'Game of Thrones' Stars Say They're 'Conflicted' About Finale: 'Not Everyone's Gonna Be Happy' (Exclusive)

The night is dark and full of very strong feelings about the 'GoT' series finale.

Things aren't looking good for Daenerys Targaryen -- but then again, the same could be said for any character on Game of Thrones. 

The Dragon Queen became her biggest, baddest self on Sunday's penultimate episode of the HBO series, ignoring the surrender of King's Landing in favor of burning it -- and its innocent citizens -- to the ground.

With Cersei, Jaime and more major characters officially out of the running for the Iron Throne, Dany has a lot less competition. But her "Mad Queen"-esque actions aren't doing her any favors in terms of winning over the people left living. 

Fans were divided over last week's episode (some even started a petition to have HBO redo the entire season), and as the cast has told ET, they'll be divided over the finale as well. Here's what Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington and more said we should expect on Sunday. 

PETER DINKLAGE (TYRION LANNISTER): 

"There are no better writers in television than [showrunners] Dan Weiss and David Benioff. They ended it brilliantly. Better than I could have imagined, and you people are in for it," Dinklage told ET last October. 

He added, "It ends beautifully for my character, whether it be tragic or not."

EMILIA CLARKE (DAENERYS TARGARYEN) & NATHALIE EMMANUEL (MISSANDEI): 

"Best season ever!" Clarke sarcastically replied when ET asked her in September 2018 if she was happy with how things concluded -- seemingly alluding to Dany's big twist. 

"It's the best. It's the best season ever," Emmanuel jokingly added. 

KIT HARINGTON (JON SNOW):

"I said to [my wife] Rose the other night, I was like, 'We've been tethered by this show, a long time we've loved it,'" Harington exclusively told ET's at Game of Thrones' season eight premiere in New York City last month. "And now we get to enjoy the final hurrah." 

"It, in some ways, has ended for us," he said of the show. "When we finished filming, we said goodbye to it, so this sort of feels like an added bonus that we get to watch it and celebrate it now." 

LENA HEADEY (CERSEI LANNISTER): 

"I think people will be surprised at every turn this season," Headey simply told ET in February. 

SOPHIE TURNER (SANSA STARK)

"I was just, like, numb," the actress confessed to our cameras at the GoT junket in April. "I was just numb when I read my last page, 'cause it’s just so sad. It’s so sad that like, that is the last time I'm reading my character. I just had to go on a long, long walk."

MAISIE WILLIAMS (ARYA STARK)

"I was like, so in denial. I was one of the last people to wrap, which isn't a spoiler," she shared in a joint junket interview with Turner. "I did my scene last, yeah, and I was just like, really putting it off because I watched so many people wrap and cry. I had to like, stay out of that emotion because there was so much to do -- like, some really difficult scenes to do. And then I wrapped and I was emotional. Like, I really did feel numb."

ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT (BRAN STARK):

"I remember when I read the final episode, I got up and actually genuinely had to pace around my flat for a bit... That was just 'cause my legs hurt, nothing to do with the script," he joked at the junket in April. 

JACOB ANDERSON (GREY WORM): 

"I felt really conflicted about Grey Worm's last appearance. I felt really satisfied with his story, but also I was kind of like, there's -- I felt very conflicted," he told ET at the show's final season press day last month. "This is when the arms start coming up and being like, 'I don't know, I don't know what you're talking about.'"

"I felt all of the things you could possibly feel," Anderson added. "And hopefully that's what people will feel when they see it."

GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE (BRIENNE OF TARTH): 

"It took me a long time to actually digest the story line this season and the final episode," she at the GoT junket in April. "It's a strange thing, isn't it? Because I've never made any particular plans or deliberate plans about where I thought the character would end up, but you're never prepared for what will actually happen. But I thought they did a good job."

JOHN BRADLEY (SAMWELL TARLY): 

"Well, I've said it before, but I think the primary emotion I felt was just one of relief, because you don't want to get it wrong," he explained to ET in April at the junket. "People have invested a lot of time and attention in this show. There have been a few shows in the past that have been great all the way through, and kind of fall on the final fence and that kind of tarnishes people's view of the whole thing, because they know it ends on kind of a bum note."

"But I think we were just relieved. I was certainly relieved that we had an ending we could send out into the world and be proud of and happy to talk about it," Bradley added. 

RICHARD DORMER (BERIC) & KRISTOFER HIVJU (TORMUND): 

"I had goosebumps. Goosebumps on goosebumps," Dormer told ET of his reaction to reading his last episode. 

"Yeah, to talk about reading the last season, it was a very emotional ride in many different ways and many different layers," Hivju added. "There is yeah, very unexpected things are gonna happen, I think." 

IAIN GLEN (JORAH MORMONT):

"[My reaction was] just that the guys nailed it," Glen shared to ET in April. "I think really, throughout all the episodes, just wonderful writing. It's such a hard thing to pull off. I think the expectations are so high and I just think they managed all the story lines incredibly well. It's full of the Thrones mix of the unexpected and dramatic and massive set pieces and extraordinary things beyond our ken, and it's kind of more of the same, but bigger and better."

LIAM CUNNINGHAM (SER DAVOS):

"I was actually more concerned. You have to remember a lot of people that look at the show, they think we're the participants, but we're all real fans, it's an ensemble piece," Cunningham dished to ET at the Game of Thrones press day in April. "We all sit at home on the couch with our families and friends and watch this thing together, because we only film our bits, so I was desperately concerned about how the show was going to finish as a fan and I kind of almost skipped past myself."

"But listen -- not everybody's gonna be happy, not everybody's gonna be sad. You have to remember we're a bit like real life. We're not gonna put a pink pretty ribbon on this show -- it's probably not gonna happen," he added. 

Game of Thrones' series finale airs Sunday, May 19 on HBO.

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