as the serial killer who stalks and kills murderers. 

Fans had been made to believe that Dexter’s sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) would survive the gunshot from the previous episode, only for her to left brain dead by a stroke. 

Dexter decided to euthanize her and dump her body in the ocean, just like he did with so many victims over the years. He then faked his own death and became a lumberjack in Oregon.

Lead actor Michael Hall was less than pleased with the outcome but remained diplomatic when asked about it in the years that followed.

However, he hinted at his disappointment in a 2014  Reddit AMA. When asked what his reaction was to first reading the script, Hall admitted his feelings were ‘probably sadness.’

Unlike the shows mentioned above, Hall had the chance to make up for the ‘unsatisfying’ finale when Dexter returned to screens in the revival series, Dexter: New Blood.