Over a million angry and heartbroken "Game of Thrones" fans signed an online petition demanding the show's finale be reshot and after more than two months since its end, HBO has finally responded to the appeal.
After many stars of the show weighed in on the call, Casey Bloys, the network's programming head, said the team did not take the petition to film the eighth season all over again "seriously".
"There are very, very few downsides to having a hugely popular show. But one I can think of is when you try to end it, many people have big opinions on how these characters' stories should come to an end.
"That just comes with the territory... it just shows a lot of enthusiasm for the show," Bloys said during Television Critics Association summer press tour, as quoted by TVLine.
He added that reshooting season eight was "not something we seriously considered".
Showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have been under fire for below-par scriptwriting and poor portrayal of women in the final season of the HBO series, based on author George RR Martin's book series "A Song of Ice and Fire".
The petition, which gained over a million signatures, read: "David Benioff and DB Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material to fall back on.
"This series deserves a final season that makes sense."
Despite divided reviews, the show went on get a historic 32 Emmy nominations last week.
"Thirty-two Emmy nominations is certainly nice validation," Bloys added.
He further said the shooting of the "Game of Thrones" prequel is complete and it is currently in the editing stage.
