Game of Thrones' Conleth Hill was 'frustrated' with show's 'rushed' final seasons

The shadow of Game of Thrones' divisive final season still hangs over the franchise, remaining a point of contention not just among its fans, but also its stars.

Conleth Hill, who played the eunuch Varys on all eight seasons of the series, said in a new interview with The Times that he believes disagreements between HBO and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss led to confusing plot developments in the show's final stretch.

"Right up until the last two series, I had no complaints at all," Hill told The Times. "I just felt frustrated with the last couple of [seasons] because Varys wasn't the all-knowing character he had been. I think the writers wanted to do one thing to end it and the studio HBO wanted to do another. I felt that last [season] was a bit rushed. I was inconsolable, but now I'm fine about it."

Hill's not lying about being "inconsolable." After Varys was executed in Thrones' penultimate episode, "The Bells," the actor told EW in an in-depth interview that "nothing could console" him after learning the fate of his character.

"You can't help feeling that you failed in some way, that you haven't lived up to some expectation that you didn't know about," Hill told EW in 2019. "The only thing that consoles you is people who worked a lot harder than you are in the same boat. So that helps. I don't think anybody who hasn't been through it can identify with it. They think, 'What's all the fuss about? You're all finishing anyway.' But you take it personally, you can't help it."

Although Hill ultimately thought that Varys' death — he was executed by his liege Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) for trying to engineer the ascent of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) after deciding he would be better for the realm than her — was "noble" and in line with the character's ideals, he still had disappointments.

For example, Hill lamented the lack of closure between Varys and his longtime political rival, Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen). As a pair of low-born characters who climbed the ranks of power through skill and cunning, Varys and Littlefinger's combative conversations were highlights of Thrones' early seasons before the plot took them in different directions. Littlefinger ultimately met his fate in Winterfell at the hands of Arya Stark (Maisie Williams).

"I was very bummed to not have a final scene with him," Hill told EW. "I was bummed not to have any reaction to him dying, if he was my nemesis. That's been my feeling the last couple seasons, that my character became more peripheral, that they concentrated on others more. That's fine. It's the nature of a multi-character show. It was kind of frustrating. As a whole it's been overwhelmingly positive and brilliant but I suppose the last couple seasons weren't my favorite."

Read Hill's full interview with EW here.

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