It might have been released almost two years ago but complaints have resurfaced over the final season of Game of Thrones.
In a bid to stir up excitement for the fantasy epic, which this month marks 10 years since its debut on HBO, the network has released a new, recut trailer to celebrate season eight.
However, it appears to have only stirred up gripes over the show's controversial ending.
"Season eight was like if Frodo realised he could snap the One Ring in half like a twig as soon as he reached Mordor," wrote one commenter underneath the clip on YouTube, referencing The Lord of the Rings.
"Are you guys remaking it? Because if you’re not, then it’s better to not release a trailer for it again and remind us of something we wanna forget," added another YouTube commenter.
The below trailer contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season eight:
Fans also criticised the trailer for containing spoilers, ruining plot lines for viewers who had not yet watched the finale.
The HBO fantasy series, based on George R R Martin's saga A Song of Fire and Ice, first hit TV screens on April 17, 2011. The show, which centres on continuing battles to rule the land of Westeros amid threats from mythical forces beyond its border, was initially critically acclaimed, winning Emmy and Golden Globe awards.
The eighth season, which wrapped up in May 2019, was slammed for its gaping plot holes and the disappointing endings given to some beloved characters.
The updated trailer has also renewed calls for the show's producers to remake the divisive final season, though the network has previously thrown water on the suggestion.
HBO programming chief Casey Bloys said in 2019 there was no serious consideration to remake the story, describing criticism as part and parcel of the business.
However, a number of related projects have since been announced, including House of the Dragon, a prequel series slated to come to HBO in 2022. Author Martin is also collaborating on projects related to his other books, including Sandkings, for Netflix.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ahmed Raza
UAE cricket captain
Age: 31
Born: Sharjah
Role: Left-arm spinner
One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95
T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
