It’s probably a bit of an understatement to say that the Game of Thrones finale was divisive. Between the pacing, the conclusion of several character arcs, and the presence of several stray plastic bottles, there were so many moments in ‘The Iron Throne’ fans either loved or hated that it’s enough to give someone whiplash.
But despite all the quips everyone had about the episode and its writing – it’s currently tied as the lowest ranked Thrones episode ever on Rotten Tomatoes – HBO has nominated it in the prestigious Best Writing category for the 2019 Emmys and it is a shoo in to win the trophy despite all the fan backlash to David Benioff and Dan Weiss’ work on it.
Now you’re probably wondering why HBO decided to nominate ‘The Iron Throne’ for the Best Writing Emmy instead of better reviewed season eight episodes like ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘. Well, the fact of the matter is that they could’ve nominated any episode for the category and it would’ve still won. Yes, even that poorly lit Battle of Winterfell episode.
You may love or hate the Thrones finale but the simple explanation as to why it’ll beat other seemingly more deserving shows to the Best Writing crown is because it remains a massive pop-culture juggernaut and there’s a relative lack of competition.
While there are other critically-acclaimed shows like Killing Eve and Better Call Saul in the running, they have nowhere near the level of buzz, viewership or love from the TV Academy members voting for the Emmy noms and winners (which is a story for another time). Put it simply, the quality of the actual writing in the last season of Thrones is almost a non-factor for the Best Writing category and it’s got other things going for it that makes it a heavy favourite in any field it is nominated in.
Now we’re still in the early stages of the Emmy and things could swing wildly – not unlike the last season of GoT – before the official nominations are announced on July 16, but past history has shown us that Thrones will more than likely win any Emmy race it’s in and no amount of angry fan petitions will change the inevitable end result.