'Game of Thrones' Submitted Worst-Reviewed Episodes in Show’s History for Emmy Consideration

HBO is clearly in some serious denial.

It has been almost a month since Season 8 of Game of Thrones ended, causing an uproar of disappointment from fans. The final season of the show included the worst-rated episodes in the series’ history: “The Last of the Starks,” “The Bells,” and “The Iron Throne” having 5.6, 6.1, and 4.3 stars (out of a maximum of 10 on IMDb), respectively, as BGR reports. On top of that, “The Bells” and “The Iron Throne” are the worst-reviewed episodes in the show’s history on Rotten Tomatoes, both with 49%. “The Last of the Starks” is close ahead with a sad 58%.

These episodes, presumably, prompted 1,632,608 million people (and counting) to sign a Change.org petition asking HBO to remake the final season with “competent writers.” But after already allotting a $90 million budget to make the final season, there is little hope this will ever happen.

The good news is that someone believes these episodes are Emmy Award-worthy…the network itself.

According to TV Guide, HBO is ignoring the backlash the final season received, suggesting some of the worst episodes for Emmy consideration. The network submitted three episodes for Best Directing, including Miguel Sapochnik’s The Long Night, David Nutter’s The Last of the Starks, and D.B. Weiss and David Benioff’s The Iron Throne.

The cherry on top is that, though “The Iron Throne” was ripped apart by fans as the worst storytelling on the show, HBO submitted the finale’s script for the Best Writing category.

BGR points out how the less-hated episodes of the season—“Winterfell” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”—were not submitted for consideration.

HBO also reportedly submitted actors Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Alfie Allen, Pilou Asbæk, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Richard Dormer, Gwendoline Christie, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and Carice van Houten for their performances.

While the actors might deserve all the awards in the world, Game of Thrones as a series certainly should not get to clean up at the Emmys like it has in the past.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.