GEMMA Whelan has admitted the poor reception of Game of Thrones’ final season was a bitter pill to swallow.
The British actress, who is currently starring in ITV drama White House Farm, played the straight-talking Yara Greyjoy in the HBO fantasy drama.
Yara’s storyline saw her vie for power in the Iron Islands, which would have been her birth right as brother Theon (Alfie Allen) was happy to defect.
However, she was subsequently hunted down by her bloodthirsty uncle Euron (Pilou Asbaek), who brought her to King’s Landing as a military trophy to impress Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey).
Game of Thrones’ last season proved to be divisive with critics and fans alike, with many branding it “oversimplified” and “rushed”.
However, Whelan thinks show bosses did a great job at tying up loose ends, which is why she found the backlash so hard to handle.
When asked by the Guardian what he disappointment in life was, she shot back: “The fans’ reaction at the end of Game of Thrones, because I think it was brilliant.”
Unfortunately an axed scene between Theon and Yara meant the Greyjoy family were robbed of a sense of resolution.
In the first episode of the final season, the siblings discuss strategy, with the scene cutting from their escape from Euron’s ship to their plot to take down their uncle.
However, in leaked scripts from the show, there was a rare heart-to-heart chat between the pair, as Theon clutched his face following a headbutt from Yara.
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“Don’t be a girl,” she quips, but Theon’s response runs deep.
“It’s hard for Theon to talk about the night he betrayed his sister and jumped overboard, but he finally brings himself to say the word,” the directions read.
As Theon calls himself a coward, Yara insists he’s nothing of the sort and reminds him that he saved her when they made their escape.
Theon stresses that he hasn’t been there for her when she needed him, and given that this is the last interaction the pair have before Theon’s death, the moment is a poignant one.
However, it was ultimately cut, robbing eliminating the chance for closure.
In other Game of Thrones news, cast member Paul Kaye recently snubbed the franchise after admitting he’s never watched a single episode.
Elsewhere, fans noticed how Jamie Lannister predicted exactly how he’d die in a poignant conversation in season 5.