Peter Dinklage says 'Game of Thrones' was often criticized by some fans who had a 'deep knowledge' of the story: 'We offended a lot of people'

• Peter Dinklage told the Sunday Times that he tried avoiding chatter about "Game of Thrones."
• "But that was impossible," Dinklage said. "You're reminded of it on a daily basis by the fans."

HBO's hit fantasy series "Game of Thrones" came to an end in 2019 with a divisive finale, and the show's stars are still contending with it two years later. In an interview with the Sunday Times, star Peter Dinklage said he tried avoiding the fandom's chatter from the very start.

"But that was impossible," Dinklage said. "You're reminded of it on a daily basis by the fans. They had deep knowledge, but if somebody loves something they have their version of it in their head, so we got criticism early."

He continued: "Then, when we were leaving, they criticized again because they didn't want us to go. Some got angry. But if you appeal to everyone you're doing something wrong. And we offended a lot of people."

Dinklage, who has been doing press for his new movie "Cyrano," also recently spoke with the New York Times about the backlash to the final episodes in the series.

"They wanted the pretty white people to ride off into the sunset together," Dinklage said.

"By the way, it's fiction," he added with a laugh. "There's dragons in it. Move on."

When "Game of Thrones" first premiered in the spring of 2011, four of the planned seven books in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series had been published. The fifth book debuted that summer.

Nobody — not the showrunners nor Martin nor his fans — thought the series would overtake the in-progress book series. But more than a decade later, Martin has yet to publish the sixth planned book.

So as the show's ending unfolded, fans of the written story (and Martin's expanded fictional histories about Westeros) were paying extra-close attention to how the various characters' fates were playing out.

Since 2014, public statements about the respective planned endings from Martin and the "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have changed. Though it was once assumed the show's ending would align with Martin's plan for the books, now it's clear book-readers will likely be surprised by major differences.

Now HBO is progressing ahead with the first "Game of Thrones" prequel series, "House of the Dragon," which will premiere sometime this year.