Sophie Turner slams 'Game of Thrones' fan petitions as 'disrespectful' to cast and crew

Spoiler alert! The following contains plot details from the “Game of Thrones” series finale, Season 8 Episode 6, "The Iron Throne."

Sophie Turner has words for fans hating on the final season of "Game of Thrones."

Speaking with The New York Times the day after Sunday's series finale, the actress who played Sansa Stark, said she wasn't shocked by the hostility, but nonetheless called out petitions against the show.

One Change.org petition, which called on HBO to remake the entire final season with "competent writers," garnered 1.4 million signatures.

"People always have an idea in their heads of how they want a show to finish, and so when it doesn’t go to their liking, they start to speak up about it and rebel," said Turner, 23.

"The thing about 'Game of Thrones' that’s always been amazing is the fact that there’s always been crazy twists and turns, right from Season 1 with Ned’s beheading," she added. "So Daenerys becoming something of the Mad Queen – it shouldn’t be such a negative thing for fans. It’s a shock for sure, but I think it’s just because it hasn’t gone their way.

"All of these petitions and things like that – I think it’s disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season," she added. "Like 50-something night shoots. So many people worked so, so hard on it, and for people to just rubbish it because it’s not what they want to see is just disrespectful."

Listen to this week's episode of  USA TODAY's podcast, The Mothership, to hear our Film and TV Critic rate the "Game of Thrones" series finale.

Despite grumbling fans, the series finale, "The Iron Throne," set an HBO ratings record with a total of 19.3 million viewers watching via cable or streaming. That broke the mark set by the 2002 series finale of the "The Sopranos," which notched 13.4 million viewers.

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When she spoke with the Times, she hadn't yet watched the finale, as she "truly can’t be alone to watch it."

However, she said she "loved" how things turned out for Sansa, who won independence for the North and became its queen, calling it "kind of the perfect ending for her.”

Turner explained, "It’s the only place that she really, truly feels safe. It’s the place that she’s the most capable of ruling. She would be a fair and loving ruler, and it’s what she’s been striving for this whole series: to go back home, to protect her home. And finally, she has that." 

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Despite being satisfied with Sansa's fate, Turner can't help but be emotional about the show's end. 

"This whole time I felt like I’ve been prepared for it, and now that it’s come to the day and it’s over, it feels horrible," she said. "And, I’m doing a press day for my new movie (the "X-Men" film "Dark Phoenix") but everyone keeps asking me about how I feel, and I just want to cry."