Game of Thrones

Showrunners D. B. Weiss and David Benioff created the series, wrote most of its episodes and directed several.

In January 2006, David Benioff had a phone conversation with George R. R. Martin's literary agent about the books he represented and became interested in A Song of Ice and Fire, as he had been a fan of fantasy fiction when young but had not read the books before. The literary agent then sent Benioff the series' first four books.[16] 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".[17] 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 with their answer to his question, "Who is Jon Snow's mother?"[18]

Before being approached by Benioff and Weiss, Martin had had other meetings with other scriptwriters, most of whom wanted to adapt the series as a feature film. Martin, however, deemed it "unfilmable" and impossible to be done as a feature film, stating 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.[19] Similarly, Benioff also said that it would be impossible to turn the novels into a feature film as the scale of the novels 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."[20] Martin himself was pleased with the suggestion that they adapt it as an HBO series, saying that he "never imagined it anywhere else".[21]

The series began development in January 2007.[5] HBO acquired the television rights to the novels, with Benioff and Weiss as its 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 of the episodes.[5] Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman were later added to write one episode apiece the first season.[22] The first and second drafts of the pilot script by Benioff and Weiss were submitted in August 2007[23] and June 2008,[24] respectively. Although HBO liked both drafts,[25] a pilot was not ordered until November 2008.[26] The pilot episode, "Winter Is Coming", was first shot in 2009; after a poor reception in a private viewing, HBO demanded an extensive re-shoot (about 90 percent of the episode, with cast and directorial changes).[18][27] The pilot reportedly cost HBO $5–10 million to produce,[28] while the first season's budget was estimated at $50–60 million.[29] In the second season, the series received a 15-percent budget increase for the climactic battle in "Blackwater" (which had an $8 million budget).[30][31] Between 2012 and 2015, the average budget per episode increased from $6 million[32] to "at least" $8 million.[33] The sixth-season budget was over $10 million per episode, for a season total of over $100 million and a series record.[34] By the final season, the production budget per episode was estimated to be $15 million.[35]

The series is generally praised for what is perceived as a sort of medieval realism.[36][37] George R.R. Martin set out to make the story feel more like historical fiction than contemporary fantasy, with less emphasis on magic and sorcery and more on battles, political intrigue, and the characters, believing that magic should be used moderately in the epic fantasy genre.[38][39][20] Martin has stated that "the true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves."[40]

A common theme in the fantasy genre is the battle between good and evil, which Martin says does not mirror the real world.[41] Just like people's capacity for good and for evil in real life, Martin explores the questions of redemption and character change.[42] The series allows the audience to view different characters from their perspective, unlike in many other fantasies, and thus the supposed villains can provide their side of the story.[20][43] Benioff said, "George brought a measure of harsh realism to high fantasy. He introduced gray tones into a black-and-white universe."[20]

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.[44] 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.[44] The series also reflects the substantial death rates in war.[45][46] In a 2012 study, out of 40 recent television drama shows, Game of Thrones ranked second in deaths per episode, averaging 14 deaths.[47]

Although the first season closely follows the events of the first novel, later seasons have made significant changes. According to David Benioff, the TV adaptation is "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".[48] The novels and their adaptations base aspects of their settings, characters, and plot on events in European history.[49] Most of Westeros is reminiscent of high medieval Europe, from lands and cultures,[50] to the palace intrigue, feudal system, castles, and knightly tournaments. 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.[51] The scheming Cersei Lannister evokes Isabella, the "she-wolf of France" (1295–1358).[49] She and her family, as portrayed in Maurice Druon's historical novel series, The Accursed Kings, were a main inspiration of Martin's.[52]

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), Byzantine Greek fire ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age (the Ironborn), the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), the Hundred Years' War, and the Italian Renaissance.[49] The series' popularity has been attributed, in part, to Martin's skill at fusing these elements into a seamless, credible version of alternate history.[49] Martin acknowledges, "I take [history] and I file off the serial numbers and I turn it up to 11."[53]

Nina Gold and Robert Sterne are the series' primary casting directors.[54] 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.[55][56] 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.[56] Addy was, according to showrunners Benioff and Weiss, the easiest actor to cast for the series, due to his audition performance.[57] Some of the characters in the pilot were recast for the first season. Catelyn Stark was initially played by Jennifer Ehle, but the role was recast with Michelle Fairley.[58] Daenerys Targaryen was also recast, with Emilia Clarke replacing Tamzin Merchant.[59] The rest of the first season's cast was filled in the second half of 2009.[60]

Although many of the cast returned after the first season, the producers had many new characters to cast for each of the following seasons. Due to the large number of new characters, Benioff and Weiss postponed the introduction of several key characters in the second season and merged several characters into one or assigned plot functions to different characters.[10] Some recurring characters were recast over the years; for example, Gregor Clegane was played by three different actors, while Dean-Charles Chapman who played Tommen Baratheon also played a minor Lannister character.[61]

George R. R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, is a series co-executive producer and wrote one episode for each of the first four seasons.

Game of Thrones used seven writers in six seasons. Series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the showrunners, write most of the episodes each season.[62] 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).[63] Jane Espenson co-wrote one first-season episode as a freelance writer.[64]

Bryan Cogman, initially a script coordinator for the series,[64] was promoted to producer for the fifth season. Cogman, who wrote at least one episode for the first five seasons, is the only other writer in the writers' room with Benioff and Weiss. Before his 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.[65] Although Martin is not in the writers' room, he reads the script outlines and makes comments.[62]

Benioff and Weiss sometimes assign characters to particular writers; for example, Cogman was assigned to Arya Stark for the fourth season. The writers spend several weeks writing a character outline, including what material from the novels to use and the overarching themes. After these individual outlines are complete, they spend another two to three weeks discussing each main character's individual arc and arranging them episode by episode.[62] A detailed outline is created, with each of the writers working on a portion 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 are then read by Benioff and Weiss, who make notes, and parts of the script are rewritten. All ten episodes are written before filming begins since they are filmed out of order with two units in different countries.[62] Benioff and Weiss write each of their episodes together, with one of them writing the first half of the script and the other the second half. After that they begin with passing the drafts back and forth to make notes and rewrite parts of it.[21]

After Game of Thrones began outpacing the published novels in the sixth season, the series was based on a plot outline of the future novels provided by Martin and original content.[66][67] 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.[68] Later that month, the series was renewed for a seventh season with a seven-episode order.[69][70] Eight seasons were ordered and filmed, adapting the novels at a rate of about 48 seconds per page for the first three seasons.[71]

The first two seasons adapted one novel each. For the later seasons, its creators see Game of Thrones as an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire as a whole rather than the individual novels;[80] this enables them to move events across novels, according to screen-adaptation requirements.[81]

The Azure Window at Ras-id-Dwerja, on Gozo, was the site of the Dothraki wedding in season one.

Principal photography for the first season was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010,[82] and the primary location was the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[83] 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).[84] Doune Castle in Stirling, Scotland, was also used in the original pilot episode for scenes at Winterfell.[85] The producers initially considered filming the whole series in Scotland, but decided on Northern Ireland because of the availability of studio space.[86]

The walled city of Dubrovnik became King's Landing in season two.

The first season's southern scenes were filmed in Malta, a change in location from the pilot episode's Moroccan sets.[82] The city of Mdina was used for King's Landing.[87] Filming was also done 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).[84] 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, for example, the Red Keep and the Sept of Baelor, are computer-generated.[88] 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.[84][89]

Ballintoy Harbour was Lordsport on the Iron Islands.

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.[90] 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' scenes in Essos.[91] Dimmuborgir and the Grjótagjá cave in Iceland were used as well.[89] One scene, with a live bear, was filmed in Los Angeles.[92] The production used three units (Dragon, Wolf and Raven) filming in parallel, six directing teams, 257 cast members and 703 crew members.[93] 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 further south.[94] Thingvellir National Park in Iceland was used for the fight between Brienne and the Hound.[89] The fifth season added Seville, Spain, used for scenes of Dorne, as well as Córdoba.[95]

The sixth season, which began filming in July 2015, returned to Spain and filmed in Navarra, Guadalajara, Seville, Almeria, Girona and Peniscola.[96] Filming also returned to Dubrovnik, Croatia.[97] Filming of the seven episodes of season 7 began on August 31, 2016, at Titanic Studios in Belfast, with other filming in Iceland, Northern Ireland and many locations in Spain,[98] including Seville, Cáceres, Almodovar del Rio, Santiponce, Zumaia and Bermeo.[99] Filming continued until the end of February 2017 as necessary to ensure winter weather in some of the European locations.[100] Filming for season 8 began in October 2017 and concluded in July 2018.[101][102] New filming locations included Moneyglass and Saintfield in Northern Ireland for "The Long Night" battle scenes.[103]

Game of Thrones is funded by Northern Ireland Screen, a UK government agency financed by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund.[104] As of April 2013, Northern Ireland Screen gave the series £9.25 million ($14.37 million); according to government estimates, this has benefited the Northern Ireland economy by £65 million ($100.95 million).[105] Tourism Ireland has a Game of Thrones-themed marketing campaign similar to New Zealand's Tolkien-related advertising.[106][107] Invest NI and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board also expect the series to generate tourism revenue.[105] According to Arlene Foster, the series has given Northern Ireland the most publicity in its history outside The Troubles.[108] The production of Game of Thrones and other TV series also 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).[109] In September 2018, after the filming had finished, HBO announced plans to convert its filming locations in Northern Ireland into tourist attractions to be opened in 2019.[110] By 2019, 350,000 visitors came to Northern Ireland annually because of Game of Thrones, one sixth of all tourists.[111]

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.[112] In 2016, bookings doubled in Ouarzazate, Morocco (the location of Daenerys' season-three scenes).[113] Game of Thrones has been attributed as a significant factor in the boom of tourism in Iceland that had a strong impact on its economy. Tourist numbers increased by 30% in 2015, followed by another 40% in 2016,[114] with a final figure of 2.4 million visitors expected for 2016, which is around seven times the population of the country.[115] However, the increase in tourism to Dubrovnik, with Game of Thrones estimated to be responsible for half of its annual increase over many years, had led to concerns on "over-tourism" and its mayor to impose limits on tourist number in the city.[97][116]

Each ten-episode season of Game of Thrones has four to six directors, who usually direct back-to-back episodes.[117] Alan Taylor has directed seven episodes, the most episodes of the series.[118] Alex Graves, David Nutter, Mark Mylod, and Jeremy Podeswa have directed six each.[119] Daniel Minahan directed five episodes, and Michelle MacLaren, Alik Sakharov, and Miguel Sapochnik directed four each; MacLaren is also the only female director in the entire series' run.[120] Brian Kirk directed three episodes during the first season, and Tim Van Patten directed the series' first two episodes.[121] Neil Marshall directed two episodes, both with large battle scenes: "Blackwater" and "The Watchers on the Wall".[122] Other directors have been Jack Bender, David Petrarca, Daniel Sackheim, Michael Slovis and Matt Shakman.[123] David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have directed two episodes together but only credited one each episode, which was determined after a coin toss.[65]

The costumes of Ygritte, Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane reflect the harsh climate in which they are worn.

Dresses worn at the royal court in King's Landing indicate their wearers' wealth and status.

Functional weapons and armor, like Brienne of Tarth's (left), were manufactured for the series.

Michele Clapton was costume designer for Game of Thrones' first five seasons before she was replaced by April Ferry.[124] Clapton returned to the series as costume designer for the seventh season.[125] 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.[126][127] More than 130 makeup artists and prosthetic designers worked on the show.[128][129]

The costumes used in the series drew inspiration from a number of sources, such as Japanese and Persian armor.[130][131] Dothraki dress resembles that of the Bedouin (one was made out of fish skins to resemble dragon scales), and the Wildlings wear animal skins like the Inuit.[132] Wildling bone armor is made from molds of actual bones, and is assembled with string and latex resembling catgut.[133] Although the extras who play Wildlings and the Night's Watch often wear hats (normal in a cold climate), members of the principal cast usually do not so viewers can recognize the main characters. Björk's Alexander McQueen high-neckline dresses inspired Margaery Tyrell's funnel-neck outfit, and prostitutes' dresses are designed for easy removal.[132] All clothing used is aged for two weeks so it appears realistic on high-definition television.[133]

About two dozen wigs are used for the actresses. Made of human hair and up to 61 centimetres (2 ft) in length, they cost up to $7,000 each and are washed and styled like real hair. Applying the wigs is time-consuming; Emilia Clarke, for example, requires about two hours to style her brunette hair with a platinum-blonde wig and braids. Other actors, such as Jack Gleeson and Sophie Turner, receive frequent hair coloring. For characters such as Daenerys (Clarke) and her Dothraki, their hair, wigs and costumes are processed to appear as if they have not been washed for weeks.[132]

For the series' large number of visual effects, 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.[134] In 2011, the season-one finale, "Fire and Blood", was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects.[126] The visual effects crew consist of both on-set VFX supervisors and concept artists along with visual effect editors in post-production.[135]

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.[136][137] Scenes were also produced by British-based Peanut FX, Canadian-based Spin VFX, and US-based Gradient Effects. "Valar Morghulis" and "Valar Dohaeris" earned Pixomondo Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in 2012 and 2013, respectively.[126]

For season four, HBO added German-based Mackevision to the project.[138] 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 US-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 which focused solely on visualizing Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, with the average production time per season of 20 to 22 weeks.[139] For the fifth season, HBO added Canadian-based Image Engine and US-based Crazy Horse Effects to its list of main visual-effects producers.[140][141] More than 300 visual effects artists worked on the show by season 8.[142]

The series' title sequence was created by production studio Elastic for HBO.[143] Creative director Angus Wall and his collaborators received the 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Main Title Design for the sequence,[144] which depicts a three-dimensional map of the series' fictional world. The map is projected on the inside of a sphere which is centrally lit by a small sun in an armillary sphere.[145] 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 indicating 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.[145][146] Entertainment Weekly named the title sequence one of the best on television, calling it a "all-inclusive cruise of Westeros".[147]

Ramin Djawadi composed the Game of Thrones score.

The music for the series was composed by Ramin Djawadi. The first season's soundtrack, written in about ten weeks before the premiere,[148] was published by Varèse Sarabande in June 2011.[149] Soundtrack albums for subsequent seasons have been released, with tracks by the National, the Hold Steady, and Sigur Rós.[150] Djawadi has composed themes for each of the major houses and also for some of the main characters.[151] The themes may evolve over time, as Daenerys Targaryen's theme started small and then became more powerful after each season. Her theme started first with a single instrument, a cello, and Djawadi later incorporated more instruments for it.[151] Djawadi was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for his work on the show.[152] In addition to 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.[153]

The Westerosi characters of Game of Thrones speak British-accented English, often (but not consistently) with the accent of the English region corresponding to the character's Westerosi region.[154] 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.[155][156] Characters foreign to Westeros often have a non-British accent.[157]

Although the common language of Westeros is represented as English, the producers charged linguist David J. Peterson with constructing Dothraki and Valyrian languages based on the few words in the novels.[158][159] Prior to production, Peterson wrote 300 pages of Dothraki language material, including translation and word function.[160] Dothraki and Valyrian dialogue is often subtitled in English. It has been reported that during the series these fictional languages have been heard by more people than the Welsh, Irish, and Scots Gaelic languages combined.[161] Language-learning company Duolingo began offering courses in High Valyrian in 2017.[162] It was reported that 1.2 million people signed up for the course between 2017 and 2020.[163]

Game of Thrones is 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 US or weeks (or months) later. The series' broadcast in China on CCTV, begun in 2014, was heavily edited to remove scenes of sex and violence, in accordance with a Chinese practice of censoring Western television series to prevent what the People's Daily called "negative effects and hidden security dangers".[164] This resulted in viewer complaints about the incoherence of what remained.[165] Broadcasters carrying Game of Thrones include Fox Showcase in Australia; HBO Canada, Super Écran, and Showcase in Canada; HBO Latin America in Latin America; SoHo and Prime in New Zealand, and Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[166][167][168] 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.[169]

Beginning on January 23, 2015, the last two episodes of season four were shown in 205 IMAX theaters across the United States; Game of Thrones is the first television series shown in this format.[170] The show earned $686,000 at the box office on its opening day[171] and $1.5 million during its opening weekend;[172] the week-long release grossed $1,896,092.[173] Before the season 8 premiere, HBO screened "The Spoils of War" episode from season 7 in movie theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.[174]

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.[175] The box set sold over 350,000 copies in the first week after release, the largest first-week DVD sales ever for an HBO series, and the series set an HBO-series record for digital-download sales.[176] 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.[177]

DVD-Blu-ray box sets and digital downloads of the second season became available on February 19, 2013.[178] First-day sales broke HBO records, with 241,000 box sets sold and 355,000 episodes downloaded.[179] 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.[180][181] The fourth season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2015,[182] and the fifth season on March 15, 2016.[183] The sixth season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 15, 2016.[184] Beginning in 2016, HBO began issuing Steelbook Blu-ray sets which include both Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and Dolby Atmos audio options.[185] In 2018, the first season was released in 4K HDR on Ultra HD Blu-ray.[186] The seventh season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 12, 2017.[187] 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.[188] A box set containing all 8 seasons, including a cast reunion hosted by Conan O'Brien, was also released on December 3, 2019.[189]

Game of Thrones has been widely pirated, primarily outside the US.[190] According to the file-sharing news website TorrentFreak, Game of Thrones was the most pirated television series from 2012 to 2019 (except 2018, when no new episodes were broadcast),[191][192] and Guinness World Records named it the most-pirated television program in 2015.[193] Illegal downloads increased to about seven million in the first quarter of 2015, up 45 percent from 2014.[190] An unnamed episode was downloaded about 4,280,000 times through public BitTorrent trackers in 2012, roughly equal to its number of broadcast viewers.[194][195] Piracy rates were particularly high in Australia,[196] and US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich issued a statement condemning Australian piracy of the series in 2013.[197] Delays in availability apart from HBO and its affiliates before 2015 and the cost of subscriptions to these services have been cited as causes of the series' illegal distribution.[198] According to TorrentFreak, a subscription to a service for Game of Thrones would cost up to $25 per month in the United States, up to £26 per episode in the UK and up to $52 per episode in Australia.[199]

For "combating piracy", HBO said in 2013 that it intended to make its content more widely available within a week of the US premiere (including HBO Go).[200] In 2015, the fifth season was simulcast to 170 countries and to HBO Now users.[190] On April 11, the day before the season premiere, screener copies of the first four episodes of the fifth season leaked to a number of file-sharing websites.[201] Within a day of the leak, the files were downloaded over 800,000 times;[202] in one week the illegal downloads reached 32 million, with the season-five premiere alone ("The Wars to Come") pirated 13 million times.[203] The season-five finale ("Mother's Mercy") was the most simultaneously shared file in the history of the BitTorrent filesharing protocol, with over 250,000 simultaneous sharers and over 1.5 million downloads in eight hours.[204] For the sixth season, HBO did not send screeners to the press, to prevent the spread of unlicensed copies and spoilers.[205]

Observers, including series director David Petrarca and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, said that illegal downloads did not hurt the series' prospects; it benefited from "buzz" and social commentary, and the high piracy rate did not significantly translate to lost subscriptions.[206][207] According to Polygon, HBO's relaxed attitude towards piracy and the sharing of login credentials amounted to a premium-television "free-to-play" model.[208] At a 2015 Oxford Union panel discussion, series co-creator David Benioff said that he was just glad that people watched the series; illegally downloaded episodes sometimes interested viewers enough to buy a copy, especially in countries where Game of Thrones was not televised. Series co-creator D. B. Weiss had mixed feelings, saying that the series was expensive to produce and "if it doesn't make the money back, then it ceases to exist". However, he was pleased that so many people "enjoy the show so much they can't wait to get their hands on it."[209]

Game of Thrones, particularly the first seven seasons, received critical acclaim, although the series' frequent use of nudity and violence has been criticized. The series has an overall rating of 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.[214] Some critics and publications have put the show among the best HBO series of all time.[226][227] The series was highly anticipated by fans before its premiere.[228][229] James Poniewozik said the pilot episode sets "a very large table"[230] with Ti Singh for Den of Geek saying the show "is here to stay."[231]

First-season reviewers said the series had high production values, a fully realized world and compelling characters.[232] According to Variety, "There may be no show more profitable to its network than 'Game of Thrones' is to HBO. Fully produced by the pay cabler and already a global phenomenon after only one season, the fantasy skein was a gamble that has paid off handsomely".[233] The second season was also well received. Entertainment Weekly praised its "vivid, vital, and just plain fun" storytelling[234] and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the series made a "strong case for being one of TV's best series"; its seriousness made it the only drama comparable to Mad Men or Breaking Bad.[235]

The critical response for season 3 was also positive. Matt Fowler for IGN stated the series was "still quite marvelous" with the character development being praised.[236] TV Guide named the season's penultimate episode "The Rains of Castamere" as number three on their 65 Best Episodes of the 21st Century.[237] The critical acclaim continued into season 4, with Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly calling the season " the height of the show's icon-generating powers".[238] The Independent stated that the show significantly deviated from the novels however the "changes benefited the show and condensed the substantial source text admirably well."[239] The critical response for season 5 again received positive reviews however some commentators criticized the sexual assault in the "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" episode.[240] One commentator stated the episode was "the worst episode of the entire series."[241] Season six also received favorable reviews. Time criticized the repetitive story lines early in the season however praised the "Battle of the Bastards" episode as "one of the show’s very best episodes."[242] One reviewer also noted the "more woman-friendly" themes throughout the season,[243] with another singling out Arya Stark's story arc.[244]

The show's last two seasons received more mixed reviews. Season 7 was praised for its action sequences and focused central characters, but received criticism for its pace and plot developments that "defied logic."[223][222][245] Writing for Vox, Emily VanDerWerff cited the departure from the source material as a reason for the "circular storytelling".[246] Critical reception for season 8 was again negative.[224] The Guardian noted the "rushed business" of the plot which "failed to do justice to its characters or its actors."[247] Fan reaction was also negative for the final season. A petition on Change.org started by fans requested the final season to be remade with different writers.[248] Casey Bloys, HBO's president of programming, said at a Television Critics Association event "the petition shows a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the show but it wasn’t something we seriously considered."[249] Despite the criticism of the writing, the music and visual effects were praised.[250][251]

The performances of the cast were praised throughout the show's run. Peter Dinklage's "charming, morally ambiguous, and self-aware"[252] portrayal of Tyrion, who earned him Emmy and Golden Globe awards, was particularly noted. "In many ways, Game of Thrones belongs to Dinklage", wrote Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times before Tyrion became the series' central figure in season two.[253][254] Several critics highlighted performances by actresses and children.[253][255] Fourteen-year-old Maisie Williams, noted in the first season for her debut as Arya Stark, was singled out for her season-two work with veteran actor Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister).[256] Stephen Dillane has received positive reviews for his performance as Stannis Baratheon, especially in the fifth season, with one critic noting "Whether you like Stannis or not, you have to admit that Stephen Dillane delivered a monumental performance this season."[257]

Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a 'B' rating, stating that it was ultimately "okay", with both "transcendent moments" and "miserable phases", it was "beloved enough to be criticized by everyone for something". Franich described seasons 3 and 4 as "relentless", seasons 6's ending having a "killer one-two punch", while seasons 7 and 8 were "indifferent".[258]The New York Times gave the series a mixed review after the season 3 finale, criticizing its number of characters, their lack of complexity and a meandering plot.[259] The show, however, appeared on many best-of lists for the end of the 2010s. Alan Sepinwall, writing for the Rolling Stone, placed the series on his "50 Best TV Shows of the 2010s" list, saying the show's "ability to most of the time keep all of its disparate threads feeling vital and tied to one another, remains a staggering achievement."[260]

The lighting, or lack of light, in darker scenes has been a recurring point of criticism since season 6 of the series.[261][262][263][264] In 2016, Bustle's Caitlyn Callegari listed 31 examples of scenes where the lighting caused viewers problems ranging from not being able to tell a character's hair color to not being able to see what was going on.[265] Some reviewers have noted this is part of a wider trend[266] among shows that are made by people who have experience working primarily on films, suggesting they "haven't grasped the nuances (or lack thereof)" of television as a medium, especially the differences between watching a scene on a television screen versus watching it on the big screen in a movie theater.[267]

In a 2017 interview, Robert McLachlan, a cinematographer working on the show, explained the lack of lighting as an artistic choice: "we're trying to be as naturalistic as possible".[268] The criticism reached a high point during "The Long Night", the third episode of season 8.[269][270] Barely minutes into the episode, viewers took to social media sites such as Twitter to express their discontent about the fact that they were having severe difficulties watching the battle and trying to figure out what was going on.[271][272]

Stained glass public art in Belfast commemorating the filming of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland. This window depicts the death of Hodor, from the episode "The Door".

Although Game of Thrones was dismissed by some critics,[36] its success has been credited with an increase in the popularity of the fantasy genre. The series' popularity increased sales of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels (republished in tie-in editions), which remained at the top of bestseller lists for months.[273] On the eve of the second season's premiere, according to CNN, "after this weekend, you may be hard pressed to find someone who isn't a fan of some form of epic fantasy" and cited Ian Bogost as saying that the series continues a trend of successful screen adaptations beginning with Peter Jackson's 2001 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the Harry Potter films establishing fantasy as a mass-market genre; they are "gateway drugs to fantasy fan culture".[274] The success of the show led to a number of fantasy series being commissioned on television, including a retelling of the Lord of the Rings by Amazon Studios.[275] According to Neil Gaiman, whose works Good Omens and American Gods were adapted for TV, Game of Thrones did help change attitudes towards fantasy on television, but mainly it made big budgets for fantasy series more acceptable.[276] The success of the genre had been attributed by writers to a longing for escapism in popular culture, frequent female nudity and a skill in balancing lighthearted and serious topics (dragons and politics, for example) which provided it with a prestige enjoyed by conventional, top-tier drama series.[36] According to The Daily Beast, Game of Thrones was a favorite of sitcom writers and the series has been referred to in other TV series.[277] With other fantasy series, it has been cited as a reason for an increase in the purchase (and abandonment) of huskies and other wolf-like dogs.[278]

Game of Thrones has added to the popular vocabulary. A first season scene in which Petyr Baelish explains his motives (or background) while prostitutes have sex in the background gave rise to the word "sexposition" for providing exposition with sex and nudity.[279] "Dothraki", the series' nomadic horsemen, was ranked fourth in a September 2012 Global Language Monitor list of words from television most used on the Internet.[280] In 2012, the media used "Game of Thrones" as a figure of speech or comparison for situations of intense conflict and deceit, such as US healthcare politics, the Syrian Civil War and the ousting of Bo Xilai from the Chinese government.[281][282][283]

In 2019, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift told Entertainment Weekly that several songs on her 2017 album Reputation were inspired by characters and plots of Game of Thrones.[284] "Khaleesi" became more popular as a name for baby girls in the United States. In the novels and the TV series, "khaleesi" is not a name, but the title of the wife of a khal (warlord) in the Dothraki language, held by Daenerys Targaryen.[285]

Game of Thrones has also become a subject of scientific inquiry.[286][287][288] In 2016, researchers published a paper analyzing emotional sentiment in online public discourse associated with the unfolding storyline during the fourth season.[286] The analysis purported to be able to distinguish discussions about the storyline of an episode from media critiques or assessments of a specific actor's performance. In 2018, Australian scientists conducted a survival analysis and examined the mortality among 330 important characters during the first seven seasons of Game of Thrones.[288] In 2019, the Australian branch of the Red Cross conducted a study using international human rights laws to determine which of the Game of Thrones' characters had committed the most war crimes during the first seven seasons of the show.[289]

Despite its otherwise enthusiastic reception by critics, Game of Thrones has been criticized for the amount of female nudity, violence, and sexual violence it depicts, and for the manner in which it depicts these themes. The Atlantic called the series' "tendency to ramp up the sex, violence, and—especially—sexual violence" of the source material "the defining weakness" of the adaptation.[290] George R. R. Martin responded that he feels obliged to be truthful about history and human nature, and that rape and sexual violence are common in war; and that omitting them from the narrative would have rung false and undermined one of his novels' themes, its historical realism.[291] HBO said that they "fully support the vision and artistry of Dan and David's exceptional work and we feel this work speaks for itself."[40]

The amount of sex and nudity in the series, especially in scenes that are incidental to the plot, was the focus of much of the criticism aimed at the series in its first and second seasons. Stephen Dillane, who portrays Stannis Baratheon, likened the series' frequent explicit scenes to "German porn from the 1970s".[292] Charlie Jane Anders wrote in io9 that while the first season was replete with light-hearted "sexposition", the second season appeared to focus on distasteful, exploitative, and dehumanizing sex with little informational content.[293] According to The Washington Post's Anna Holmes, the nude scenes appeared to be aimed mainly at titillating heterosexual men, right down to the Brazilian waxes sported by the women in the series' faux-medieval setting, which made these scenes alienating to other viewers.[294] The Huffington Post's Maureen Ryan likewise noted that Game of Thrones mostly presented women naked, rather than men, and that the excess of "random boobage" undercut any aspirations the series might have to address the oppression of women in a feudal society.[295] Saturday Night Live parodied this aspect of the adaptation in a sketch that portrayed the series as retaining a 13-year-old boy as a consultant whose main concern was showing as many breasts as possible.[296]

In the third season, which saw Theon Greyjoy lengthily tortured and eventually emasculated, the series was also criticized for its use of torture.[297] New York magazine called the scene "torture porn."[298] Madeleine Davies of Jezebel agreed, saying, "it's not uncommon that Game of Thrones gets accused of being torture porn—senseless, objectifying violence combined with senseless, objectifying sexual imagery." According to Davies, although the series' violence tended to serve a narrative purpose, Theon's torture in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" was excessive as well.[299]

A scene in the fourth season's episode "Breaker of Chains", in which Jaime Lannister rapes his sister and lover Cersei, triggered a broad public discussion about the series' depiction of sexual violence against women. According to Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times, the scene caused outrage, in part because of comments by director Alex Graves that the scene became "consensual by the end". Itzkoff also wrote that critics fear that "rape has become so pervasive in the drama that it is almost background noise: a routine and unshocking occurrence".[40] Sonia Saraiya of The A.V. Club wrote that the series' choice to portray this sexual act, and a similar one between Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo in the first season—both described as consensual in the source novels—as a rape appeared to be an act of "exploitation for shock value".[300]

In the fifth season's episode "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", Sansa Stark is raped by Ramsay Bolton. Most reviewers, including those from Vanity Fair, Salon, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast, found the scene gratuitous and artistically unnecessary.[290][301][302][303] For example, Joanna Robinson, writing for Vanity Fair, said that the scene "undercuts all the agency that's been growing in Sansa since the end of last season."[304] In contrast, Sara Stewart of the New York Post wondered why viewers were not similarly upset about the many background and minor characters who'd undergone similar or worse treatment.[305] In response to the scene, pop culture website The Mary Sue announced that it would cease coverage of the series because of the repeated use of rape as a plot device,[306] and US Senator Claire McCaskill said that she would no longer watch it.[307]

As the sixth and seventh seasons saw Daenerys, Sansa, and Cersei assume ruling positions, Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post noted that the series could be seen as a "long-arc revenge fantasy about what happens when women who have been brutalized and raped gain power"—namely, that their past leaves them too broken to do anything but commit brutal acts in their own turn, and that their personal liberation does not effect the social change needed to protect others from suffering.[308] Time reported before the seventh season that "Even if Benioff and Weiss don't always admit it, the show has changed. Scenes in which exposition is delivered in one brothel or another, for example, have been pared back".[309]

In this manipulated image published by the White House in 2014, US president Barack Obama (a fan of the series) sits on the Iron Throne in the Oval Office with the king's crown on his lap.

The popularity of the show in the country, coupled with its filming locations in Northern Ireland, led to the creation of a show-specific exhibit in the National Wax Museum Plus in Dublin.

A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones have a broad, active international fan base. In 2012 Vulture.com ranked the series' fans as the most devoted in popular culture, more so than Lady Gaga's, Justin Bieber's, Harry Potter's or Star Wars'.[310] Fans include political leaders such as former US president Barack Obama,[311][312] former British prime minister David Cameron,[313] former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard[314] and Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans, who framed European politics in quotes from Martin's novels in a 2013 speech.[315]

BBC News said in 2013 that "the passion and the extreme devotion of fans" had created a phenomenon unlike anything related to other popular TV series, manifesting itself in fan fiction,[316] Game of Thrones-themed burlesque routines and parents naming their children after series characters; writers quoted attributed this success to the rich detail, moral ambiguity, sexual explicitness and epic scale of the series and novels.[317] The previous year, "Arya" was the fastest-rising girl's name in the US after it jumped in popularity from 711th to 413th place.[318]

As of 2013, about 58 percent of series viewers were male and 42 percent female, and the average male viewer was 41 years old.[319][320] According to SBS Broadcasting Group marketing director Helen Kellie, Game of Thrones has a high fan-engagement rate; 5.5 percent of the series' 2.9 million Facebook fans talked online about the series in 2012, compared to 1.8 percent of the more than ten million fans of True Blood (HBO's other fantasy series).[321] Vulture.com cited Westeros.org and WinterIsComing.net (news and discussion forums), ToweroftheHand.com (which organizes communal readings of the novels) and Podcastoficeandfire.com as fan sites dedicated to the TV and novel series;[310] and podcasts cover Game of Thrones.[322]

Game of Thrones has won numerous of awards throughout its run, including 59 Emmy Awards, 8 Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Peabody Award; it holds the Emmy-award records for both most wins for a scripted television series, surpassing the record of 37 wins held by Frasier since 2004, and for most nominations for a drama with 161.[126][323][324][325] In 2019, the show's final season established a new record for most Emmy nominations received in the same year by any regular series with 32, breaking the 25-year-long record of 26 nominations established by NYPD Blue in 1994.[326] In 2013 the Writers Guild of America listed Game of Thrones as the 40th best written series in television history.[327] In 2015 The Hollywood Reporter placed it at number four on their "best TV shows ever" list,[328] while in 2016 the series was placed seventh on Empire's "The 50 best TV shows ever".[329] The same year Rolling Stone named it the twelfth "greatest TV Show of all time".[330]

Game of Thrones was considered a ratings success for HBO throughout all eight seasons. The show premiere was watched by 2.2 million with the first season averaged 2.5 million per episode.[331] For its second season, the series had an average gross audience of 11.6 million viewers.[332] The third season was seen by 14.2 million viewers, making Game of Thrones the second-most-viewed HBO series (after The Sopranos).[333] For the fourth season, HBO said that its average gross audience of 18.4 million viewers (later adjusted to 18.6 million) had passed The Sopranos for the record.[334][335] The season five episode "The House of Black and White" was simulcasted in 173 countries, becoming the "largest TV drama telecast" according to Guinness World Records.[336]

By the sixth season the average per-episode gross viewing figure had increased to over 25 million, with nearly 40 percent of viewers watching on HBO digital platforms.[337] In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook likes found that Game of Thrones was "much more popular in cities than in the countryside, probably the only show involving zombies that is".[338] By season seven, average viewer numbers had increased to 32.8 million per episode across all platforms.[339][340] The series finale was viewed by 19.3 million people across HBO's platforms, becoming the network's most watched episode.[341][342] The lead-out show also benefited from the finale's record viewership. The season 2 finale of Barry had a viewership of 2.2 million, the most watched episode of the series.[343] Game of Thrones also set viewership records outside of the United States. The series set records on pay-television channels in the United Kingdom (with a 2016 average audience of more than five million on all platforms)[344] and Australia (with a cumulative average audience of 1.2 million).[345] Video streaming research company Parrot Analytics stated the season eight premiere demand was "particularly strong in the United Kingdom and France" after the United States.[346]

Game of Thrones : U.S. viewers per episode (millions)

Season		Episode number										Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	1	2.22	2.20	2.44	2.45	2.58	2.44	2.40	2.72	2.66	3.04	2.52
	2	3.86	3.76	3.77	3.65	3.90	3.88	3.69	3.86	3.38	4.20	3.80
	3	4.37	4.27	4.72	4.87	5.35	5.50	4.84	5.13	5.22	5.39	4.97
	4	6.64	6.31	6.59	6.95	7.16	6.40	7.20	7.17	6.95	7.09	6.84
	5	8.00	6.81	6.71	6.82	6.56	6.24	5.40	7.01	7.14	8.11	6.88
	6	7.94	7.29	7.28	7.82	7.89	6.71	7.80	7.60	7.66	8.89	7.69
	7	10.11	9.27	9.25	10.17	10.72	10.24	12.07	N/A			10.26
	8	11.76	10.29	12.02	11.80	12.48	13.61	N/A				11.99

Audience measurement performed by Nielsen Media Research.[347]

The series has inspired several video games based on the TV series and novels. The strategy game Game of Thrones Ascent ties into the HBO series, making characters and settings available to players as they appear on television.[348] Behaviour Interactive released a free-to-play mobile game in 2019 called Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall.[349] Reigns: Game of Thrones, a spin-off of the Reigns strategy video game series, is in development by Nerial, published by Devolver Digital, and was released in October 2018.[350]

Game of Thrones merchandise in HBO's New York City store

HBO has licensed a variety of merchandise based on Game of Thrones, including games, replica weapons and armor, jewelry, bobblehead dolls by Funko, beer by Ommegang and apparel.[351] High-end merchandise includes a $10,500 Ulysse Nardin wristwatch[352] and a $30,000 resin replica of the Iron Throne.[353] In 2013 and 2014, a traveling exhibition of costumes, props, armor and weapons from the series visited major cities in Europe and the Americas.[354] Starting 2018, Diageo released several Game of Thrones themed whiskies.[355]

Thronecast: The Official Guide to Game of Thrones, a series of podcasts presented by Geoff Lloyd and produced by Koink, has been released on the Sky Atlantic website and the UK iTunes store during the series' run; a new podcast, with analysis and cast interviews, is released after each episode.[356] In 2014 and 2015 HBO commissioned Catch the Throne, two rap albums about the series.[357][358] A companion book, Inside HBO's Game of Thrones (ISBN 978-1-4521-1010-3) by series writer Bryan Cogman, was published on September 27, 2012. The 192-page book, illustrated with concept art and behind-the-scenes photographs, covers the creation of the series' first two seasons and its principal characters and families.[359]

After the Thrones is a live aftershow in which hosts Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan discuss episodes of the series. It airs on HBO Now the Monday after each sixth-season episode.[360] The Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, a North American 28-city orchestral tour which performed the series' soundtrack with composer Ramin Djawadi, began February 2017 and concluded in April 2017.[361][362] A second tour occurred in 2018 across cities in Europe and North America.[363]

Each season's Blu-ray and DVD set contains several short animated sequences narrated by the cast as their characters as they detail events in the history of Westeros.[364] For the seventh season, this is 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.[365] A week after the series finale, HBO released a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled Game of Thrones: The Last Watch.[366] The program documented the production of season 8 along with read-throughs and interviews with the cast.[367]

In May 2017, after years of speculation about possible successor series, HBO commissioned Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland, Carly Wray, and Bryan Cogman to develop five individual Game of Thrones successor series;[368] all of the writers were to be working individually with George R. R. Martin, who also co-wrote two of the scripts.[369] D. B. Weiss and David Benioff said that they would not be involved with any of the projects.[370]

Martin said that all the concepts under discussion were prequels, although he believes the term "successor show" applies better to these projects, as they are not Game of Thrones spin-offs in the traditional sense. He ruled out Robert's Rebellion (the overthrow of Daenerys' father by Robert Baratheon) as a possible idea and revealed that some may be set outside Westeros.[371] In September 2018, speaking about the four projects (i.e. not about the Goldman's project), HBO president of programming Casey Bloys said that some of them have been abandoned completely, while others remain as possibilities for the future;[372] Martin stated that: "at least two of them are solidly based on material in Fire and Blood."[373] In May 2019, Martin stated that two of the projects were still in the script stage, but were "edging closer".[374] In April 2019, Cogman confirmed his prequel would not be moving forward.[375]

On June 8, 2018, HBO commissioned a pilot to a Game of Thrones prequel series from Goldman as showrunner and Martin as co-creator.[376] The prequel was to take place in the Age of Heroes, a period that begins roughly 10,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Notable events of that period include the foundation of powerful Houses, the Long Night when the White Walkers first descended upon Westeros, and the Andal Invasion when the Andals invaded from Essos and conquered most of Westeros.[377] Martin suggested The Long Night as a title for the series.[378] S. J. Clarkson was announced to direct and executive produce the pilot,[379] while Naomi Watts was cast as the female lead playing "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret."[380] Other series regulars were to include: Josh Whitehouse, Toby Regbo, Ivanno Jeremiah, Georgie Henley, Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sheila Atim, Alex Sharp, Miranda Richardson, Marquis Rodriguez, John Simm, Richard McCabe, John Heffernan, and Dixie Egerickx.[381] In September 2019, Martin claimed the pilot was in post-production[382] but in October 2019, it was announced that HBO had decided to not move forward with Goldman's prequel series.[383]

In September 2019, Nellie Andreeva of Deadline Hollywood reported that a second prequel from Martin and Ryan Condal that "tracks the beginning of the end for House Targaryen" was close to receiving a pilot order from HBO; the project is not considered an original sixth script, as it builds upon Cogman's idea from 2017.[384] This prequel, titled House of the Dragon, was picked up straight to series on October 29, 2019. The 10-episode series is to be based on material from Fire and Blood, executive produced by Martin, Vince Gerardis, Condal, and Miguel Sapochnik; the latter two are to be its showrunners as well.[385] In January 2020, HBO stated that the series is scheduled for a 2022 release and that the writing process has begun.[386]