Damon Lindelof: Why Game of Thrones is excellent and haters are silly 

as part of EW’s upcoming Fall Preview mega-issue, he repeatedly referenced another show:

 writer-producer who famously quit Twitter last year his opinion of 

 most recent fifth season—which generated fan and media controversy amid some daring storytelling moves. 

Lindelof has a unique history with the series—as he points out below, he was once indirectly knocked by

(Martin later regretted that his comment received so much attention). Here’s Lindelof (note: 

. I read the first three books, and I was just finishing Book 3 when the show premiered. And right around the time that Ned died in season one I felt that rush of book reader’s superiority—”I knew that it was going to happen and nobody else did.” But it was also intermingled with jealousy for the people who did experience it first onscreen. That’s where I stopped reading the books. Book 4 was already out, and 5 was on the verge of coming out, and I was like, “I would love to get to a place in this show where I am genuinely surprised.”

I know there’s discourse now on the Web as to the deviances from the books, but all the Theon stuff was beyond Book 3 for me. So [in season 5 I was] experiencing the show completely and totally cold—and I was surprised. I was 

 surprised by a number of things that happened this season. As someone who makes television, I watch that show and I do not know how they do it. I just don’t understand, on a sheer logistical level, of how they’re able to produce that qualitative of a product in the amount of time they have with so many different locations and so many different parts.

Are there storylines that I am more invested in than others? Of course. That’s always going to be the case when six or seven different things are happening at any one time. But as a storyteller, if you can make one, let alone two, excellent hours of television a season if you’re doing eight or 10 episodes—an 

 episode by all accounts—I think what people don’t realize is that in order to produce those excellent episodes, there have to be episodes that set that up. There also have to be episodes that begin to—although this is never a storyteller’s intent—make [the viewer] go, “I don’t know, I don’t know about this…” That makes those excellent episodes all the more special. And when I was watching [episode 8] “Hardhome” this season, I was just like, “That’s one of the most excellent hours of television I’ve ever seen.” It’s excellent for different reasons than “The Suitcase” episode of 

 is excellent, but it’s just amazing. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open. I’m literally watching five minutes of silence—that whole moment where Jon Snow is going off into the water and looking at The Night’s King and he’s doing his “Come at me, bro” moment. And I was just like: “There’s nothing better on television, right now, than this.” You only need to demonstrate excellence once a season for me to view the entire season as excellent, or the entire show as excellent. And 

I don’t watch television to find things to gripe about, and I think we live in a clickbait-y media culture that exists to pick things apart. I love-watch 

, so I’m immensely forgiving of things that perhaps are not the strongest attributes of the show. And despite the fact that George R. R. Martin has flamed the 

 finale, there is a schadenfreude aspect of me saying, “Well, I kind of hope 

 sucks at the end, too, so they’ll know it feels to have somebody say that to you.” But I don’t think the 

 to end awesome, because I’m a huge fan, and I have every reason to believe that it is going to end awesomely.

But when you are in the zeitgeist, and when you are loved, there’s this part of it—people threaten to stop watching, people say “it’s not as good as it used to be,” people say, “If you kill this character, I will stop watching the show.” One of the things that people fell in love with about 

 was its willingness to kill anyone—but you can’t kill Jon Snow, you know? You can kill anyone—”but you can’t kill Tyrion.” And you can’t kill Dany. “As long as you don’t kill those three.” And it’s like: “But I thought you loved the show because we killed Ned Stark! He was the un-killable character!” So we have to be willing to do that. 

 where it’s like, literally from week to week, someone will say, “This is the most excellent show, this season is firing on all cylinders, it’s never been better.” And then because of one story move—Stannis burns his daughter—suddenly [the reaction is] like, “I cannot watch this show anymore. I’m quitting you, 

.” And I’m thinking: “No, you’re not. Don’t be ass.” That’s like my 8-year-old saying, “We’re not best friends anymore.” When I see a blogger—thank God I’m not on Twitter anymore, because I get into all sorts of trouble—or a critic, or a recapper say, “I’m done with your show,” if I were running that show I would call them up and say, “You are not allowed to watch my show anymore. I’m going to f–king alert everybody in your life to watch you. I’m going to hire a private eye to tap your media consumption, and you better not ever watch it again. 

“ It’s like you get in a fight with someone you love, you storm out of the room, and you say this is over. And then an hour later, you’re apologizing for being an asshole … Thus concludes my soapbox. 

Jay Rock previews new album featuring Kendrick Lamar, Busta Rhymes, SZA, more

Lori Loughlin wishes John Stamos a happy 52nd birthday

Rainn Wilson has an unwelcome visitor in horror film \'The Boy\'

Jared Fogle to plead guilty to charges of having sex with minors

The \'Suicide Squad\' cast gave each other matching tattoos

Restored \'Silly Symphonies\' music released by Disney

Meet the pros for season 21 of \'Dancing With the Stars\'

Fall Movie Preview: Exclusive looks at the season\'s blockbusters and Oscar contenders

Disney\'s D23 Expo 2015 Celebrity Portrait Gallery

Proof Dwayne \'The Rock\' Johnson had a blast during D23

\'Star Wars: The Force Awakens\': 12 exclusive looks at the new galaxy

Laverne Cox, Taye Diggs, Emily Ratajkowski & More!