The “Game of Thrones” series finale ratings are here and they are — as you’d expect — staggering. Across HBO, HBO Go, and HBO NOW, the conclusion of the megahit fantas…

Redditors from the /r/Freefolk subreddit, angry at how Game of Thrones’ final season has played out, briefly succeeded is getting a picture of its showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff to rank for the search term “bad writers.” Both Metro and Business Insider were able to verify the success of the campaign, although searching for the same term now returns images from these news articles rather than from the Reddit post itself.

Game of Thrones is sprinting toward its ending, but HBO, George RR Martin and fans all agreed that it should have taken its time with more seasons.

Varys is dead after the penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones,” and actor Conleth Hill isn’t holding back when reflecting on his time on the HBO fantasy series. In an exit interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor expressed disappointment with the series for sidelining his fan favorite character over the last couple seasons. When asked if there was something he wished Varys got to do on the show, Hill noted his character was robbed of having a last meeting with nemesis Littlefinger in Season 7.

Joe Dempsie is known around the world as Gendry Baratheon from “Game of Thrones,” but he would have been Jon Snow had his first audition for HBO’s fantasy series been successful. In a new interview with Esquire, Dempsie revealed he got rejected by “Thrones” three times for three different roles before reluctantly doing a fourth audition for Gendry and landing the part.

There were plenty of things to enjoy and lots more to nitpick in this week’s episode of Game Of Thrones, but one thing we can all agree was absolute bullshit was Jon Snow’s half-assed goodbye to his sweet, loyal boy Ghost. Soon after the episode aired, Twitter exploded with people’s reactions to Jon’s unwillingness to pet his damn dog, but now episode director David Nutter has come out of hiding to provide some answers and put all other theories to rest.

Starbucks gained an estimated $2.3 billion in free advertising over the last few days after a modern-day coffee cup was spotted during a “Game of Thrones” episode — and it turns out it wasn’t even a Starbucks cup. On Sunday, eagle-eyed fans of HBO’s fantasy epic noticed something out of place during a feast scene. Photos and videos of the moment went viral on social media within hours of the show airing.

HBO has quietly scrubbed the misplaced coffee cup out of the “Game of Thrones” episode that aired Sunday night. The premium cabler acknowledged the gaffe Monday after fans spotted the takeout cup on a table in front of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in a scene in episode 4 of season 8 just before the 17:40 mark. It resembled a Starbucks cup but in fact came from the production’s craft services — and where someone left it behind in Winterfell.

While “Game of Thrones” wrapped up the storyline of the Night King and the White Walkers in last week’s “The Battle of Winterfell,” this week’s episode threw fans back into the battle for the Iron Thrones at remarkable speed. David Nutter, who directed not only “The Last of the Starks” but also episodes one and two of this season, said in an interview with Variety that the little moments during the post-battle celebration scene set up the tension that would fill the rest of the episode.

Upsetting things that have happened on Game of Thrones season 8: Jon Snow rejected Ghost without so much as giving him a pat on the head. Jaime left Brienne after sleeping with her, completely abandoning his redemption arc in the process. Another dragon was killed. Bran Stark keeps claiming he can see everything and then not even bothering to warg over to King’s Landing and get details about Cersei’s plan. Oh, and the Battle of Winterfell was so dark that half the viewers couldn’t even see it.

The global demand on the day of Game of Thrones’ 8th season premiere exceeded the global premiere demand of every other TV series – including Game of Thrones’ own global season 7 premiere day demand – for any season across all platforms and markets under measurement. Parrot Analytics, a TV content analytics firm specializing in global audience demand measurement, partnered with Guinness World Records to chart the demand and declare it officially Most in-demand TV premiere.

Night Daddy™.

Sadaf Ahsan: The character of Arya has never followed any traditional tropes — and, for some, this has proven to be awfully confusing

In the second episode of the final season of Game of Thrones, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” winter has come, and with it, an army the undead. Jon Snow has devised a battle plan to defend Winterfell, and ultimately the realms of men. So what does a U.S. military officer have to say about these best-laid plans? Sadly, Jon Snow could use the help of the evil yet battle-savvy Ramsey Bolton right about now. 

Game of Thrones is ending, which has to be a little weird for George R.R. Martin, who wrote the still-unfinished novel series on which the show is based. Famously, the show adapted the books for the first five or so seasons but had to keep going when it ran out of book material. With the ending of Game of Thrones just a few weeks away, Martin will watch the ending of his story before he gets a chance to write it.

Forget the War of the Five Kings: The running for whose Game of Thrones spinoff idea will see the light of day is turning out to be just as intriguing. In a new Hollywood Reporter post, series writer and co-executive producer Bryan Cogman says his concept for a Thrones spinoff “is not happening and will not happen. HBO decided to go a different way.”

Shiny and sharp, obsidian is enjoying a bit of a pop culture moment. It plays a central role in HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones, now wrapping its final season. Called dragonglass on the show, obsidian is one of only two substances that can cut down White Walkers, malevolent otherworldly warriors. In the real world, the volcanic glass reveals the human story in a way no other material can.

With the rise of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, Hollywood is facing issues of consent, harassment and sexual assault in the workplace head on.

Instead of kicking off with a bang, the first episode of Game of Thrones season 8 strategically placed the characters exactly where they needed to be as the encroaching Winter drew close. As part of the preparations for battle, “Winterfell” gifted viewers a number of reunions — the most heartening of which saw Jon Snow and Arya meet for the first time since the beginning of the series. Jon was never particularly close with Sansa, who often alienated him due to his status as a bastard. However, when the pair reconvened after several seasons apart, they were ecstatic to see each other.