Jack Gleeson Never Watched GoT After Leaving (Can You Blame Him, Though?)
It's hard to imagine there are people out there who have no idea how Game of Thrones ended. The finale made headline news all around the world, with some fans signing petitions calling for the ending to be rewritten.
And yet Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) has no opinion on the climax to the epic series. Why? Because he didn't watch a single episode after his character left the show.
From the moment he got the part, Gleeson knew he'd be leaving the show early. The first thing he did after receiving the news he was in the show was to go online and find out what happens to Joffrey.
He still describes the opportunity to star in the show as an "immense privilege" but says that "four seasons is enough." It's worth noting here that season 4 was critically acclaimed and is considered by many fans and TV buffs as the best of the series. This is in stark contrast to the last few seasons. Many say the writing became weak as the story went on, culminating in the disappointing season 8.
Game of Thrones was a series that saw several prominent characters meet an untimely death – some of who continued to watch the show following their own demise. For Gleeson, though, his own departure was the end of his interest in the Game of Thrones. Speaking on the subject he stated a very simple reason for this.
"I'm just selfish," he said. In fact, he also stated that when he received the scripts he only read scenes that he was going to be in.
Having ignored the entire second half of the series, Gleeson says he still doesn't know how it ended. However, he does have friends who watched the show in its entirety and who he said "were mostly disappointed" with the finale.
While some cast members have been critical of those fans who signed petitions calling for the ending to be rewritten, Gleeson believes "everyone's entitled to their opinion."
Having not watched the later seasons while GoT was in its prime – and being well aware that the ending is widely considered to be disappointing – it seems unlikely that Gleeson will now go back and watch those seasons that aired after he had left the show.
But there was no great dilemma for the actor that brought him to that decision, and he had no beef with the showrunners for the way his time on it ended. Instead, he simply thought "I'll just leave it."