After eight seasons, HBO's massively popular fantasy series Game of Thrones has come to an end, finally settling the driving question of who will rule Westeros. With expectations astronomically high, the critical response has been sharply divided, leading to one of the lowest scores for a single episode on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.
Sunday's finale has a critics score of 57 percent, although that figure will fluctuate as additional professional reviews are tallied; there's no audience score yet available for the episode.
That critics score is the drama's lowest season finale by a considerable margin, and one of the worst for the entire series. The previous worst critics score for a season finale was 2017's Season 7 at 87 percent; every preceding season finale scored at least 92 percent.
The finale is the second worst-rated episode in the divisive final season, tied with the fourth episode, "The Last of the Starks." The worst-rated episode of the series is last week's "The Bells," which stands at 47 percent.
The final season has a series-low 70 percent critics rating; the previous lowest-scoring season is its first, with 91 percent.
Game of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Kit Harington as Jon Snow.