Once upon a time, “Game of Thrones” was the biggest television phenomenon any of us had seen in years — and then, in May of 2019, the eighth and final season concluded as we all looked around and collectively wondered what the hell happened to a once-great show. To say fans hated season 8 of “Game of Thrones” as well as the finale, “The Iron Throne,” is an understatement; some people quite literally wrote a petition to HBO asking the network to do the whole final installment again so they could make it good in a second go-around, and if you ask any random viewer what they thought of the “Game of Thrones” finale, they’ll probably tell you it stunk and then hold you captive in a conversation about why it stunk.
I am one of those viewers, to be perfectly clear. I friggin’ loved “Game of Thrones” and yet, during “The Iron Throne,” I got up and left my own apartment in a blind rage — which was packed full of my friends who joined me to watch this painful episode — when John Bradley’s character said he wrote a book called “A Song of Ice and Fire.” For years, I made the colossal and all-too-common mistake of feeling excited about new seasons and episodes of “Game of Thrones” only to be richly punished by the final six episodes (or final two seasons, if we’re all being really honest), but let me be clear again: The beginning and even the middle of “Game of Thrones” is still spectacular television. With that in mind, let’s rank all eight seasons from worst to best. (The worst will likely not surprise you.)
8. Season 8
It is a truth (nearly) universally acknowledged that season 8 of “Game of Thrones” flat-out sucks. After season 7 started stinking up the whole place — more on that shortly — season 8 returned in the spring of 2019 with just six episodes, leaving viewers to wonder how showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss could possibly wrap up all of the series’ loose ends in such a short amount of time. As it turns out, they simply didn’t! Season 8 of “Game of Thrones” contains a lot of events that feel somewhat inevitable, like Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) descent into madness, the defeat of the undead Night King (Vladimir Furdik) and his massive army of ice zombies, and the coronation of a new King of the Seven Kingdoms. (That said, anyone who guessed the title would go to Isaac Hempstead-Wright’s Bran Stark, an omniscient being who talks like a kid taking too many philosophy classes during his freshman year of college, likely did so as a joke only to be cruelly proven right.) The way these things happened, though, is rushed to an absurd point because Benioff and Weiss wanted to go do their “Star Wars” project (which was ultimately canned anyway), and the hyper-fast pacing assassinates several character arcs in the process.
I could write quite a lot about why the last season of “Game of Thrones” is really bad — and I actually have — but the point is that these six episodes speed-run through moments that could have been impactful and interesting to the point where you basically stop caring and just want it all to end. Not a single character gets a good ending or one that makes sense, and the whole thing just feels … useless and awful. Also, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) shouldn’t have killed the Night King; it should have been Jon Snow (Kit Harington) because of, you know, set-up and payoff, and I will die on this (Valyrian steel) sword.
7. Season 5
Season 5 of “Game of Thrones” contains multitudes, which is to say that it’s the season that features “Hardhome” as well as the line “You want a good girl, but you need a bad p***y.” (The episode containing that line won an Emmy for outstanding writing in a drama series, though, so what do I know?) The show’s fifth season marks the point where David Benioff and D.B. Weiss start approaching the end of their source material (George R.R. Martin’s series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which is still unfinished) and it shows, but they also made some seriously divisive choices that have absolutely nothing to do with the books. Namely, the decision to center the sexual assault of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) at the hands of the sadistic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) on not Sansa, but her childhood “friend” Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) is questionable at best and horrifying at worst. Watching young Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram) burn at the stake as a human sacrifice for suspect religious reasons is also a tough watch.
“Hardhome” is the clear standout in season 5 — watching Jon Snow and a bunch of wildlings do their damndest to fight the Night King and his army only for the undead monarch to create a new, bigger army from the bodies of their friends with a wave of the hand is an all-time “Game of Thrones” moment — but the rest of season 5 barely justifies its existence, especially when you consider that this is the season with the unbelievably dreadful Dorne subplot. Also, the less said about Arya’s time at the Faceless Assassin Academy in Braavos, the better … particularly because all her face-changing skills barely matter by the end of the series.
6. Season 7
The seventh season of “Game of Thrones” is the one where every single character develops a terminal case of the stupids. I recently re-watched the entire series and realized that I’d never gone directly from season 6 into season 7 before, and I have to say the show’s drop-off in overall quality is so apparent that it’s actually alarming. By the time we get to the point where Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) — the latter of whom used to be smart — propose a plan to capture a single undead wight so that they can prove to Tyrion’s evil, powerful sister Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) that the Night King’s army exists, everyone is already an idiot, so the absurdity of this plan barely registers. (I shouldn’t have to say this, but to be clear: wights don’t usually travel alone, making that a suicide mission, and Cersei does not care about anything but her own bottom line, which does not include ice zombies.)
Ultimately, season 7 undoes a ton of character development, has way too much Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk, who was saddled with playing one of the show’s worst-ever characters), and feels frustrating as hell while the show both rushes and plods to its finish line. (It also raises a ton of questions that never get answered, including but not limited to “Why does the Night King’s army possess chains strong enough to pull a dead dragon out of the water?”) The whole ordeal isn’t as bad as the final season, but it’s a troubling sign of things to come at the very least. (The only good moment is Lady Olenna Tyrell’s farewell to the series, performed perfectly by the late Diana Rigg.)
5. Season 2
This is going to be controversial, and I’m prepared for that, but I will bravely say that season 2 of “Game of Thrones” is … fine. It’s okay! Out of necessity, this season spends a lot of time putting the chess pieces on the board as everyone prepares to make a move, “Blackwater” notwithstanding (and obviously, that episode is a standout to the point where many consider it to be a highlight of not just the season, but the entire series). Part of what drags season 2 down in my ranking is the irritating Qarth storyline that forces Daenerys to yell “where are my dragons?!” on repeat, which isn’t as dramatic as it is silly. (Emilia Clarke’s acting skills also develop considerably throughout the series, and unfortunately, season 2 just isn’t her strongest.)
That said, there’s a lot to like in season 2 besides “Blackwater.” Arya’s time as cupbearer to Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), one of the show’s most fascinating characters, is an incredible dynamic, and I think you could still reasonably argue that Tywin knows precisely who she is but keeps her secret for his own reasons. As king, Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) is really on one in season 2, and Gleeson’s performance as a deliciously maniacal boy monarch is so excellent that it’s stomach-churning. Jon meets Ygritte (Rose Leslie) in this season, and their chemistry is hot enough to melt even Jon’s cold heart (it doesn’t hurt that Leslie and Kit Harington ended up getting married in real life after meeting during filming). Season 2 is solid, but aside from “Blackwater,” it doesn’t offer up as many of the jaw-dropping, mind-blowing sequences and set pieces seen in later seasons.
4. Season 6
Yes, season 6 of “Game of Thrones” marks the exact point where David Benioff and D.B. Weiss officially run out of source material to adapt — and one could argue, as many have, that the show is fully off the rails at this point. This is my ranking, though, and I think season 6 is actually pretty good. The Dorne storyline wraps up pretty stupidly in the first episode, but then it’s finished, and in that same episode, Sansa and Theon attempt a daring escape from Ramsay’s clutches and succeed when they run into one of the show’s fiercest warriors, Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie). (If you watch Brienne pledge herself to Sansa’s service and don’t get a little emotional, you’re dead inside.) There are a lot of ups and downs in season 6: Arya’s plotline is a stone-cold bummer (and begins an unsettling “Game of Thrones” trend where gaping stomach wounds heal instantly if you’re a series regular), but while that’s happening, Sansa and Jon reunite at Winterfell and give Ramsay a righteous beatdown in the action-packed episode “The Battle of the Bastards,” a series highlight.
Cersei is also at her worst (complimentary) throughout season 6, which culminates in her leveling the Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing with magical wildfire rather than attend her own trial while her nemesis Daenerys assembles foreign armies on dragonback across the Narrow Sea. We learn why Hodor (Kristian Nairn) can only say his own name, and it’s heartbreaking. We also learn, through Bran, that Jon is no bastard but the legitimate son of Daenerys’ brother Rhaegar. (Too bad that never matters, but that’s a season 8 problem.) Season 6 is the last good season of “Game of Thrones,” and when it’s good, it’s very good.
3. Season 4
In the second episode of season 4 of “Game of Thrones,” Joffrey is murdered at his own wedding and Tyrion is falsely accused of committing the act, so to say this season gets off to a strong start is an understatement. Somehow, Tyrion’s imprisonment in King’s Landing is one of the character’s most fascinating throughlines, thanks in large part to Peter Dinklage’s astounding performance; the Emmy-winner shines whether he’s sharing quiet moments with characters in his jail cell or screaming that he wishes he could poison the entire populace of King’s Landing at his trial. (During that trial, when Tyrion is brazenly betrayed by his lover Shae, played by Sibel Kekilli, your heart breaks along with him while she exploits their real relationship to falsely accuse him of murder.) Season 4 also features yet another all-timer of an episode, “The Mountain and the Viper,” which does not end well for Pedro Pascal’s Oberyn Martell (to say the very least).
Elsewhere in season 4, Sansa reunites with her aunt Lysa (Kate Dickie) only for Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen) to shove the lady out of her own deathly “moon door,” while Jon has to fend off both wildlings — including his lover Ygritte — and Stannis Baratheon’s (Stephen Dillane) armies at the Wall. Arya and Sandor “The Hound” Clegane (Rory McCann) get a cool little road-trip journey that builds to a fight between The Hound and Brienne where the latter bites off part of the former’s ear. As if all of that isn’t enough, as he escapes King’s Landing in the aftermath of his sham trial, Tyrion finally gets revenge on his father Tywin and shoots the old guy while he’s on the toilet. Season 4 is excellent, and that’s a fact.
2. Season 1
The first season of “Game of Thrones” is constructed sort of like a murder mystery, albeit one that opens with two Night’s Watchmen finding a pile of weirdly assembled bones and an undead little girl. After a botched first pilot, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss actually did a phenomenal job adapting George R.R. Martin’s first book in “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which focuses on Winterfell’s patriarch Ned Stark (Sean Bean) as he’s called to the Westerosi capital of King’s Landing. As it happens, Ned’s old friend and battle buddy King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) needs a new Hand of the King — largely because his previous one was murdered — and Ned is unlucky enough to get the job, separating him from his wife Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) and their eldest son Robb (Richard Madden) while Sansa and Arya join him in the dangerous capital.
Just when you start to get comfortable with the show’s apparent main character Ned, the story goes ahead and pulls the rug out from under you by beheading him at Joffrey’s command, for the crime of figuring out that the fair-haired king probably isn’t Robert’s son. (He is, in fact, the product of incest between Cersei and her twin brother, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s dashing Jaime Lannister.) Season 1 of “Game of Thrones” was wholly unafraid to take risks — for crying out loud, the series premiere ends with Jaime trying to kill Bran — and by the time Daenerys emerges from Drogo’s funeral pyre nude with three baby dragons at her breast in the finale, everyone knew that “Game of Thrones” was really something special.
1. Season 3
Season 3 of “Game of Thrones” still absolutely rips, to the point where you can almost forget about the terrible seasons that came after. (Almost.) Sure, this is the season that builds to the infamous “Red Wedding” — which we see in its brutal entirety in the ninth episode “The Rains of Castamere” — but even though that’s a devastating scene to watch, it’s undeniably amazing television. (Less amazing is Theon’s extended torture subplot, where he suffers endlessly at the hands of Ramsay Bolton, but it does serve a narrative purpose; that said, it still tests a lot of limits regarding how much fingernail-removal you can stand to watch.) Daenerys also gets a major episode in season 3, “And Now His Watch Is Ended,” where she tricks an evil slaver into selling her an entire army for one of her dragons before she torches the guy where he stands, and from there, she settles nicely into her role as the de facto leader of Essos and Yunkai.
North of the Wall, Jon and Ygritte begin their relationship in a real way only for Jon to betray Ygritte in favor of his fellow Night’s Watchmen, and Sam and his newfound girlfriend Gilly (Hannah Murray) become the first characters to slay a White Walker onscreen (using a piece of dragonglass). Tyrion is forced to marry Sansa in King’s Landing but ends up treating her more kindly than any of his kin, and the Tyrell family, led by Lady Olenna and her granddaughter Margaery (Natalie Dormer), stake their claim to Joffrey’s hand (and with it, significant power in the capital). When “Game of Thrones” is great, it’s transcendent — and that’s fully on display in season 3.
“Game of Thrones” is available to stream in its entirety on Max now.
