Lili Reinhart Wrote a Savage Message to Fans Petitioning for a Game of Thrones Do-over

UPDATE: May 18, 3 P.M.

Apparently people weren't too pleased at Reinhart for her comments about the circulating petition for Game of Thrones to remake its eighth season, but Reinhart took to Instagram Stories on Saturday to explain her position.

"It's inappropriate as an audience member to demand change from an entire crew of writers, creators, performers, etc. just because it did not satisfy you," she posted. "Fans, of course, are an incredibly large reason why shows are successful...But it does not excuse certain destructive and disrespectful behavior toward people who have dedicated their entire lives to creating a show or film."

Reinhart—who knows a thing or two about being on a hit show with a big fandom and plenty of twists—compared fans' reactions to someone walking into a gallery and telling the artist what they should have done differently.

"Try to imagine this: A person walks into a painter's gallery... a painter they have always been a fan of... and they tell the artist 'I don't like what you did here. You probably should have done it this way.' That would be incredibly entitled, no?"

"So think about it that way," she wrapped up. "Bye."

Original Story:

More than 800,000 fans have signed a petition for HBO to remake the eighth season of Game of Thrones. One person who's not on board with this, though, is Lili Reinhart. The Riverdale star took to Instagram on Thursday (May 16) to shut down those in favor of this lofty request, which knocks GoT showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as "woefully incompetent writers."

"This is not how television works," Reinhart wrote in a comment under Variety's post about the petition. "TV shows are not fan service. It's ridiculous of people to think they can demand creative change from artists."

Reinhart's comment has sparked a bit of a debate about whether or not television actually is "fan service." "The customer is the fan and if the customer doesn’t like the product, actors, [or] shows, then the money stops coming in. Without the fans, there isn’t a show because there is no money," one person wrote.

"I agree that demanding a change of directing is unrealistic; however, it comes to show that people find it hard to bid farewell," wrote another.

Check out Lili Reinhart's message for yourself, below. (And head on over to Variety's Instagram page to read more comments.)

To call season eight of Game of Thrones divisive would be an understatement. The show's depiction of its female characters has been a point of particular criticism and concern—so much so that stars like Jessica Chastain have chimed in. After Sansa's sexual assault backstory was put in an "empowering" light, the Molly's Game actor tweeted, "Rape is not a tool to make a character stronger. A woman doesn’t need to be victimized in order to become a butterfly. The #littlebird was always a Phoenix. Her prevailing strength is solely because of her. And her alone. #GameOfThrones."

Game of Thrones ends once and for all this Sunday starting at 9:00 P.M. ET on HBO. Fingers crossed that the showrunners deliver a finale that satisfies fans.

Originally Appeared on Glamour