Not The Original Pilot
Did you know that the show’s pilot that launched one of the most beloved shows of all time was not the original Game of Thrones pilot? The show runners admit that the first pilot was terrible, and therefore it never aired. The show was recast and 90% of the pilot was re-filmed.
Not The Original Pilot
A Rollercoaster Of Emotions
During the final table read for Season 8, Sansa Stark actress Sophie Turner revealed that it was pretty difficult for her to keep her emotions to herself, and she cried throughout the read. However, apparently Jon Snow actor Kit Harington cried even more than she did! Who knew the stoic Jon Snow is such a softie!
A Rollercoaster Of Emotions
First Day On Set
Fans might recall the scene in the first episode when Arya throws pigeon pie directly at her sister Sansa. The actress who plays Arya, Maisie Williams, recalls that this was her very first day on set, and that the directors kept telling her to improve her aim and hit Sansa right in the face!
First Day On Set
Not What He Wanted
When Jamie Lannister actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was asked what he wanted to keep from the set of Game of Thrones, he said that it was Jamie’s golden hand. Unfortunately for Nikolaj, he was not able to keep it, even though he said it was the only thing that he wanted as a memento.
Not What He Wanted
A Scene He’ll Never Forget
Kit Harington remembers his favorite scene to shoot, which took place on the show’s second season. The scene happens to be the one with his on-screen and off-screen love Rose Leslie, who played Ygritte. The two met and fell in love while filming, and eventually tied the knot in June 2018.
A Scene He’ll Never Forget
Sleeping Or…?
Kit Harington also shared that acting “dead” on screen in Season 6 of Game of Thrones was a lot easier than he originally thought it might be. He also said that he was not embarrassed, but actually fell asleep while they filmed him lying “dead” on the table. Sounds like a nice time to us!
Sleeping Or…?
Prepared For The Worst
With every new season, Gwendoline Christie, who played Brienne of Tarth, always mentally prepared herself for the worst, should her character be killed off on the show. She also shared that it took her some time to digest the ending of Season 8, but believes show runners did a good job with the ending.
Prepared For The Worst
They Mean Business
Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, is engaged to pop star Joe Jonas. This gave him the unique perk of being able to be on set during the filming of the final season. This means that he does know how the show ends, and so he was forced to sign an NDA in order to protect the secrecy of how the series ends.
They Mean Business
Sansa And Arya’s Mementos
Many times when a show ends, actors get to keep small props or parts of their wardrobe as a memento. Actresses Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner were able to do this as well. Maisie kept a coin that belonged to Arya and Sophie kept a scroll from the last season, as well as her corset.
Sansa And Arya’s Mementos
A Big Baby
Maisie recalls that during Season 1, she had to use a bib anytime she ate while in her costume. Apparently, she was not trusted to be able to eat without spilling any of her food onto her costume. She did say it was pretty humiliating but otherwise necessary.
A Big Baby
How Will It End?
One of the most highly anticipated things from Season 8 of Game of Thrones is the ending. While there are hundreds of fan theories running on the internet, the cast is in on the secret. However, before they knew how the epic show ends, none of them correctly guessed the ending!
How Will It End?
Dany’s Diva
Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, always sported the most impressive hairstyles and intricate braids while playing everyone’s favorite Targaryen. Clarke shared that she used a grand total of four wigs while filming the show. The Mother of Dragons’ wigs even all had names. The wigs’ names are: Diva, Dany, Blondie, and Candice.
Dany’s Diva
Cersei’s Turnip
Lena Headey, who played the cunning Cersei Lannister also had her fair share of experiences with wigs while filming Game of Thrones. During early seasons, she wore an array of long and braided wigs. However, in later seasons, when her Cersei’s hair was chopped off, she sported a shorter wig which she called “The Turnip.”
Cersei’s Turnip
The Truth Behind The Hair
Even though we tend to associate wigs with women, the female actresses were not the only ones who had to have wigs aid them in the hair department. Sophie Turner shared that pretty much everyone wore a wig, and the male actors had to use beard insets to make sure they wouldn’t look patchy.
The Truth Behind The Hair
The Queen Visits Westeros
While there are many fictional Queens and Kings vying for the Iron Throne on Game of Thrones, the cast and crew were visited by Queen Elizabeth herself. David Benioff has shared that she did not want to sit on the fictional Iron Throne and she said: “The Queen of England is not allowed to sit on a foreign throne.”
The Queen Visits Westeros
The Show’s Languages
Game of Thrones features several languages that were made up specifically for the books and later for the show. David Peterson created the Dothraki and Valyrian languages featured on the show, and he would send actors a recording of their lines so they could memorize them off of their phones.
The Show’s Languages
Build Your Own Furs
The cast of Game of Thrones were costumed with elaborate outfits that often reflected their characters’ status within Westerosi society. Their costumes also reflected the weather, and the Starks can almost always be seen wearing thick and luxurious capes. However, you might not guess that in reality, these were made of Ikea rugs.
Build Your Own Furs
Thematic Opening Credits
In case you haven’t noticed, every episode, the opening credits of Game of Thrones changes. The map’s locations changes in order to showcase where the episode’s story will take place in. As the seasons progressed, the quality of the map’s CGI increased as well and by Season 8, the opening credits were impressively detailed.
Thematic Opening Credits
The Cost Of It All
A report from Money.com in 2017 showed that each episode of Game of Thrones cost about $10 million to create. This is the same exact amount that the episodes of the final season of Friends cost, but that was because each of the Friends actors’ salaries were $1 million each per episode.
The Cost Of It All
Top Secret Scripts
When the cast of Game of Thrones were sent the final scripts of the series, they had to be accessed through a special app created just for them. Once they finished going through the script, it would disappear, similar to the Snapchat app. This was done in order to prevent the script from leaking to the public.
Top Secret Scripts
Well Planned Ending
A show of epic proportions such as Game of Thrones cannot end with a nice happy ending with everything tied up in a bow. While we still don’t know how it will end exactly, show runner Dan Weiss has shared that they have had an outline of the major plot points up until the ending since 2014.
Well Planned Ending
The First Of The Last
Sophie Turner was the first member of the Game of Thrones cast to finish reading the final scripts. In fact, she was also the first member of the cast who wrote to show runners David and Dan about the ending of the show. We wonder what her reaction was to the ending!
The First Of The Last
A Final Surprise
While many of the cast members chose to read the script ahead of the final table read, Kit Harington chose to wait and see how the story unfolds while at the final table read. That way, the surprise was not ruined for him, and the rest of the cast were able to see his initial reaction to the ending.
A Final Surprise
Two Different Endings?
While the show has overtaken the books at this point, the show runners have explained that while they did consult with George R.R. Martin about the story’s ending, they will not yet share how different their ending may or may not be from the book series’ ending. Looks like we’ll all have to wait fro Martin to finally finish writing the books!
Two Different Endings?
Ended When It Should
Many fans were saddened and upset to find out that the final season of Game of Thrones will only consist of eight episodes. While HBO was on board with giving more episodes, the show runners decided that they wanted to end the show after eight episodes, without overextending the story to the point where it loses its integrity.
Ended When It Should
After It Ends
Show runner Dan Weiss has shared his plans for the night that the finale is aired. He said that he “plans to be very drunk and very far from the internet.” His answer is cleverly dubious, as it does not indicate why he wants to be far away from the internet. Fans will have to wait and see what he has in store for them.
After It Ends
Recast Actors
While it is impossible to think of anyone but Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen or Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark, but that was almost the case! In the show’s unaired pilot episode, Dany and Catelyn were played by different actresses. The actress who originally played Catelyn chose to drop out to spend more time with her newborn, while it was not revealed why Dany was recast to Emilia Clarke.
Recast Actors
High Demand
While most of the actors featured on Game of Thrones had to go through an intensive auditioning process, this was not the case for everyone on the show. Both Sean Bean, who played Ned Stark, and Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister, were specifically to play their parts. Even George R.R. Martin has stated that they weren’t sure what they would have done if Dinklage did not agree to play Tyrion.
High Demand
A Risky Move
Kit Harington sported a black eye after he got into a fight at a McDonald’s the night before his Game of Thrones audition. Apparently, someone acted rudely towards Kit’s date, and he decided to defend her honor. How Jon Snow of him! Perhaps the show runners felt he was already in tune with his character and cast him despite the black eye.
A Risky Move
The Real Reason
Maisie Williams was 12 years old when she went in to her audition for the role of Arya Stark. However, fans may be surprised to find out what was her motivation behind her audition. She actually wanted to earn enough money to buy a new laptop, so she decided to try for the part. We’re sure she bought that new laptop now.
The Real Reason
Emilia’s Prep
Before her audition for Daenerys Targaryen, Emilia Clarke had an interesting way to psych herself up. She listened to gangster rap and told herself “I’m just going to have to nail this.” Apparently her routine worked, because she certainly did nail the audition. Now we can’t imagine anyone else playing Dany!
Emilia’s Prep
Humble Sam
The actor who played Samwell Tarly, John Bradley, was certain that he would not land the role of Sam due to his lack of acting experience. In fact, he had never been in a television show before Game of Thrones, and he has said that his fourth hour of acting on camera ever was for episode 1 of season 1.
Humble Sam
Gilly Lived With Grey Worm
Hannah Murray, who played Gilly, and Jacob Anderson, who played Grey Worm, already knew each other before they both starred on Game of Thrones. In fact, they were actually roommates before Anderson got the role on the show! Murray was only 22 years old when she was cast as Gilly.
Gilly Lived With Grey Worm
All In For Season 8
Most of the Game of Thrones seasons have lasted for 10 episodes each. They’d typically take about six months of filming to complete. However, the final six episodes apparently took the cast and crew a whopping nine months to film. The last six episodes are also much longer than the typical episode, lasting over an hour each.
All In For Season 8
Game Of Westworld
George R.R. Martin had an idea that would probably excite fans of television everywhere. He came up with a story that involved a Westworld and Game of Thrones crossover, in which Thrones characters would be seen in an android park, but unfortunately the idea was not picked up. Who knows what could happen in such a crossover!
Game Of Westworld
Maisie At The Movies
Maisie Williams shared her most exciting experience with a fan, which involved the fan asking Maisie if she wanted to attend the BTS movie with her and her mother. Surprisingly, Maisie actually said yes! Can you imagine going to the movies with one of your favorite actors? Maisie must have made the fan’s day to say the least.
Maisie At The Movies
Real Life Sisters
While Arya and Sansa have had an up and down relationship on Game of Thrones, actresses Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner have become the best of friends and even refer to one another as each other’s soulmate. Maisie will even be one of Sophie’s maids of honor when she marries pop star Joe Jonas.
Real Life Sisters
Emilia’s Reaction
Everyone processes things differently, and it was no different for the cast of Game of Thrones after they finished reading the final script of the show. Apparently after Emilia Clarke finished reading the last script, she felt the need to walk around London for about three hours in order to process everything.
Emilia’s Reaction
The Horse Heart
Who can forget the moment when Dany had to eat a horse heart? Emilia Clarke shared that although the fake heart was made of solidified jam, it still was not very tasty. In fact, she claimed that it “tasted like bleach and raw pasta.” That definitely does not sound appetizing whatsoever.
The Horse Heart
An Almost Ordinary Day
Nathalie Emmanuel, who plays Missandei, was struggling financially before landing the role. She shared: “I didn’t hear back for a few weeks, so I just got on with things. I was living in Liverpool at the time. Then I got a phone call one day when I was getting the shopping home from Tesco. I dropped everything, screaming, and broke a jam jar. It was all very exciting and emotional.”
An Almost Ordinary Day
