After eight seasons and 72 episodes, the final ever instalment of Game of Thrones is set to air in a little over 24 hours.

The fantasy drama has been nothing short of a phenomenon. After premiering in 2011 to an audience of 2.2 million the last episode was watched by over 18 million people.

Despite the sensation it has been, the final season has caused controversy among fans. Some are so outraged by the creative decisions that one million of them have signed a petition for the season to be re-written and remade.

TV critic for Deadline Hollywood Dominic Patten told Francesca Rudkin that he can understand why people feel that the series has been rushed.

However, he says that this backlash is not unusual, and tends to happen with most series finales.

"If you are a long term fan, you kind of go into mourning. When we make decisions to follow a show, it is a part of a life."

The controversy sparked up after heroine Daenerys Targaryen used her dragon to decimate the fictional kingdom's capital city. Many fans believe that it was too abrupt of a turn for the character, while others argued that the move had been signposted in earlier seasons. 

Patten does not believes it will go out "blazing", and fans will need to accept it for what it is rather than what they want.

He says that Thrones has been so successful due to the original built-in fan base and the fact it managed to clinch people's attention before streaming services kicked off. 

"Game of Thrones, underneath all the dragons and the swords and the sexual depravity, is a soap opera. We all love soap opera."

Over the last eight years, Patten says that the show has become a "landmark cultural moment". The penultimate episode 'The Bells' looked like a "hundred million big screen extravaganza", and it has raised the game for other television networks.

"I think Game of Thrones, regardless of how it ends up, you are going to have to look back at it and say it was one of the greatest ever television shows."