Apparently There's an Alternate Ending to 'Game of Thrones' We Will Never See

Robin Zlotnick - Author
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Nov. 22 2019, Updated 12:45 p.m. ET

game of thrones ending
Source: HBO

In terms of bad TV finales, it's like Dexter, followed closely by Game of Thrones. After eight seasons of drama and war and dragons, our expectations were, perhaps, too high. In the last season, Dany officially flew her dragon over the deep end, and (get ready for SPOILERS!) her death became inevitable. 

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Cersei Lannister, one of the coolest, most evil characters of all time, was unceremoniously reduced to rubble after staring out a window and doing nothing for several episodes. And the person who ended up on the throne, the guy who effectively won the game of thrones, was BRAN, a character whose arc is about as interesting as the muffin he's named after. Even the actors couldn't hide their displeasure with the show's ending. It was that bad. So what would you say if you learned that there is an alternate ending out there that was actually filmed? And that Kristofer Hivju, who played Tormund Giantsbane, knows what it is but isn't going to tell us?

game of thrones ending
Source: HBO
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Tormund was arguably the best character on the show. He provided some much-needed comic relief, but he could play emotional moments just as well. And he also functioned as the audience's perspective when it came to Brienne of Tarth appreciation. He was the only one who understood how amazing she was (pssh, Jaime doesn't count). 

But now, he's dead to me. Because he knows what the alternate ending to Game of Thrones is, and he won't tell us what it is. Kristofer was at a Game of Thrones celebration with some of his costars recently, and evidently he was feeling a little cheeky, because he told Metro, "Well, we shot an alternate ending. That was mostly for fun but I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you about that." 

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What a tease! After that, he shut down and he wouldn't say any more. The Metro reporter did their part, prodding him for any details he could possibly spill, but he remained tight-lipped. I think I speak for all Game of Thrones fans when I say whatever the alternate ending is, we want it

All of Westeros could be destroyed by a meteor and everyone could die, and that would be better than the ending we got. (Honestly, I didn't know how mad I was about the GoT ending until right now, but hoo boy, I am fired up.)

game of thrones ending
Source: HBO
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Kristofer, like everyone else, admitted that he was shocked about the turn the show eventually took. In addition to every person in the world, the cast members of the show themselves also all had their own theories and desires for the finale. 

Kristofer told Metro, "The funny thing is after season seven I had my theories, fans had theirs, everybody in the cast had their theories, so there were thousands of theories. To choose one path would be difficult to say, but there were many things I didn't see coming. There was the element of surprise, which I liked."

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gamee of thrones ending
Source: HBO

Sure, Kristofer, maybe you "liked" the fact that you were surprised by the ending, but that's a roundabout way to say he didn't actually like what the surprise was. There were so many storylines that had to wrap up in the finale, and somehow, every single choice the showrunners made was disappointing in some way. 

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When CNN contacted HBO to find out just what was going on with this alternate ending, they claimed that "had no information about an alternative Game of Thrones ending and suggested Hivju may have been joking." Yeah, likely story. We all know that footage exists somewhere.

game of thrones ending
Source: HBO
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I need to know what that alternate ending was. In my mind, when he says they shot it for "fun," that means it's a giant musical number where all the characters, even the dead ones, sing and dance. I'm picturing Oberyn with his head crushed, holding hands with the Night King and Stannis Baratheon, skipping around a maypole, doing a choreographed dance. Either that or the show ends with a birds-eye-view shot that pulls out and out and out until you see that it's a board game being played by the dudes from Silicon Valley or something. 

Truly, I would have respected the showrunners so much if they did something ridiculous like that. There's still time! There's still time to give us another Game of Thrones ending. David! D.B.! You hearing this? We'll take whatever you got! We want it! 

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