Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is an American television series created by and for . It is an adaptation of , 's series of fantasy novels, the first of which is . The show was both produced and filmed in and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Filming locations also included Canada, Croatia, Iceland, , , and Spain., Game of Thrones has several plots and a large and follows several . One arc is about the of the and follows a web of alliances and conflicts among the noble dynasties either vying to claim the throne or fighting for independence from it. Another focuses on the last descendant of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty, who has been exiled and is plotting a return to the throne, while another story arc follows the Night's Watch, a brotherhood defending the realm against the fierce peoples and legendary creatures of the North.

Game of Thrones attracted a record viewership on HBO and has a broad, active, and international . The series was acclaimed by critics for its acting, complex characters, story, scope, and production values, although its frequent use of nudity and violence (including sexual violence) was criticized; the final season received further criticism for its condensed story and creative decisions, with many considering it a disappointing conclusion. The series received 58 , the most by a drama series, including in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. Its include three (2012–2014), a 2011 , and five nominations for the (2012 and 2015–2018). 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 in 1994; it also established Game of Thrones as the drama series with the most overall Emmy nominations, with a total of 161.[5]

Of the ensemble cast, has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for (2011, 2015, 2018, and 2019) and the (2012) for his performance as . , , , , , , , , , , and have also received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for their performances.

Game of Thrones is roughly based on the storylines of , set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of and the continent of Essos. The series chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the realm's noble families for the , while other families fight for independence from it. It opens with additional threats in the icy North and Essos in the east.[8]

jokingly suggested " in " as Game of Thrones' , referring to its intrigue-filled plot and dark tone in a fantasy setting of magic and dragons.

Game of Thrones has an estimated to be the largest on television...

Lord () is the head of House Stark, whose members are involved in plotlines throughout most of the series. He and his wife, (), have five children: (), the eldest; followed by (), (), (), and (). Ned's son () and his friend () serve in the under Lord Commander (). The Wildlings living north of the Wall include the young (), and the warriors () and ().[15]

Others associated with House Stark include Ned's ward (), his (), and Bolton's bastard son (). Robb falls in love with the healer (), and Arya befriends the blacksmith's apprentice () and the assassin (). The tall warrior () serves Renly and, later, Catelyn.[15]

In King's Landing, the capital, Ned's friend King (), shares a loveless marriage with (), who has taken her twin brother, the "Kingslayer" Ser (), as her lover. She loathes her younger brother, the dwarf (), who is attended by his mistress () and the (). Cersei's father is Lord (), and she also has two young sons: () and (). Joffrey is guarded by the scar-faced warrior ().[15]

The king's Small Council of advisors includes the crafty Master of Coin Lord () and the spymaster Lord (). Robert's brother () is advised by foreign priestess () and former smuggler Ser (). The wealthy Tyrell family is represented at court by (). () is the capital's religious leader. In the southern principality of Dorne, () seeks vengeance against the Lannisters.[15]

Across the Narrow Sea, siblings () and () – the exiled children of the last king of the original ruling dynasty, who was overthrown by Robert Baratheon – are running for their lives and trying to win back the throne. Daenerys marries (), the leader of the nomadic Dothraki. Her retinue includes the exiled knight Ser (), her aide (), the sellsword (), and (), who leads Daenerys' army of elite eunuch-warriors, the Unsullied.[15]

Conception and development

In January 2006, David Benioff had a phone conversation with 's literary agent about the books he represented and became interested in , 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. They the series to HBO after a five-hour meeting with Martin (himself a veteran screenwriter) in a restaurant on . According to Benioff, they won Martin over with their answer to his question, ""[18]

I had worked in Hollywood myself for about 10 years, from the late '80s to the '90s. I'd been on the staff of and . 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.

—George R. R. Martin, author[19]

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 , which had been adapted as three feature films. Martin himself was pleased with the suggestion that they adapt it as an HBO series, saying that he "never imagined it anywhere else".

The series began development in January 2007. Initially, Martin would write one episode per season while Benioff and Weiss would write the rest of the episodes. and Bryan Cogman were later added to write one episode apiece the first season.[8]

The first and second drafts of the script by Benioff and Weiss were submitted in August 2007 respectively. Although HBO liked both drafts, a pilot was not ordered until November 2008; may have delayed the process.", 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).

The pilot reportedly cost HBO 5–10 million to produce, In the second season, the series received a 15-percent budget increase for the climactic battle in "" (which had an $8 million budget). Between 2012 and 2015, the average budget per episode increased from $6 million The sixth-season budget was over $10 million per episode, for a season total of over $100 million and a series record.[34]

Themes

The series is generally praised for what is perceived as a sort of medieval realism. 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. and Dark Lords, but from ourselves."[39]

A common theme in the fantasy genre is the battle between , which Martin says does not mirror the real world. 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. 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. The series also reflects the substantial death rates in war.

Inspirations and derivations

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".[46]

The novels and their adaptations base aspects of their settings, characters, and plot on events in European history. Europe, from lands and cultures,, castles, and knightly tournaments. A principal inspiration for the novels is the English and , reflected in Martin's houses of and . The scheming evokes , the "she-wolf of France" (1295–1358).'s historical novel series, , were a main inspiration of Martin's.[50]

Other historical antecedents of series elements include (which becomes Martin's Wall), the , and the legend of (ancient ), Byzantine ("wildfire"), Icelandic of the (the ), the (the ), the , and the ..."[51]

Casting

and Robert Sterne are the series' primary casting directors. in 2009. 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. Addy was, according to showrunners Benioff and Weiss, the easiest actor to cast for the series, due to his audition performance. was initially played by , but the role was recast with Michelle Fairley.. 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 and merged several characters into one or assigned plot functions to different characters. was played by three different actors, while Dean-Charles Chapman who played Tommen Baratheon also played a minor Lannister character.[61]

Writing

Game of Thrones used seven writers in six seasons. Series creators David Benioff and , the showrunners, write most of the episodes each season.). co-wrote one first-season episode as a .[64]

, initially a script coordinator for the series, (a writer during the second and third seasons) worked closely with Benioff and Weiss. joined the writing staff for the fifth season after working as an assistant to Benioff and Weiss.

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. in different countries.

Adaptation schedule and episodes

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 Later that month, the series was renewed for a seventh season with a seven-episode order. Eight seasons were ordered and filmed, adapting the novels at a rate of about 48 seconds per page for the first three seasons.[70]

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;

Filming

for the first season was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010, in , Northern Ireland. (standing in for Vaes Dothrak), (Winterfell), Saintfield Estates (the Winterfell godswood), (outdoor scenes), (the execution site), the quarry (Castle Black), and (the tourney grounds). in , Scotland, was also used in the original pilot episode for scenes at Winterfell.

The first season's southern scenes were filmed in Malta, a change in location from the pilot episode's Moroccan sets. was used for King's Landing. Filming was also done at (representing the Sept of Baelor), at the on the island of (the Dothraki wedding site) and at , , and St. Dominic monastery (all used for scenes in the Red Keep).[96]

Filming of the second season's southern scenes shifted from Malta to Croatia, where the city of and nearby locations allowed exterior shots of a walled, coastal medieval city. The and 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., the St. Dominic monastery in the coastal town of , the 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 glacier near Smyrlabjörg, the Svínafellsjökull glacier near and the glacier near on Höfðabrekkuheiði.

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. , a new location, is the garden of the Tyrells in King's Landing. The third season also returned to Morocco (including the city of ) to film Daenerys' scenes in Essos. and the cave in Iceland were used as well., was filmed in .

The fourth season returned to Dubrovnik and included new locations, including in , north of Split, Perun quarry east of Split, the mountain range, and further south. in Iceland was used for the fight between Brienne and the Hound. The fifth season added , Spain, used for scenes of , as well as .[106]

The sixth season, which began filming in July 2015, returned to Spain and filmed in , , Seville, , and . 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,, , , and . Filming continued until the end of February 2017 as necessary to ensure winter weather in some of the European locations.[112]

Effect on location

Game of Thrones is funded by , a UK government agency financed by and the ., Northern Ireland Screen gave the series £9.25 million ($14.37 million); according to government estimates, this has benefited the by £65 million ($100.95 million).[114]

has a Game of Thrones-themed marketing campaign similar to New Zealand's . Invest NI and the also expect the series to generate tourism revenue., the series has given Northern Ireland the most publicity in its history. 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.[119]

Tourism organizations elsewhere reported increases in bookings after their locations appeared in Game of Thrones. In 2012, bookings through increased by 28 percent in Dubrovnik and 13 percent in Iceland. The following year, bookings doubled in , Morocco (the location of Daenerys' season-three scenes). with a final figure of 2.4 million visitors expected for 2016, which is around seven times the population of the country.[124]