Is Game of Thrones (2011) woke?

ARCHIVED SOURCE url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Now_His_Watch_Is_Ended canonical: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Now_His_Watch_Is_Ended captured_utc: 2026-11-04T03:38:22.204Z http_status: 200 method: direct extractor: scrut-extract-2 truncated: false --- " And Now His Watch Is Ended " is the fourth episode of the third season of HBO 's fantasy television series Game of Thrones , and the 24th episode of the series. It was written by showrunners and executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and directed by Alex Graves , his directorial debut for the series. The episode's title comes from a chant made by the Night's Watch at the funeral of a fallen brother while at Craster's Keep. The episode received huge acclaim from critics, with many praising its final scene and the performance of Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. The episode marks the final appearance of James Cosmo (Jeor Mormont) and Robert Pugh (Craster). Varys tells Tyrion of being made a eunuch by a sorcerer in Myr, before revealing that he captured the sorcerer and intends to take revenge on him. Ros informs Varys that Baelish may take Sansa when he leaves to wed Lysa Arryn, and Varys warns Olenna that Baelish may seek to control Sansa for control of the North. Discussing the missing Jaime and the Tyrells' presence with Tywin, Cersei distrusts Margaery for her ability to manipulate Joffrey. Sansa tells Margaery that Cersei will not allow her to leave King's Landing, and Margaery says she would see Sansa wed to Ser Loras. Locke and his men taunt Jaime for the loss of his sword hand. They trick him into drinking horse urine and he tries to attack them but is beaten instead. Brienne chastises Jaime for wanting to die, telling him to live and take revenge. Arya, Gendry, and the Hound are taken to the Brotherhood's leader, Lord Beric Dondarrion. He calls the Hound a murderer, and Arya and the Hound argue over his execution of Mycah. In the name of the Lord of Light, Dondarrion sentences him to face him in trial by combat. Bran dreams of chasing the three-eyed raven through the woods with Jojen, and climbs a tree in pursuit of the raven, but falls when Catelyn appears. Arriving at what he believes is Deepwood Motte, Theon explains to his rescuer that he never killed the Stark boys, having Dagmer Cleftjaw burn two orphans instead, and reveals his remorse, declaring his "real father (Eddard Stark) lost his head at King's Landing". Theon then realises he has been taken back to the dungeon from which he escaped and is subdued by the guards, to the boy's amusement. Rast declares the Night's Watch cannot trust Craster, and Sam and Gilly discuss her newborn son. After a funeral for a fallen brother, Karl Tanner challenges Craster over their poor food, and Rast enrages Craster by mentioning his bastard parentage. Craster orders the Night's Watch out, but is taunted by Karl, who fatally stabs Craster when he tries to attack. When Jeor intervenes, Rast kills him. As a fight erupts, Sam flees with Gilly and her son and Rast threatens to kill Sam, if he ever finds him. Exchanging the Unsullied army for one of Daenerys's dragons, Kraznys continues to insult her in Valyrian . Daenerys, whose first language is Valyrian and has known Kraznys has been insulting her the entire time, orders her new army to sack Astapor, kill all slavers and free every slave, and orders her dragon to kill Kraznys. Afterwards, she offers the Unsullied the choice to leave or remain with her as free men; none choose to leave, and Daenerys and her army depart. "And Now His Watch Is Ended" was written by showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. It was based on George Martin's novels, chapters Tyrion X from A Clash of Kings and Jaime IV, Tyrion II, Samwell II, the first part of Arya VI, and the second half of Daenerys III from A Storm of Swords . [ 1 ] Benioff and Weiss considered this episode one of the "big ones" and a turning point of the series. Weiss said that when he was reading the books he was swept away by Daenerys's final scene, and remembered thinking how he'd be able to put it on screen if he could ever get to film it. [ 2 ] This final scene includes the first instance of the High Valyrian language in the series, apart from short stock phrases, spoken by Daenerys. [ 3 ] Up to this point only the Astapori dialect of Low Valyrian, a creolized form of the ancient language of the old Valyrian Empire, had been heard, spoken by the slaver Kraznys. David J. Peterson , the language creator hired by the series, designed both versions of the tongue. [ 3 ] The episode reintroduces Lord Beric Dondarrion, now played by Richard Dormer . Dondarrion had previously been portrayed by David Michael Scott in his brief appearance in the first season episode " A Golden Crown ", where he was entrusted by Lord Eddard Stark with the task of capturing Ser Gregor Clegane. This episode also marks James Cosmo 's last appearance in the series, as his character Jeor Mormont is killed by his own men. The episode was helmed by director Alex Graves , a newcomer to the production. The producers praised his work, in particular in the handling of the final scene at Astapor: "He took a scene that had us quite nervous – the number of people on set, the size of the action, the amount of the effects work – and had it all done in a few days. A scene that might take a feature eight days; for us it was two or three." [ 2 ] The interiors of the episode were shot at Belfast's The Paint Hall , including a new set representing the colossal Great Sept of Baelor at King's Landing. For the exteriors, the episode filmed extensively at the forests of Clandeboye Estate , where the sets of Craster's Keep and the encampment of Locke's band were built. [ 4 ] The gardens where Olenna and Varys plot are parts of the Trsteno Arboretum , in Croatia. The scenes with Daenerys were filmed in Morocco. While during the first three episodes the city of Astapor had been represented by the coastal ramparts of Essaouira , the plaza and the walls seen in the episode were sets from Atlas Studios , located five kilometres west of the city of Ouarzazate . The walls had been built to stand in for the city of Jerusalem in the 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven . [ 5 ] The ratings of the episode raised to a new record for the series, with a viewership of 4.87 million viewers and a 2.6 share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The encore was watched by another 1.03 million, totaling 5.90 million viewers for the night. [ 6 ] In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 0.992 million viewers on Sky Atlantic , being the channel's second highest-rated broadcast that week. [ 7 ] The episode received critical acclaim, being consistently rated as the best of the season at the time of its airing. Review aggregator surveyed 21 reviews of the episode and judged 100% of them to be positive with an average score of 9.2 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "'And Now His Watch is Ended' is an enthralling meditation on betrayal and revenge, bolstered by a mind-blowing surprise for those who would underestimate Daenerys Targarean [ sic ] ." [ 8 ] IGN ' s Matt Fowler rated it with a 9.3/10, highlighting "shocking deaths, brutal double-crosses and a Kingslayer undone made for some mighty fine Thrones". [ 9 ] David Simms, writing for The A.V. Club , considered it "an insanely satisfying, shocking episode" [ 10 ] and gave it an "A" grade. His colleague Emily VanDerWerff agreed on the score. [ 11 ] The final scene with Daenerys was unanimously praised. At Cultural Learnings, Myles McNutt found that the scene was one of the series's best sequences and considered it an impressive feat to have achieved a climax so satisfying for the viewer with only a relatively small number of scenes building up to it in the first three episodes. [ 12 ] VanDerWerff felt that Emilia Clarke's performance was Emmy worthy. [ 11 ] HitFix 's Alan Sepinwall also praised her performance, remarking that "her big moment comes in a (fictional) foreign language, and the subtitles are barely necessary. That's how good she is." [ 13 ]

ARCHIVED SOURCE url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones canonical: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones captured_utc: 2026-11-04T03:38:22.974Z http_status: 200 method: direct extractor: scrut-extract-2 truncated: true --- Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO . It is the first adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire , a series of high fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin , and the first in what would become the Game of Thrones franchise . The show premiered on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011, and concluded on May 19, 2019, with 73 episodes broadcast over eight seasons. Set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos , Game of Thrones has a large ensemble cast and follows several story arcs throughout the course of the show. The first major arc concerns the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros through a web of political conflicts among the noble families, either vying to claim the throne or fighting for independence. The second major arc focuses on the last descendant of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty, who has been exiled to Essos and is plotting to return and reclaim the throne. The third follows the Night's Watch, a military order defending the realm against threats from beyond the Seven Kingdoms' northern border. Game of Thrones attracted a record viewership on HBO and has a broad, active, and international fan base. Many critics and publications have named the show one of the greatest television series of all time . Critics have praised the series for its acting, complex characters, story, scope, and production values, although its frequent use of nudity and violence (including sexual violence ) generated controversy. The final season received significant criticism for its reduced length and creative decisions, with many considering it a disappointing conclusion. The series received 59 Primetime Emmy Awards , the most by a drama series, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Its other awards and nominations include three Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation , a Peabody Award , and five nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama . Two prequel series, House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms , premiered on HBO in 2022 and 2026, respectively. Game of Thrones is roughly based on the storylines of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R. R. Martin , set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the continent of Essos . [ 5 ] [ 6 ] The series follows several simultaneous plotlines. [ 7 ] The first story arc follows a war of succession among competing claimants for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, with other noble families fighting for independence from the throne. The second concerns the actions of the exiled scion to reclaim the throne; the third chronicles the threat of the impending winter, as well as the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of the North. [ 8 ] Game of Thrones has an ensemble cast which has been estimated to be the largest on television. [ 9 ] In 2014, several actors' contracts were renegotiated to include a seventh-season option. [ 10 ] By the final season, five of the main cast members made $1 million per episode, making them among the highest paid television performers of all time . [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Eddard "Ned" Stark ( Sean Bean ) is the head of House Stark . With his wife Catelyn ( Michelle Fairley ), he has children Robb ( Richard Madden ), Sansa ( Sophie Turner ), Arya ( Maisie Williams ), Bran ( Isaac Hempstead-Wright ) and Rickon ( Art Parkinson ); he also has an illegitimate son, Jon Snow ( Kit Harington ), who, along with his scholarly friend Samwell Tarly ( John Bradley ), serves the Night's Watch under Lord Commander Jeor Mormont ( James Cosmo ). Wildlings living north of the Wall include Gilly ( Hannah Murray ), Tormund Giantsbane ( Kristofer Hivju ), and Ygritte ( Rose Leslie ). [ 13 ] Others associated with House Stark include Ned's ward Theon Greyjoy ( Alfie Allen ), Ned's vassal Roose Bolton ( Michael McElhatton ), and Bolton's illegitimate son, Ramsay Snow ( Iwan Rheon ). Robb allies with healer Talisa Maegyr ( Oona Chaplin ), while elsewhere, Arya befriends blacksmith apprentice Gendry ( Joe Dempsie ) and assassin Jaqen H'ghar ( Tom Wlaschiha ) and Catelyn is introduced to Brienne of Tarth ( Gwendoline Christie ). [ 14 ] In King's Landing , King Robert I Baratheon ( Mark Addy ) shares a loveless political marriage with Cersei Lannister ( Lena Headey ). Her twin brother Jaime ( Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ) serves on the Kingsguard while younger brother Tyrion ( Peter Dinklage ) is attended by mistress Shae ( Sibel Kekilli ) and mercenary Bronn ( Jerome Flynn ). Cersei's father, Tywin ( Charles Dance ), is the head of House Lannister and the richest man in Westeros . Among Cersei's children are sons Joffrey ( Jack Gleeson ) and Tommen ( Dean-Charles Chapman ). Joffrey is guarded by the scar-faced warrior Sandor "The Hound" Clegane ( Rory McCann ). [ 15 ] The king's Small Council includes treasurer Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish ( Aidan Gillen ) and spymaster Varys ( Conleth Hill ). On the island of Dragonstone , Robert's younger brother, Stannis ( Stephen Dillane ), is advised by foreign priestess Melisandre ( Carice van Houten ) and former smuggler Davos Seaworth ( Liam Cunningham ). In court, House Tyrell is represented by Margaery ( Natalie Dormer ), her brother Loras ( Finn Jones ) and their grandmother Olenna ( Diana Rigg ). The High Sparrow ( Jonathan Pryce ) is given power as a religious leader while the warrior Ellaria Sand ( Indira Varma ) seeks vengeance against the Lannisters . [ 13 ] Across the Narrow Sea, siblings Viserys ( Harry Lloyd ) and Daenerys Targaryen ( Emilia Clarke ) (colloquially referred to as "Dany") are in exile. Daenerys is forced to marry Khal Drogo ( Jason Momoa ), a leader of the nomadic Dothraki . Her retinue comes to include exiled Westerosi knight Jorah Mormont ( Iain Glen ), aide Missandei ( Nathalie Emmanuel ), mercenary Daario Naharis ( Ed Skrein and Michiel Huisman ), and elite soldier Grey Worm ( Jacob Anderson ). [ 13 ] Both television critics and historians have praised the series for what was perceived as a sort of medieval realism. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] George R. R. Martin set out to make the story feel more like historical fiction than contemporary fantasy, placing less emphasis on magic and sorcery and focusing instead on battles, political intrigue, and character development. He believed that magic should be used sparingly in the epic fantasy genre to maintain its sense of mystery and impact. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ] Martin said, "The true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves". [ 22 ] Academics have classified the series as neo-medieval , which focuses on overlapping medieval history and popular fantasy. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] A common theme in the fantasy genre is the battle between good and evil , which Martin says does not mirror the real world. [ 26 ] In the series, political leaders have mostly been portrayed negatively, as they usually disregard the well-being of the common people and are guided in their decisions by selfish reasons. Few possible exceptions include Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister, who have shown concern about the populace. Still, their methods or commitment to the cause have been criticized. [ 27 ] Martin explores the relationship between good and evil through the questions of redemption and character change. [ 28 ] Unlike in many other fantasies, the series allows the audience to view different characters from their perspective . [ 21 ] [ 29 ] In early seasons, under the influence of the A Song of Ice and Fire books, main characters were regularly killed off, and this was credited with developing tension among viewers. [ 30 ] Martin stated in an interview that he wanted to depict war and violence in a realistic way, which sometimes mean the hero or main characters could be injured or killed. [ 31 ] In later seasons, critics pointed out that certain characters had developed " plot armor " to survive in unlikely circumstances and attributed this to Game of Thrones deviating from the novels to become more of a traditional television series. [ 30 ] In a 2012 study, out of 40 recent television drama shows, Game of Thrones ranked second in deaths per episode, averaging 14. [ 32 ] A scientific study conducted in 2018 stated that about 60% of the major characters died as a result of violence and war. [ 33 ] Although the first season closely follows the events of the first novel, later seasons introduced more significant changes. According to Benioff, the television adaptation was "about adapting the series as a whole and following the map George laid out for us and hitting the major milestones, but not necessarily each of the stops along the way". [ 34 ] Aspects of the novels' plots and their adaptations are based upon settings, characters, and events in European history. [ 17 ] Most of Westeros is reminiscent of high medieval Europe, from its geography and castles to its cultures, the feudal system , palace intrigues, and the knights' tournaments . [ 35 ] Like medieval Europe, most of the houses in the series use the patriarchal system of power. [ 36 ] The series also includes elements of gothic fiction , including torture tropes . [ 37 ] A principal inspiration for the novels is the English Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) between the houses of Lancaster and York , reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark . [ 38 ] The scheming Cersei Lannister evokes Isabella , the "She-Wolf of France" (1295–1358). [ 17 ] She and her family, as portrayed in Maurice Druon 's historical novel series, The Accursed Kings , were a main inspiration of Martin's. [ 39 ] Other historical antecedents of series elements include: Hadrian's Wall (which becomes Martin's Wall), the Roman Empire and the legend of Atlantis (ancient Valyria and its Doom), Damascus steel ( Valyrian Steel ), Byzantine Greek fire ("wildfire"), the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , such as the Colossus of Rhodes ( Titan of Braavos ) and the Library of Alexandria ( Hightower of Oldtown ), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age (the Ironborn ), the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki ), Ancient Egypt ( Slaver's Bay ), the Hundred Years' War , and the Italian Renaissance . [ 17 ] The series's popularity has been attributed, in part, to Martin's skill at fusing these elements into a credible version of alternate history . [ 17 ] [ 40 ] The A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels was popular before Game of Thrones . [ 48 ] The series has sold more than 90 million copies worldwide with the novels being translated into 45 different languages. [ 49 ] [ 50 ] George R. R. Martin received multiple fantasy writing awards and nominations, including a World Fantasy Award and multiple Locus Awards , for the series. [ 51 ] Writing for Time magazine in 2005 after the release of A Feast for Crows , journalist Lev Grossman called Martin the "American Tolkien ", stating he is a "major force for evolution in fantasy". [ 52 ] In January 2006, David Benioff had a telephone conversation with George R. R. Martin's literary agent about the books he represented. A fan of fantasy fiction in his younger years, Benioff became interested in A Song of Ice and Fire , despite not having read the series at the time. The literary agent subsequently sent him the first four novels in the series. [ 53 ] Benioff read a few hundred pages of the first novel, A Game of Thrones , shared his enthusiasm with D. B. Weiss , and suggested that they adapt Martin's novels into a television series; Weiss finished the first novel in "maybe 36 hours". [ 54 ] They pitched the series to HBO after a five-hour meeting with Martin (himself a veteran screenwriter) in a restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard . According to Benioff, they won Martin over by knowing the answer to his question, " Who is Jon Snow's mother? " [ 55 ] I had worked in Hollywood myself for about 10 years, from the late '80s to the '90s. I'd been on the staff of The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast . All of my first drafts tended to be too big or too expensive. I always hated the process of having to cut. I said, 'I'm sick of this, I'm going to write something that's as big as I want it to be, and it's going to have a cast of characters that go into the thousands, and I'm going to have huge castles, and battles, and dragons.' Before being approached by Benioff and Weiss, Martin already had meetings with other scriptwriters, most of whom wanted to adapt the series as a feature film. Martin, however, deemed it "unfilmable", saying that the size of one of his novels is as long as The Lord of the Rings , which had been adapted as three feature films . [ 56 ] Benioff agreed it would be impossible to turn the novels into a feature film as their scale is too big for a feature film, and dozens of characters would have to be discarded. Benioff added, "a fantasy movie of this scope, financed by a major studio, would almost certainly need a PG-13 rating. That means no sex, no blood, no profanity. Fuck that." [ 21 ] Martin was pleased with the suggestion that they adapt it as an HBO series, saying that he "never imagined it anywhere else". [ 57 ] The series began development in January 2007. [ 5 ] HBO acquired the television rights to the novels, with Benioff and Weiss as the series' executive producers and Martin as a co-executive producer. The intention was for each novel to yield a season's worth of episodes. [ 5 ] Initially, Martin would write one episode per season while Benioff and Weiss would write the rest. [ 5 ] Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman were added later to write one episode each for the first season. [ 58 ] The first and second drafts of the pilot script by Benioff and Weiss were submitted in August 2007 [ 59 ] and June 2008, [ 60 ] respectively. Although HBO liked both drafts, [ 61 ] a pilot was not ordered until November 2008. [ 62 ] The pilot episode, " Winter Is Coming ", was shot in 2009; after its poor reception following a private viewing, HBO demanded an extensive re-shoot (about 90 percent of the episode, with cast and directorial changes). [ 55 ] [ 63 ] The pilot reportedly cost HBO $5–10 million to produce, [ 64 ] while the first season's budget was estimated at $50–60 million. [ 65 ] For the second season, the series received a 15-percent budget increase for the climactic battle in " Blackwater " (which had an $8 million budget). [ 66 ] [ 67 ] Between 2012 and 2015, the average budget per episode increased from $6 million [ 68 ] to "at least" $8 million. [ 69 ] The sixth-season budget was over $10 million per episode, for a season total of over $100 million, a record for a series's production cost. [ 70 ] By the final season, the production budget per episode was estimated to be $15 million. [ 71 ] Nina Gold and Robert Sterne were the series' primary casting directors. [ 72 ] Through a process of auditions and readings, the main cast was assembled. The only exceptions were Peter Dinklage and Sean Bean , whom the writers wanted from the start; they were announced as joining the pilot in 2009. [ 73 ] [ 74 ] Other actors signed for the pilot were Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon, Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen, and Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon. [ 74 ] According to Benioff and Weiss, Addy was the easiest actor to cast for the series because of his audition performance. [ 75 ] Some characters in the pilot were recast for the first season. The role of Catelyn Stark was played initially by Jennifer Ehle , but the role was recast with Michelle Fairley . [ 76 ] The character of Daenerys Targaryen was also recast, with Emilia Clarke replacing Tamzin Merchant . [ 77 ] The rest of the first season's cast was selected in the second half of 2009. [ 78 ] Although many of the cast returned after the first season, the producers had many new characters to cast in each of the following seasons. Because of the large number of new characters, Benioff and Weiss postponed introducing several key characters in the second season and merged several characters into one, or assigned plot functions to different characters. [ 9 ] Some recurring characters were recast over the years; for example, Gregor Clegane was played by three different actors, while Dean-Charles Chapman played both Tommen Baratheon and a minor Lannister character. [ 79 ] Game of Thrones used seven writers over its eight seasons. Benioff and Weiss wrote most of each season's episodes. [ 80 ] A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin wrote one episode in each of the first four seasons. Martin did not write an episode for the later seasons, since he wanted to focus on completing the sixth novel ( The Winds of Winter ). [ 81 ] Jane Espenson co-wrote one first-season episode as a freelance writer . [ 82 ] Cogman, initially a script coordinator for the series, [ 82 ] was promoted to producer for the fifth season. Cogman, who wrote at least one episode for the first five seasons, was the only other writer in the writers' room with Benioff and Weiss. [ 80 ] Before Cogman's promotion, Vanessa Taylor —a writer during the second and third seasons—worked closely with Benioff and Weiss. Dave Hill joined the writing staff for the fifth season after working as an assistant to Benioff and Weiss. [ 83 ] Although Martin was not in the writers' room, he read the script outlines and made comments. [ 80 ] Benioff and Weiss sometimes assigned characters to particular writers; for example, Cogman was assigned to Arya Stark for the fourth season. The writers spent several weeks writing a character outline, including what material from the novels to use and the overarching themes. After these individual outlines were completed, they spent another two to three weeks discussing each main character's individual arc and arranging them episode by episode. [ 80 ] A detailed outline was created, with each of the writers working on part of it to create a script for each episode. Cogman, who wrote two episodes for the fifth season, took a month and a half to complete both scripts. They were then read by Benioff and Weiss, who made notes, and parts of the script were rewritten. All ten episodes were written before filming began since they were shot out of order by two units in different countries. [ 80 ] Benioff and Weiss wrote their episodes together; one wrote the first half of the script with the other writing the second half. They then passed the drafts back and forth to make notes and do rewrites. [ 57 ] After Game of Thrones's story line began outpacing the published novels in the sixth season, the series was based on a plot outline of the future novels provided by Martin along with original content. [ 84 ] [ 85 ] Before season four, Martin stated there was an issue with the television series being released before the source material could be written. [ 86 ] According to Benioff, Martin gave the showrunners an outline on the final two books of the series. [ 87 ] In April 2016, the showrunners' plan was to shoot 13 more episodes after the sixth season: seven episodes in the seventh season and six episodes in the eighth. [ 88 ] Later that month, the series was renewed for a seventh season with a seven-episode order. [ 89 ] [ 90 ] HBO announced in June 2016 that the eighth season would be the final for the series. [ 91 ] The first two seasons adapted one novel each. For the later seasons, its creators saw Game of Thrones as an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire as a whole rather than the individual novels, [ 100 ] enabling them to move events across novels as the screen adaptation required. [ 101 ] The show was shot in the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, and Spain. [ 102 ] Principal photography for the first season was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010; [ 103 ] the primary location was the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast , Northern Ireland. [ 104 ] Exterior scenes in Northern Ireland were filmed at Sandy Brae in the Mourne Mountains (standing in for Vaes Dothrak); Castle Ward (Winterfell); Saintfield Estates (the Winterfell godswood); Tollymore Forest (outdoor scenes); Cairncastle (the execution site); the Magheramorne quarry (Castle Black); and Shane's Castle (the tourney grounds). [ 105 ] Doune Castle in Stirling , Scotland, was also used in the original pilot episode for scenes at Winterfell. [ 106 ] The producers initially considered filming the entire series in Scotland, but decided on Northern Ireland because of the availability of studio space and tax credits. [ 107 ] The first season's southern scenes were filmed in Malta, a change in location from the pilot episode's Moroccan sets. [ 103 ] The city of Mdina was used for King's Landing. [ 108 ] Filming also took place at Fort Manoel (representing the Sept of Baelor); at the Azure Window on the island of Gozo (the Dothraki wedding site); and at San Anton Palace , Fort Ricasoli , Fort St. Angelo and St. Dominic monastery (all used for scenes in the Red Keep). [ 105 ] Filming of the second season's southern scenes shifted from Malta to Croatia, where the city of Dubrovnik and nearby locations allowed exterior shots of a walled, coastal medieval city. The Walls of Dubrovnik and Fort Lovrijenac were used for scenes in King's Landing, though exteriors of some local buildings in the series, for example, the Red Keep and the Sept of Baelor, are computer generated. [ 109 ] The island of Lokrum , the St. Dominic monastery in the coastal town of Trogir , the Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik, and the Dubac quarry (a few kilometers east) were used for scenes set in Qarth. Scenes set north of the Wall, in the Frostfangs, and at the Fist of the First Men, were filmed in November 2011 in Iceland on the Vatnajökull glacier near Smyrlabjörg, the Svínafellsjökull glacier near Skaftafell , and the Mýrdalsjökull glacier near Vik on Höfðabrekkuheiði. [ 105 ] [ 110 ] Filming also occurred at the harbor in Ballintoy , Northern Ireland. [ 111 ] Third-season production returned to Dubrovnik, with the Walls of Dubrovnik, Fort Lovrijenac, and nearby locations again used for scenes in King's Landing and the Red Keep. [ 112 ] Trsteno Arboretum , a new location, is the garden of the Tyrells in King's Landing. The third season also returned to Morocco (including the city of Essaouira ) to film Daenerys's scenes in Essos. [ 113 ] Dimmuborgir and the Grjótagjá cave in Iceland were used as well. [ 110 ] One scene, with a live bear , was filmed in Los Angeles. [ 114 ] The production used three units (Dragon, Wolf and Raven) filming in parallel, six directing teams, 257 cast members and 703 crew members. [ 115 ] The fourth season returned to Dubrovnik and included new locations, including Diocletian's Palace in Split , Klis Fortress north of Split, Perun quarry east of Split, the Mosor mountain range and Baška Voda farther south. [ 116 ] Thingvellir National Park in Iceland was used for the fight between Brienne and the Hound. [ 110 ] The fifth season added Seville , Spain, used for scenes of Dorne , and Córdoba . [ 117 ] The sixth season, which began filming in July 2015, returned to Spain and filmed in Navarra , Guadalajara , Seville, Almeria , Girona and Peniscola . [ 118 ] Filming also returned to Dubrovnik, Croatia. [ 119 ] The filming of the seven episodes of season seven began on August 31, 2016, at Titanic Studios in Belfast, with other filming in Iceland, Northern Ireland and many locations in Spain, [ 120 ] including Seville, Cáceres , Almodovar del Rio , Santiponce , Zumaia and Bermeo . [ 121 ] Filming continued until the end of February 2017, as necessary, to ensure winter weather in some European locations. [ 122 ] Filming for season eight began in October 2017 and concluded in July 2018. [ 123 ] [ 124 ] New filming locations included Moneyglass and Saintfield in Northern Ireland for " The Long Night " battle scenes. [ 125 ] Northern Ireland Screen , a UK government agency financed by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund , helped fund Game of Thrones . [ 126 ] Tourism Ireland has a Game of Thrones -themed marketing campaign similar to New Zealand's Tolkien-related advertising . [ 127 ] [ 128 ] According to First Minister Arlene Foster , the series has given Northern Ireland the most publicity in its history apart from The Troubles . [ 129 ] The production of Game of Thrones and other TV series boosted Northern Ireland's creative industries, contributing to an estimated 12.4 percent growth in arts, entertainment and recreation jobs between 2008 and 2013 (compared with 4.3 percent in the rest of the UK during the same period). [ 130 ] After filming had finished, HBO converted its filming locations in Northern Ireland into tourist attractions to be opened in 2019. [ 131 ] By 2019, 350,000 visitors, or one sixth of all tourists, came to Northern Ireland annually because of Game of Thrones . [ 132 ] Tourism organizations elsewhere reported increases in bookings after their locations appeared in Game of Thrones . Between 2014 and 2016, Hotels.com reported hotel bookings increased by 285 percent in Iceland and 120 percent in Dubrovnik. [ 133 ] In 2016, bookings doubled in Ouarzazate , Morocco, the location of Daenerys' season three scenes. [ 134 ] Dubrovnik also saw an increase in overnight tourist stays after episodes aired. [ 135 ] However, the increase in tourism driven by the series—estimated to be responsible for half of its annual increase over many years—led to concerns about " over-tourism " and its mayor imposing limits on tourist numbers in the city. [ 119 ] [ 136 ] Following the series finale, HBO announced in April 2019 a new exhibition and tourist attraction containing show props and set pieces. [ 137 ] The attraction, titled Game of Thrones Studio Tour , will be located at former show filming location Linen Mill Studios outside Belfast. [ 138 ] Studies showed that the series had an overall positive economic impact for both Northern Ireland and Dubrovnik. [ 139 ] [ 140 ] Despite the positive economic results, some academics note the impact and damage from Game of Thrones– related tourist activities could have on historical sites and other locations of cultural value. [ 141 ] Each ten-episode season of Game of Thrones had four to six directors, who usually directed back-to-back episodes. [ 142 ] Alan Taylor directed seven episodes, the most of any director. [ 143 ] Alex Graves , David Nutter , Mark Mylod , and Jeremy Podeswa directed six episodes each. [ 144 ] Daniel Minahan directed five episodes, and Michelle MacLaren , Alik Sakharov , and Miguel Sapochnik directed four each; MacLaren is the only female director of the entire series's run. [ 145 ] Brian Kirk directed three episodes during the first season, and Tim Van Patten directed the series's first two episodes. [ 146 ] Neil Marshall directed two episodes, both with large battle scenes: "Blackwater" and " The Watchers on the Wall ". [ 147 ] Other directors include Jack Bender , David Petrarca , Daniel Sackheim , Michael Slovis and Matt Shakman . [ 148 ] David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have directed two episodes together but were credited with only one each, which was determined after a coin toss. [ 83 ] For season eight, David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik, who worked on previous episodes, directed the first five episodes. [ 149 ] Benioff and Weiss were credited as both the writers and directors of the show finale " The Iron Throne ". [ 150 ] Michele Clapton was the costume designer for Game of Thrones ' first five seasons before she was replaced by April Ferry . [ 151 ] Clapton returned to the series as its costume designer for the seventh season. [ 152 ] For the first three seasons, Paul Engelen was Game of Thrones ' main makeup designer and prosthetic makeup artist with Melissa Lackersteen, Conor O'Sullivan , and Rob Trenton. At the beginning of the fourth season, Engelen's team was replaced by Jane Walker and her crew, composed of Ann McEwan and Barrie and Sarah Gower. [ 153 ] [ 154 ] Over 130 makeup artists and prosthetic designers worked on the show. [ 155 ] [ 156 ] The designs for the series's costumes were inspired by several sources, such as Japanese and Persian armor. [ 157 ] [ 158 ] Dothraki dress resembles that of the Bedouin (one was made of fish skins to resemble dragon scales), and the Wildlings wear animal skins like the Inuit . [ 159 ] Wildling bone armor is made from molds of actual bones and is assembled with string and latex resembling catgut . [ 160 ] Although the extras who played Wildlings and the Night's Watch often wore hats (normal in a cold climate), members of the principal cast usually did not so viewers could recognize them. Björk 's Alexander McQueen high-neckline dresses inspired Margaery Tyrell's funnel-neck outfit, and prostitutes' dresses were designed for easy removal. [ 159 ] All the clothing used during the production was aged for two weeks, so it had a realistic appearance on high-definition television. [ 160 ] About two dozen wigs were used by the actresses during production. Made from human hair and measuring up to 61 centimetres (2 ft) in length, each wig cost as much as $7,000 and was washed and styled like natural hair. Applying the wigs was a time-consuming process; for example, Emilia Clarke spent about two hours having her brunette hair fitted with a platinum-blonde wig and intricately braided for her role. Other actors, such as Jack Gleeson and Sophie Turner, received frequent hair coloring . For characters such as Daenerys (Clarke) and her Dothraki, their hair, wigs and costumes were processed to appear as if they had not been washed for weeks. [ 159 ] For the large number of visual effects used in the series, HBO hired British-based BlueBolt and Irish-based Screen Scene for season one. Most of the environment builds were done as 2.5D projections, giving viewers perspective while keeping the programming from being overwhelming. [ 161 ] In 2011, the season one finale, " Fire and Blood ", was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects . [ 153 ] The visual effects crew consisted of both on-set VFX supervisors and concept artists along with visual effect editors in post-production . [ 162 ] Because the effects became more complex in subsequent seasons (including CGI creatures, fire, and water), German-based Pixomondo became the lead visual effects producer; nine of its twelve facilities contributed to the project for season two, with Stuttgart the lead studio. [ 163 ] [ 164 ] Scenes were also produced by British-based Peanut FX, Canadian-based Spin VFX, and American-based Gradient Effects. " Valar Morghulis " and " Valar Dohaeris " earned Pixomondo Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in 2012 and 2013, respectively. [ 153 ] HBO added German-based Mackevision to the project in season four. [ 165 ] The season four finale, " The Children ", won the 2014 Emmy Award for Visual Effects. Additional producers for season four included Canadian-based Rodeo FX , German-based Scanline VFX and American-based BAKED FX. The muscle and wing movements of the adolescent dragons in seasons four and five were based largely on those of a chicken. Pixomondo retained a team of 22 to 30 people focused solely on visualizing Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, with the average production time per season of 20 to 22 weeks. [ 166 ] For the fifth season, HBO added Canadian-based Image Engine and American-based Crazy Horse Effects to its list of main visual-effects producers. [ 167 ] [ 168 ] Visual effect supervisor Joe Bauer said that the VFX team worked on more than "10,000 shots of visual effects" throughout all eight seasons. [ 169 ] More than 300 artists worked on the show's visual effects team. [ 170 ] The show won eight Creative Arts Emmy Awards for visual effects, winning for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in seven consecutive seasons. [ 171 ] [ 172 ] The series's title sequence was created for HBO by production studio Elastic. [ 173 ] Creative director Angus Wall and his collaborators received the 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Main Title Design for the sequence, [ 174 ] which depicts a three-dimensional map of the series's fictional world . The map is projected on the inside of a sphere which is centrally lit by a small sun in an armillary sphere . [ 175 ] As the camera moves across the map, focusing on the locations of the episode's events, clockwork mechanisms intertwine and allow buildings and other structures to emerge from the map. Accompanied by the title music , the names of the principal cast and creative staff appear. The sequence concludes after about 90 seconds with the title card and brief opening credits detailing the episode's writer(s) and director. Its composition changes as the story progresses, with new locations replacing those featuring less prominently or not at all. [ 175 ] [ 176 ] Entertainment Weekly named the title sequence one of the best on television, calling it an "all-inclusive cruise of Westeros". [ 177 ] Ramin Djawadi composed the series's music. The first season's soundtrack, written about ten weeks before the series's premiere, [ 178 ] was published by Varèse Sarabande in June 2011. [ 179 ] Soundtrack albums for subsequent seasons have been released, with tracks by the National , the Hold Steady and Sigur Rós . [ 180 ] Djawadi composed reoccurring themes for each of the major houses and some main characters. [ 181 ] Some themes evolved. Daenerys Targaryen's theme was simple and became more complex after each season. At first, her theme was played by a single instrument, a cello, and Djawadi later incorporated more instruments into it. [ 181 ] Djawadi was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for his work on the show. [ 182 ] In addition to the originally scored music, Columbia Records released the For the Throne: Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones companion album on April 26, 2019. [ 183 ] The Westerosi characters of Game of Thrones speak British-accented English , often (though not consistently) reflecting the accents of particular regions of England corresponding to their fictional Westerosi regions, [ 184 ] continuing a broader historical fantasy convention of portraying characters in pre-modern settings with British accents . [ 185 ] The Northerner Eddard Stark speaks in actor Sean Bean's native northern accent , and the southern lord Tywin Lannister speaks with a southern accent , while characters from Dorne speak English with a Spanish accent. [ 186 ] [ 187 ] Characters foreign to Westeros often have a non-British accent. [ 188 ] Although the common language of Westeros is represented as English, the producers charged conlanger David J. Peterson with constructing Dothraki and Valyrian languages based on the few words in the novels. [ 189 ] [ 190 ] Before production, Peterson wrote 300 pages of Dothraki language material, including translation and word function. [ 191 ] Dothraki and Valyrian dialogue is often subtitled in English. [ 192 ] Language-learning company Duolingo began offering courses in High Valyrian in 2017, [ 193 ] of which 1.2 million people signed up for between 2017 and 2020. [ 194 ] Game of Thrones was broadcast by HBO in the United States and by its local subsidiaries or other pay television services in other countries, at the same time as in the United States or weeks (or months) later. Broadcasters carrying Game of Thrones included Fox Showcase in Australia; HBO Canada , Super Écran , and Showcase in Canada; HBO Latin America in Latin America; Sky Television Network 's SoHo and Neon in New Zealand; and Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland. [ 195 ] [ 196 ] [ 197 ] [ 198 ] In India, two versions of the series were aired; Star World aired a censored version of the series on television at the same time as the US, while an uncensored version was made available for live viewing on the Hotstar app. [ 199 ] On January 23, 2015, the last two episodes of season four were shown in 205 IMAX theaters across the United States, the first television series to be shown in this format. [ 200 ] The show earned $686,000 at the box office on its opening day [ 201 ] and $1.5 million during its opening weekend; [ 202 ] the week-long release grossed $1,896,092. [ 203 ] Before the season eight premiere, HBO screened " The Spoils of War " episode from season seven in movie theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. [ 204 ] The ten episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones were released as a DVD and Blu-ray box set on March 6, 2012. The box set includes extra background and behind-the-scenes material but no deleted scenes, since nearly all the footage shot for the first season was used. [ 205 ] The box set sold over 350,000 copies in the week following its release, the largest first-week DVD sales ever for an HBO series. The series also set an HBO-series record for digital-download sales. [ 206 ] A collector's-edition box set was released in November 2012, combining the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the first season with the first episode of season two. A paperweight in the shape of a dragon egg is included in the set. [ 207 ] DVD-Blu-ray box sets and digital downloads of the second season became available on February 19, 2013. [ 208 ] First-day sales broke HBO records, with 241,000 box sets sold and 355,000 episodes downloaded. [ 209 ] The third season was made available for purchase as a digital download on the Australian iTunes Store , parallel to the US premiere, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on February 18, 2014. [ 210 ] [ 211 ] The fourth season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2015, [ 212 ] and the fifth season on March 15, 2016. [ 213 ] Blu-ray and DVD versions of the sixth season were released on November 15, 2016. [ 214 ] Beginning in 2016, HBO began issuing Steelbook Blu-ray sets, which include both Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and Dolby Atmos audio options. [ 215 ] In 2018, the first season was released in 4K HDR on Ultra HD Blu-ray . [ 216 ] Blu-ray and DVD versions of the seventh season were released on December 12, 2017. [ 217 ] The final season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2019. The home release also included behind-the-scenes footage and cast commentary. [ 218 ] A box set containing all eight seasons, including a cast reunion hosted by Conan O'Brien , was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2019, [ 219 ] and was also released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 3, 2020. [ 220 ] Each season's Blu-ray and DVD set contains several short still motion animated sequences titled Histories and Lore , narrated by the cast, in character, as they detail events in the history of Westeros. [ 221 ] For the seventh season, this was to include the animated prequel series Game of Thrones: Conquest & Rebellion , illustrated in a different animation style than previous videos. The series focuses on Aegon Targaryen's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. [ 222 ] A week after the series finale, HBO released a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled Game of Thrones: The Last Watch . [ 223 ] The program documented the production of season 8 along with read-throughs and interviews with the cast. [ 224 ] In August 2022, the complete series was released in 4K , Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos on HBO Max . [ 225 ] Game of Thrones has been widely pirated , primarily outside the United States. [ 226 ] According to the file-sharing news website TorrentFreak , it was the most pirated television series from 2012 to 2019 (except 2018, when no new episodes were broadcast), [ 227 ] [ 228 ] and Guinness World Records named it the most-pirated television program in 2015. [ 229 ] Illegal downloads increased to about seven million in the first quarter of 2015, up 45 percent from 2014. [ 226 ] An unnamed episode was downloaded about 4.28 million times through public BitTorr