''Game of Thrones'' is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first of which is '' A Game of Thrones''. The show was shot in the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, and Spain. It 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 In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

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 from whoever sits on it. A second 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 Westeros's northern border. ''Game of Thrones'' attracted a record viewership on HBO and has a broad, active, and international fan base. 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) has been subject to criticism. The final season received significant critical backlash 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. A prequel series, ''

House of the Dragon ''House of the Dragon'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO. A prequel to '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), it is the second TV show in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' franchi ...

'', premiered on HBO in 2022.

Premise

Plot

''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. The series follows several simultaneous plot lines. 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 exiled scion's actions 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.

Cast and characters

''Game of Thrones'' has an

which has been estimated to be the largest on television. In 2014, several actors' contracts were renegotiated to include a seventh-season option. By the final season, five of the main cast members made $1 million per episode, making them among the highest paid television performers. Eddard "Ned" Stark ( Sean Bean) is the head of House Stark. He and his wife, Catelyn ( Michelle Fairley), have five children: Robb ( Richard Madden), Sansa ( Sophie Turner), Arya ( Maisie Williams), Bran (

Isaac Hempstead-Wright Isaac Hempstead Wright is a British actor. He is best known for his role as Bran Stark in the HBO television series '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), which earned him a Young Artist Award nomination as Best Young Supporting Actor in a TV Se ...

), and Rickon ( Art Parkinson). Ned also has an illegitimate son, Jon Snow ( Kit Harington), who, along with his scholarly friend, Samwell Tarly ( John Bradley), serve in the Night's Watch under Lord Commander Jeor Mormont ( James Cosmo). The Wildlings living north of the Wall include the young Gilly ( Hannah Murray) and the warriors Tormund Giantsbane ( Kristofer Hivju) and Ygritte ( Rose Leslie). Others associated with House Stark include Ned's ward

Theon Greyjoy Theon Greyjoy is a fictional character in the '' A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation '' Game of Thrones''. Theon is the youngest son and heir of Balon Greyjoy, ...

( Alfie Allen), Ned's

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

Roose Bolton ( Michael McElhatton), and Roose's illegitimate son, Ramsay ( Iwan Rheon). Robb accepts help from the healer Talisa Maegyr ( Oona Chaplin), while elsewhere, Arya befriends the blacksmith's apprentice Gendry Rivers ( Joe Dempsie) and the assassin

Jaqen H'ghar George R. R. Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' saga features a large cast of characters. The series follows three interwoven plotlines: a dynastic war for control of Westeros by several families; the rising threat of the superhuman Others beyo ...

( Tom Wlaschiha). In the Stormlands, the tall warrior Brienne of Tarth (

Gwendoline Christie Gwendoline Tracey Philippa Christie (born 28 October 1978) is an English actress who is best known for portraying Brienne of Tarth in the HBO fantasy-drama series '' Game of Thrones'' (2012–2019). She is also widely known for her role the Firs ...

) serves on the Rainbow Guard. In King's Landing, Ned's old friend, King Robert I Baratheon ( Mark Addy), shares a loveless political marriage with Cersei Lannister ( Lena Headey). Her younger twin brother, Ser

Jamie Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and t ...

(

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Nikolaj William Coster-Waldau (; born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor and producer. He graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen in 1993, and had his breakthrough role in Denmark with the film '' Nightwatch'' ( ...

), serves on the Kingsguard. The third and youngest Lannister sibling is the dwarf Tyrion ( Peter Dinklage), who is attended by his mistress Shae ( Sibel Kekilli) and the sellsword Bronn ( Jerome Flynn). Cersei's father is Tywin ( Charles Dance), head of House Lannister and richest man in Westeros. Cersei has two sons:

Joffrey Joffrey can refer to: * Joffrey Tower, a Chicago high-rise * Joffrey Ballet, a Chicago-based ballet company ** Robert Joffrey, American dancer and founder of the ballet company * Joffrey Lupul Joffrey Lupul (born September 23, 1983) is a Can ...

( Jack Gleeson) and Tommen ( Dean-Charles Chapman). Joffrey is guarded by the scar-faced warrior Sandor "The Hound" Clegane ( Rory McCann). The king's Small Council of advisors includes, among others, the crafty Master of Coin, Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish ( Aidan Gillen), and the

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

spymaster, Lord Varys (

Conleth Hill Conleth Seamus Eoin Croiston Hill (born 24 November 1964) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has performed on stage in productions in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the United States. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards and received two T ...

). In Dragonstone, Robert's younger brother, Stannis ( Stephen Dillane), is advised by the foreign priestess Melisandre ( Carice van Houten) and former smuggler Ser Davos Seaworth ( Liam Cunningham). In the Reach, the Tyrell family, led by its matriarch Olenna ( Diana Rigg), is represented at court by Margery (

Natalie Dormer Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982)The High Sparrow ( Jonathan Pryce) is eventually given power as a religious leader. In the southern

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall un ...

Dorne The fictional world in which the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels by George R. R. Martin take place is divided into several continents, known collectively as The Known World. Most of the story takes place on the continent of Westeros and in a ...

, the warrior Ellaria Sand ( Indira Varma) seeks vengeance against the Lannisters. Across the Narrow Sea, in

Pentos Pentos plc was a holding company that operated between 1972 and 1995 and was best known for its ownership of the Dillons, Ryman and Athena retail brands. Pentos was established from a shell company by Terry Maher in January 1972 as a vehicle fo ...

, siblings Viserys Targaryen ( Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys Targaryen ( Emilia Clarke) (colloquially referred to as "Dany") are in exile, with the former plotting to reclaim his father's throne. Daenerys is forced into marrying Khal Drogo ( Jason Momoa), a leader of the nomadic Dothraki. Her retinue eventually comes to include the exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont ( Iain Glen), her aide

Missandei Missandei, also known as Missandei of Naath, is a fictional character in the American television series ''Game of Thrones'' and the fantasy novel series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' by American author George R. R. Martin. Missandei is a former slave ...

( Nathalie Emmanuel), the sellsword

Daario Naharis Daario Naharis is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin and its television adaptation '' Game of Thrones''. Introduced in ''A Storm of Swords'' (2000), Daario is ...

( Michiel Huisman), and the elite soldier

Grey Worm George R. R. Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' saga features a large cast of characters. The series follows three interwoven plotlines: a dynastic war for control of Westeros by several families; the rising threat of the superhuman Others beyo ...

( Jacob Anderson).

Themes

The series has been praised by both television critics and historians for what was 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. Martin has said that, "the true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves". Academics have classified the series as neo-medieval which focuses on the overlapping of medieval history and popular fantasy. A common theme in the fantasy genre is the battle between good and evil, which Martin says does not mirror the real world. Martin explores the relationship between good and evil through the questions of redemption and character change. The series allows the audience to view different characters from their perspective, unlike in many other fantasies. 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. 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. 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. In a 2012 study, out of 40 recent television drama shows, ''Game of Thrones'' ranked second in deaths per episode, averaging 14. A scientific study conducted in 2018 stated that about 60% of the major characters died as a result violence and war.

Inspirations and derivations

Although the series's first season closely follows the events of the first novel, there were significant changes made for later seasons. According to 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". Aspects of the novels' plots and their adaptations are based upon settings, characters, and events in European history. Most of Westeros is reminiscent of high medieval Europe, from its geography and castles to its cultures, the

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

, palace intrigues, and the knights' tournaments. Like medieval Europe, most of the houses in the series use the patriarchal system of power. The series also includes elements of

gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

, including torture tropes. A principal inspiration for the novels is the English

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

(1455–1485) between the houses of Lancaster and

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark. The scheming Cersei Lannister evokes Isabella, the "She-Wolf of France" (1295–1358). She and her family, as portrayed in Maurice Druon's historical novel series, ''

The Accursed Kings ''The Accursed Kings'' (french: Les Rois maudits ) is a series of historical novels by French author Maurice Druon about the French monarchy in the 14th century. Published between 1955 and 1977, the series has been adapted as a miniseries twice ...

'', were a main inspiration of Martin's. Other historical antecedents of series elements include:

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

(which becomes Martin's Wall), the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, and the legend of Atlantis (ancient Valyria), Byzantine Greek fire ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

(the Ironborn), the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...

, and the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

. The series's popularity has been attributed, in part, to Martin's skill at fusing these elements into a seamless, credible version of alternate history.

Production

Conception and development

The ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of novels was popular before ''Game of Thrones''. The series has sold more than 90 million copies worldwide with the novels being translated into 45 different languages. George R. R. Martin received multiple fantasy writing awards and nominations, including a

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

and multiple

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the p ...

s, for the series. 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". In January 2006, David Benioff had a telephone conversation with Martin's literary agent about the books he represented. Having been a fan of

fiction when he was younger, he became interested in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', which he had not read. The literary agent sent Benioff the series's first four books. 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". 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?" Before being approached by Benioff and Weiss, Martin had 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 ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

'', which had been adapted as three feature films. 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." Martin 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. 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. Initially, Martin would write one episode per season while Benioff and Weiss would write the rest. Jane Espenson and

Bryan Cogman Robert Bryan Cogman (born July 25, 1979) is an American television writer and producer. He wrote eleven episodes of the HBO series '' Game of Thrones''. He is also the author of the book ''Inside HBO's Game of Thrones'' which features a prefac ...

were added later to write one episode each for the first season. The first and second drafts of the pilot script by Benioff and Weiss were submitted in August 2007 and June 2008, respectively. Although HBO liked both drafts, a pilot was not ordered until November 2008. 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). The pilot reportedly cost HBO $5–10million to produce, while the first season's budget was estimated at $50–60million. For the second season, the series received a 15-percent budget increase for the climactic battle in " Blackwater" (which had an $8million budget). Between 2012 and 2015, the average budget per episode increased from $6million to "at least" $8million. The sixth-season budget was over $10million per episode, for a season total of over $100million, a record for a series's production cost. By the final season, the production budget per episode was estimated to be $15million.

Casting

Nina Gold Nina Gold is a casting director known for her work on the HBO series ''Rome'' and '' Game of Thrones'' and the Netflix series ''The Crown''. She has also worked as casting director in movies like '' The Martian'', '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens' ...

and Robert Sterne were the series' primary casting directors. 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. 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. According to Benioff and Weiss, Addy was the easiest actor to cast for the series because of his audition performance. 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. The character of Daenerys Targaryen was also recast, with Emilia Clarke replacing Tamzin Merchant. The rest of the first season's cast was selected in the second half of 2009. 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. 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.

Writing

Portrait photoshoot at Worldcon 75, Helsinki, before the Hugo Awards – George R

''Game of Thrones'' used seven writers over its six seasons. Benioff and Weiss wrote most of each season's episodes. ''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''). Jane Espenson co-wrote one first-season episode as a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...

. Cogman, initially a script coordinator for the series, 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. Before Cogman's promotion,

Vanessa Taylor Vanessa Taylor is an American screenwriter and television producer. She is known for writing '' Hope Springs'', '' Divergent'', and ''The Shape of Water'', as well as for her work as a writer and co-executive producer on seasons two and three of ' ...

—a writer during the second and third seasons—worked closely with Benioff and Weiss.

Dave Hill David John Hill (born 4 April 1946) is an English rock musician. He is the lead guitarist, a backing vocalist and the sole continuous member in the English band Slade. Hill is known for his flamboyant stage clothes and hairstyle. Early life B ...

joined the writing staff for the fifth season after working as an assistant to Benioff and Weiss. Although Martin was not in the writers' room, he read the script outlines and made comments. 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. 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. 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.

Adaptation schedule and episodes

After ''Game of Thrones'' 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. Before season four, Martin stated there was an issue with the television series being released before the source material could be written. According to Benioff, Martin gave the showrunners an outline on the final two books of the series. 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. Later that month, the series was renewed for a seventh season with a seven-episode order. HBO announced in June 2016 that the eighth season would be the final for the series. 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, enabling them to move events across novels as the screen adaptation required.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

for the first season was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010; the primary location was the Paint Hall Studios in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. 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 Tollymore Forest Park was the first state forest park in Northern Ireland, established on 2 June 1955. It is located at Bryansford, near the town of Newcastle in the Mourne and Slieve Croob Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It covers an area ...

(outdoor scenes);

Cairncastle Carincastle or Cairncastle (, and the English word "castle") is a small village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near the town of Larne and inland from the village of Ballygally. It had a population of 66 people in the 2001 Ce ...

(the execution site); the Magheramorne quarry (Castle Black); and Shane's Castle (the tourney grounds). Doune Castle in Stirling, Scotland, was also used in the original pilot episode for scenes at Winterfell. 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. Dubrovnik crop

The first season's southern scenes were filmed in Malta, a change in location from the pilot episode's Moroccan sets. The city of Mdina was used for King's Landing. Filming also took place at

Fort Manoel Fort Manoel ( mt, Forti Manoel or ''Fortizza Manoel'') is a star fort on Manoel Island in Gżira, Malta. It was built in the 18th century by the Order of Saint John, during the reign of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, after whom it ...

(representing the Sept of Baelor); at the Azure Window on the island of

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After ...

(the Dothraki wedding site); and at

San Anton Palace San Anton Palace ( mt, Il-Palazz Sant'Anton) is a palace in Attard, Malta that currently serves as the official residence of the President of Malta. It was originally built in the early 17th century as a country villa for Antoine de Paule, a kni ...

, Fort Ricasoli, Fort St. Angelo and St. Dominic monastery (all used for scenes in the Red Keep). Filming of the second season's southern scenes shifted from Malta to Croatia, where the city of

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

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. The island of Lokrum, the St. Dominic monastery in the coastal town of Trogir, the

Rector's Palace George Rector 878-1947was a restaurateur, raconteur and food authority who wrote several cookbooks in the 1920s and '30s. He appeared on radio on the CBS, Columbia Broadcasting System in ''Dine with George Rector''Vatnajökull glacier near Smyrlabjörg, the Svínafellsjökull glacier near Skaftafell, and the

Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller ice cap Eyjafjallajökull. Between ...

glacier near

Vik Vik (Old Norse: vík) means wick or bay in Norwegian and Swedish (''vig'' in Danish), and it may refer to the following: Places Iceland * Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland Iran * Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Norway ...

on Höfðabrekkuheiði. Filming also occurred at the harbor in Ballintoy, Northern Ireland. Ballintoy Harbour - geograph

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.

Trsteno Arboretum Trsteno Arboretum is a Mediterreanean arboretum located in Trsteno, southern Croatia. The arboretum was erected by the local noble family Gucetic - Gozze (''see'' House of Gozze) in the late 15th century, who requested ship captains to bring ...

, 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. Dimmuborgir and the Grjótagjá cave in Iceland were used as well. One scene, with a live bear, was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. The production used three units (Dragon, Wolf and Raven) filming in parallel, six directing teams, 257 cast members and 703 crew members. 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 Mosor ( la, Massarus), or Mount Mosor (''Massarus Mons''; it, Monte Massaro), is a mountain range in Croatia located near the city of Split on the Adriatic coast. It belongs to Dinaric Alps, and it stretches from the pass of Klis in the northw ...

mountain range and Baška Voda farther south. Thingvellir National Park in Iceland was used for the fight between Brienne and the Hound. The fifth season added

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, Spain, used for scenes of

, and Córdoba. The sixth season, which began filming in July 2015, returned to Spain and filmed in

Navarra Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spa ...

, Guadalajara, Seville, Almeria,

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capit ...

and

Peniscola Peníscola () or Peñíscola (), anglicised as Peniscola, is a municipality in the Province of Castellón, Valencian Community, Spain. The town is located on the Costa del Azahar, north of the Serra d'Irta along the Mediterranean coast. It is ...

. Filming also returned to Dubrovnik, Croatia. 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, including Seville, Cáceres, Almodovar del Rio, Santiponce, Zumaia and Bermeo. Filming continued until the end of February 2017, as necessary, to ensure winter weather in some European locations. Filming for season eight began in October 2017 and concluded in July 2018. New filming locations included Moneyglass and

Saintfield Saintfield () is a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is about halfway between Belfast and Downpatrick on the A7 road. It had a population of 3,381 in the 2011 Census, made up mostly of commuters working in both south ...

in Northern Ireland for " The Long Night" battle scenes.

Effect on locations

Northern Ireland Screen Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. The agency's purpose is to promote the development of a sustainable film, animation and television production industry.About Us > Overview Northern Ireland Screen website, ...

, a UK government agency financed by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund, helped fund ''Game of Thrones''.

Tourism Ireland Tourism Ireland (Irish: ''Turasóireacht Éireann''; Ulster-Scots: ''Tourism Airlan'' or ''Reengin Airlann'') is the marketing body responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas. Tourism Ireland was established as one of "six areas o ...

has a ''Game of Thrones''-themed marketing campaign similar to New Zealand's Tolkien-related advertising. According to First Minister

Arlene Foster Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and from 2020 to 2021 and ...

, the series has given Northern Ireland the most publicity in its history apart from

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. 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 4.3percent in the rest of the UK during the same period). After filming had finished, HBO converted its filming locations in Northern Ireland into tourist attractions to be opened in 2019. By 2019, 350,000 visitors, or one sixth of all tourists, came to Northern Ireland annually because of ''Game of Thrones''. 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. In 2016, bookings doubled in

Ouarzazate Ouarzazate (; ar, ورزازات, Warzāzāt, ; ary, وارزازات, Wārzāzāt; shi, label= Berber, ⵡⴰⵔⵣⴰⵣⴰⵜ, Warzazat), nicknamed ''the door of the desert'', is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of D ...

, Morocco, the location of Daenerys' season three scenes. Dubrovnik also saw an increase in overnight tourist stays after episodes aired. 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. Following the series finale, HBO announced in April 2019 a new exhibition and tourist attraction containing show props and set pieces. The attraction, titled ''Game of Thrones Studio Tour'', will be located at former show filming location Linen Mill Studios outside Belfast. Studies showed that the series had an overall positive economic impacts for both Northern Ireland and Dubrovnik. 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.

Directing

Each ten-episode season of ''Game of Thrones'' had four to six directors, who usually directed back-to-back episodes. Alan Taylor directed seven episodes, the most of any director. Alex Graves, David Nutter, Mark Mylod, and Jeremy Podeswa directed six episodes each.

Daniel Minahan Daniel Minahan (born 1962) is an American television and film director and writer. Minahan has directed several episodes of the HBO original series '' Six Feet Under'', '' Deadwood'', ''True Blood'', '' The Newsroom'' and '' Game of Thrones ...

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. Brian Kirk directed three episodes during the first season, and

Tim Van Patten Timothy Van Patten (born June 10, 1959) is an American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He has directed episodes of ''Perry Mason'', ''Boardwalk Empire'', '' Black Mirror'', '' Deadwood'', '' Ed'', '' Game of Thrones'', '' The Pacific ...

directed the series's first two episodes. Neil Marshall directed two episodes, both with large battle scenes: "Blackwater" and "

The Watchers on the Wall "The Watchers on the Wall" is the ninth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones''. The 39th episode overall, it was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, a ...

". Other directors include

Jack Bender Jack Bender (born September 25, 1949) is an American television and film director, television producer and former actor best known for his work as a director on ''Lost'', ''The Sopranos'' and '' Game of Thrones''. Biography Bender grew up in ...

, David Petrarca,

Daniel Sackheim Daniel Sackheim (born in 1962) is an American television and film director, producer, and photographer. Sackheim has produced and directed for ''The X-Files'', ''Law & Order'', ''House'' and ''NYPD Blue''. He also directed '' The Walking Dead,'' ...

, Michael Slovis and Matt Shakman. 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. For season eight, David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik, who worked on previous episodes, directed the first five episodes. Benioff and Weiss were credited as both the writers and directors of the show finale " The Iron Throne".

Production design

Michele Clapton Michele Clapton is a British costume designer. She won at the BAFTA Awards for the four-part television series ''The Devil's Whore'' in the category of Best Costume Design. She won an Emmy Award for the costumes in the hit HBO show '' Game of ...

was the costume designer for ''Game of Thrones'' first five seasons before she was replaced by

April Ferry April Ferry (born October 31, 1932) is a costume designer. She was nominated at the 67th Academy Awards for the film ''Maverick'' in the category of Best Costume Design. She won an Emmy Award for the costumes in the TV show '' Rome''. She was ...

. Clapton returned to the series as its costume designer for the seventh season. For the first three seasons,

Paul Engelen Paul Engelen (born 30 October 1949) is a British make-up artist. He has over 75 credits in TV and films, including the TV show '' Game of Thrones'', for which he has won a number of Emmy Awards. Oscar nominations Both nominations were in Best ...

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. Over 130 makeup artists and prosthetic designers worked on the show. The designs for the series's costumes were inspired by several sources, such as Japanese and Persian armor. Dothraki dress resembles that of the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

(one was made of fish skins to resemble dragon scales), and the Wildlings wear animal skins like the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

. Wildling bone armor is made from molds of actual bones and is assembled with string and latex resembling catgut. 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. All the clothing used during the production was aged for two weeks, so it had a realistic appearance on high-definition television. About two dozen wigs were used by the actresses. Made of human hair and up to in length, they cost up to $7,000 each and were washed and styled like real hair. Applying the wigs was time-consuming; Emilia Clarke, for example, required about two hours to style her brunette hair with a platinum-blonde wig and braids. 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.

Visual effects

For the large number of

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

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. In 2011, the season one finale, " Fire and Blood", was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects. The visual effects crew consisted of both on-set VFX supervisors and

concept art Concept art is a form of visual art used to convey an idea for use in films, video games, animation, comic books, or other media before it is put into the final product. Concept art usually refers to world-building artwork used to inspire th ...

ists along with visual effect editors in post-production. Because the effects became more complex in subsequent seasons (including CGI creatures, fire, and water), German-based

Pixomondo Pixomondo (PXO) is an Academy and Emmy award-winning international visual effects and virtual production company with studios in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and London. The company provides virtual production ...

became the lead visual effects producer; nine of its twelve facilities contributed to the project for season two, with

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

the lead studio. Scenes were also produced by British-based Peanut FX, Canadian-based Spin VFX, and US-based Gradient Effects. "

Valar Morghulis "Valar Morghulis" is the tenth and final episode of the second season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones''. The 20th episode of the series overall, the episode was directed by Alan Taylor, his sixth directing credit f ...

" and "

Valar Dohaeris "Valar Dohaeris" is the third season premiere episode of the HBO fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones''. Written by executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Daniel Minahan, it aired on March 31, 2013. The premi ...

" earned Pixomondo Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in 2012 and 2013, respectively. HBO added German-based Mackevision to the project in season four. 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 focused solely on visualizing Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, with the average production time per season of 20 to 22 weeks. For the fifth season, HBO added Canadian-based Image Engine and US-based Crazy Horse Effects to its list of main visual-effects producers. Visual effect supervisor Joe Bauer said that the VFX team worked on more than "10,000 shots of visual effects" throughout all eight seasons. More than 300 artists worked on the show's visual effects team. The show won eight

Creative Arts Emmy Award The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as production designers, set ...

s for visual effects, winning for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in seven consecutive seasons.

Title sequence

The series's title sequence was created for HBO by production studio Elastic. Creative director

Angus Wall Angus Alexander Wall (born March 15, 1967) is a film editor and film title designer. He and fellow film editor Kirk Baxter won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the David Fincher film ''The Social Network'' (2010) and again the next yea ...

and his collaborators received the 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Main Title Design for the sequence, 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. 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. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' named the title sequence one of the best on television, calling it an "all-inclusive cruise of Westeros".

Music

Ramin Djawadi composed the series's music. The first season's soundtrack, written about ten weeks before the series's premiere, was published by Varèse Sarabande in June 2011. Soundtrack albums for subsequent seasons have been released, with tracks by the National, the Hold Steady and Sigur Rós. Djawadi composed reoccurring themes for each of the major houses and some main characters. Some themes evolved over time. 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 The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

, and Djawadi later incorporated more instruments into it. Djawadi was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for his work on the show. 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.

Language

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. 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. Characters foreign to Westeros often have a non-British accent. Although the common language of Westeros is represented as English, the producers charged linguist

David J. Peterson David Joshua Peterson (born January 20, 1981) is an American conlanger who has constructed languages for television series such as ''Game of Thrones'' and ''The 100'' and movies such as '' Thor: The Dark World'' and ''Dune.'' Life Peterson ...

with constructing Dothraki and Valyrian languages based on the few words in the novels. Before production, Peterson wrote 300 pages of Dothraki language material, including translation and word function. Dothraki and Valyrian dialogue is often subtitled in English. Language-learning company

Duolingo Duolingo ( ) is an American educational technology company which produces learning apps and provides language certification. On its main app, users can practice vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills using spaced repetition. D ...

began offering courses in High Valyrian in 2017, of which 1.2million people signed up for between 2017 and 2020.

Availability

Broadcast

''Game of Thrones'' was broadcast by HBO in the United States and by its local subsidiaries or other

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

services in other countries, at the same time as in the US or weeks (or months) later. Broadcasters carrying ''Game of Thrones'' included Fox Showcase in Australia; HBO Canada,

Super Écran Super Écran is a Canadian premium television network owned by Bell Media. It airs a mix of commercial-free films and television series. Films are primarily sourced from the United States and Canada, while the television series mostly consist of ...

, and Showcase in Canada; HBO Latin America in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

; Sky Television Network's

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

and Neon in New Zealand and Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In India, two versions of the series were aired;

Star World Star World (formerly known as Star Plus) is an English language entertainment television channel originally launched on 15 December 1991 as Star Entertainment () by STAR TV in Hong Kong as the old iteration of Star Plus. On 30 March 1996, th ...

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. On January 23, 2015, the last two episodes of season four were shown in 205

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme ...

theaters across the United States, the first television series to be shown in this format. The show earned $686,000 at the box office on its opening day and $1.5million during its opening weekend; the week-long release grossed $1,896,092. 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".

Home media and streaming

The ten episodes of the first season of ''Game of Thrones'' were released as a DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

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. 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. 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. DVD-Blu-ray box sets and digital downloads of the second season became available on February 19, 2013. First-day sales broke HBO records, with 241,000 box sets sold and 355,000 episodes downloaded. The third season was made available for purchase as a digital download on the Australian

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

, parallel to the US premiere, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on February 18, 2014. The fourth season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2015, and the fifth season on March 15, 2016. Blu-ray and DVD versions of the sixth season were released on November 15, 2016. Beginning in 2016, HBO began issuing Steelbook Blu-ray sets, which include both Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and Dolby Atmos audio options. In 2018, the first season was released in 4K HDR on Ultra HD Blu-ray. Blu-ray and DVD versions of the seventh season were released on December 12, 2017. 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. 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, and was also released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 3, 2020. In August 2022, the complete series was released in 4K,

Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the ...

HDR and Dolby Atmos on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

Copyright infringement

''Game of Thrones'' has been widely pirated, primarily outside the US. 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), and ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' named it the most-pirated television program in 2015. Illegal downloads increased to about seven million in the first quarter of 2015, up 45 percent from 2014. An unnamed episode was downloaded about 4.28 million times through public

BitTorrent tracker A BitTorrent tracker is a special type of server that assists in the communication between peers using the BitTorrent protocol. In peer-to-peer file sharing, a software client on an end-user PC requests a file, and portions of the requested fi ...

s in 2012, roughly equal to its number of broadcast viewers. Piracy rates were particularly high in Australia prompting the US Ambassador to Australia,

Jeff Bleich Jeffrey Laurence BleichRichman, Josh.Obama nominates Piedmont lawyer as ambassador to Australia" ''Oakland Tribune'' September 14, 2009 (; born 1961) is an American lawyer and diplomat from California. A longtime friend of President Barack Obam ...

, to issue a statement in 2013 condemning the practice there. Delays in availability by non-HBO broadcasters before 2015 and the cost of subscriptions to their services have been cited as causes for the series's illegal distribution. According to TorrentFreak, a subscription to a service broadcasting ''Game of Thrones'' 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. In 2013, to combat unauthorized downloads, HBO said it intended to make its content more widely available within a week of the US premiere (including HBO Go). In 2015, the fifth season was

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

to 170 countries and to HBO Now users. 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. Within a day of the leak, the files were downloaded over 800,000 times; in one week the illegal downloads reached 32million, with the season five premiere—"

The Wars to Come "The Wars to Come" is the first episode of the fifth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones'', and the 41st overall. The episode was directed by Michael Slovis, his directorial debut for the series, and written by s ...

"— pirated 13million times. The season five finale ("

Mother's Mercy "Mother's Mercy" is the fifth season finale episode of HBO's fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones'', and the 50th overall. The tenth and final episode of the fifth season, the episode was written by the series creators David Benioff and D ...

") was the most simultaneously shared file in the history of the BitTorrent file sharing protocol, with over 250,000 sharers and over 1.5million downloads in eight hours. HBO did not send screeners to the press for the sixth season to prevent the spread of unlicensed copies and spoilers. Season seven was either illegally streamed or downloaded over 1 billion times, with the season averaging 14.7 billion illegal views, and the season finale garnering over 120 million illegal views within its first 72 hours. According to anti-piracy company MUSO, the eighth season was illegally downloaded or viewed most in India and China. Illegal viewership for the final season was double the number of legal viewers, with 55 million illegal downloads for the season eight premiere " Winterfell", compared to 17.4million who watched on HBO platforms. Observers, including series director David Petrarca and

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

CEO

Jeff Bewkes Jeffrey Lawrence Bewkes (born May 25, 1952) is an American media executive. He was CEO of Time Warner from January 1, 2008 to June 14, 2018, President from December 2005 to June 2018, and Chairman of the Board from January 1, 2009 to 2018. Early ...

, said that illegal downloads did not hurt the series's prospects; it benefited from "

buzz Buzz may refer to: People *Buzz (nickname), a list of people * J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner (born 1967; aka ''Dr. Buzz''), American forensic psychologist and journalist Fictional characters *Buzz, a character in the 1987 American comedy movie '' Rev ...

" and social commentary, and the high piracy rate did not significantly translate into lost subscriptions. According to ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...

'', HBO's relaxed attitude towards piracy and the sharing of login credentials amounted to a premium-television " free-to-play" model. 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."

Reception

Critical response

General

''Game of Thrones'', particularly the first six seasons, received critical acclaim, although the series's frequent use of nudity and violence has been criticized. The series has an overall rating of 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 86 on Metacritic. Some critics and publications have called the show among the best HBO series of all time. The series was highly anticipated by fans before its premiere. James Poniewozik said the pilot episode set "a very large table", while Ti Singh of '' Den of Geek'' said the show "is here to stay". First-season reviewers said the series had high production values, a fully realized world and compelling characters. 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." The second season was also well received. ''Entertainment Weekly'' praised its "vivid, vital, and just plain fun" storytelling 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''. The critical response for the middle seasons were also positive. Matt Fowler of '' IGN'' said the series was "still quite marvelous" praising the character development. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

'' named the third season's penultimate episode " The Rains of Castamere" as number three on their 65 Best Episodes of the 21st Century. The critical acclaim continued into season four, with Darren Franich of ''Entertainment Weekly'' calling the season " the height of the show's icon-generating powers". ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' stated that the show deviated significantly from the novels however the "changes benefited the show and condensed the substantial source text admirably well". The critical response to season five was again positive, however, some commentators criticized the sexual assault in the "

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones.'' The 46th episode overall, it was written by Bryan Cogman, and directed by Jeremy Podeswa. It first aired on HB ...

" episode. Season six also received favorable reviews. ''Time'' criticized the repetitive story lines early in the season, however, its reviewer praised the " Battle of the Bastards" episode as "one of the show's very best". One reviewer also said there were "more woman-friendly" themes throughout the season, with another singling out Arya Stark story arc. The show's final two seasons, especially season eight, received more criticism. Season seven was praised for its action sequences and focused central characters, but received criticism for its pace and plot developments that were said to have "defied logic". Writing for ''Vox'', Emily VanDerWerff cited the departure from the source material as a reason for the "circular storytelling". Critical reception for season eight was mixed. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' said there was the "rushed business" of the plot which "failed to do justice to its characters or its actors". Writing for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'', Maureen Ryan condemned the season's reductive treatment of women, and "decisions set up and executed with little or no foresight or thoughtfulness", declaring the penultimate episode as "Game of Thrones at its worst". Fan reaction was mixed for the final season. A petition on Change.org started by some fans requested that the final season be remade with different writers. 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". Despite the criticism of the writing, the music and visual effects were praised. The cast performances were praised throughout the show's run. Peter Dinklage's "charming, morally ambiguous, and self-aware" portrayal of Tyrion, which earned him Emmy and Golden Globe awards, was acclaimed. "In many ways, ''Game of Thrones'' belongs to Dinklage", wrote Mary McNamara of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' before Tyrion became the series's central figure in season two. Several critics highlighted performances by actresses and children. Lena Headey's portrayal of the "riveting" Cersei Lannister also received praise. Maisie Williams was singled out as well and her season two work with veteran actor Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister). Stephen Dillane 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." The series was also praised for the portrayal of handicapped and disabled characters. One commentator stated that Tyrion Lannister is a "departure from the archetypal

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

" often found in other fantasy stories like ''The Lord of the Rings''. Darren Franich of ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave the series a 'B' rating, saying 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 three and four as "relentless", seasons six's ending having a "killer one-two punch", while seasons seven and eight were "indifferent". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave the series a mixed review after the season three finale, criticizing the number of characters, their lack of complexity and a meandering plot. The show, however, appeared on many "best of" lists for the end of the 2010s. Alan Sepinwall, writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', placed the series on his "50 Best TV Shows of the 2010s" list, saying its "ability to most of the time keep all of its disparate threads feeling vital and tied to one another, remains a staggering achievement".

Sex and violence

Despite its otherwise enthusiastic reception by critics, ''Game of Thrones'' has been criticized for the amount of female nudity, violence, and

sexual violence Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, or act directed against a person's sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.World Health Organization., World re ...

it depicts, and for the manner in which it depicts these themes. George R. R. Martin responded that he felt 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. 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". The show has reportedly been censored or banned for sexual or violent content in countries like China, India, Iran, Jordan, Singapore, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The amount of sex and nudity in the series, especially in scenes incidental to the plot, was the focus of much of the criticism aimed at it in its first and second seasons. Stephen Dillane, who portrays Stannis Baratheon, likened the series's frequent explicit scenes to "German porn from the 1970s". The series's use of " sexposition", plot delivery accompanied by sex or nudity, was criticized as distracting. ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' parodied this aspect of the adaptation in a sketch that portrayed a 13-year-old boy as a ''Game of Thrones'' consultant, whose main concern was showing as many breasts as possible. The episode " The Bear and the Maiden Fair" in the third season featured the lengthy torture and eventual emasculation of Theon Greyjoy, which prompted criticism. ''New York'' magazine called the scene " torture porn". According to one commentator, although the series' violence tended to serve a narrative purpose, Theon's torture in " The Bear and the Maiden Fair" was excessive as well. One commentator noted that Greyjoy's emasculation was one of the only sexual assault scenes where a male was the victim. A scene in the fourth season's episode "

Breaker of Chains "Breaker of Chains" is the third episode of the fourth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones''. The 33rd episode overall, it was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Alex Gra ...

", 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". Sonia Saraiya of '' The A.V. Club'' wrote that the series's 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". In the fifth season's episode "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", Sansa Stark is raped by Ramsay Bolton. Most reviewers and publications found the scene gratuitous and artistically unnecessary. 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, and US Senator Claire McCaskill said that she would no longer watch it. The episode was the lowest rated on Rotten Tomatoes until the season eight episode " The Bells". As the later 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". Much of the criticism after the series finale was centered around the handling of the female character storylines. One commentator cited the male gaze as one of main sources of the "romanticized female rape" and general nudity throughout the series. Another commentator stated the use of both sex and violence helps perpetuate

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practice ...

within the ''Game of Thrones'' universe.

Lighting

The lighting, or lack of light, in darker scenes has been a recurring point of criticism since season six of the series. 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 being unable to see what was going on. Some reviewers have noted this is part of a wider trend 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. In a 2017 interview, Robert McLachlan, a cinematographer working on the show, explained the lack of lighting as an artistic choice saying "we're trying to be as naturalistic as possible". The criticism reached a high point during " The Long Night", the third episode of season eight. Barely minutes into the episode, viewers took to social media sites such as Twitter to express their discontent over the fact that they were having severe difficulties watching the battle and trying to figure out what was going on.

Cultural influence

Although ''Game of Thrones'' was initially dismissed by some critics, its success has been credited with an increase in the fantasy genre's popularity. The series's popularity led to 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. On the eve of the second season's premiere, CNN said, "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 Ian Bogost is an American academic and video game designer, most known for the game ''Cow Clicker''. He holds a joint professorship at Washington University as director and professor of the Film and Media Studies program in Arts & Sciences and ...

as saying that the series continues a trend of successful screen adaptations beginning with Peter Jackson's ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Harry Potter'' films (2001–2011) establishing fantasy as a mass-market genre; they are " gateway drugs to fantasy fan culture". The show's success led to the commissioning of several fantasy television series, including '' The Wheel of Time'' and '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'' by Amazon Studios. According to Neil Gaiman, whose novels '' Good Omens'' and ''

American Gods ''American Gods'' (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shadow. The book was pu ...

'' were adapted for television, ''Game of Thrones'' helped to change attitudes towards fantasy on television, but mainly it made big budgets for fantasy series more acceptable. The success of the genre has 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. According to '' The Daily Beast'', ''Game of Thrones'' was a favorite of

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

writers and the series has been referred to in other television series. With other fantasy series, it has been cited as a reason for an increase in the purchase (and abandonment) of

huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that ma ...

and other wolf-like dogs. ''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. Dothraki, the series's nomadic horsemen, was ranked fourth in a September 2012

Global Language Monitor The Global Language Monitor (GLM) is a company based in Austin, Texas that collectively documents, analyzes, and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. It is particularly known for it ...

list of words from television most used on the internet. The series and its characters have also been referenced by politicians and academics to commentate on modern-day

geopolitics Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...

economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...

, and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. In 2019, singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...

told ''Entertainment Weekly'' that several songs on her 2017 album '' Reputation'' were inspired by ''Game of Thrones'' characters and plots. "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. Other names from characters in the series, like Daenerys, also became popular baby names. ''Game of Thrones'' has also become a subject of both academic and scientific inquiry. In 2016, researchers published a paper analyzing emotional sentiment in online public discourse associated with the unfolding storyline during the fourth season. The Mathematical Association of America published a journal in 2016 that applied the multidisciplinary field of network science to create a

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods fo ...

for the show's characters and their relationships. The analysis purported to be able to distinguish discussions about an episode's storyline 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''. In 2019, the Australian Red Cross conducted a study using

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war ('' jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by pr ...

to determine which of the ''Game of Thrones'' characters had committed the most war crimes during the first seven seasons of the show. Animals have also been named after the show. Three species of mud dragons; Echinoderes daenerysae, Echinoderes rhaegal and Echinoderes drogoni, a

bee fly The Bombyliidae are a family of flies, commonly known as bee flies. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, some being important pollinators. Larvae are mostly parasitoids of other insects. Overview The Bombyliidae are a large family of fl ...

; Paramonovius nightking, three species of scarab beetles; Gymnetis drogoni, Gymnetis rhaegali and Gymnetis viserioni, and a brittle star, Ophiohamus georgemartini, due to its sharp thorns resembling those depicted on the ''Game of Thrones'' crown.

Fandom

''A Song of Ice and Fire'' and ''Game of Thrones'' have a broad, active international

fan base A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

. In 2012 '' Vulture'' ranked the series's fans as the most devoted in popular culture, more so than those of

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

, ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...

'' or '' Star Wars''. Fans include political leaders such as former US president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

, former British prime minister David Cameron, former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and Dutch foreign minister

Frans Timmermans Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is '' Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplo ...

, who framed European politics using quotes from Martin's novels in a 2013 speech.

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

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, ''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. The previous year, " Arya" was the fastest-rising girl's name in the US after it had jumped in popularity from 711th to 413th place. , about 58 percent of series viewers were male and 42 percent female, and the average male viewer was 41 years old. According to SBS Broadcasting Group marketing director Helen Kellie, ''Game of Thrones'' has a high fan-engagement rate; 5.5 percent of the series's 2.9million

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

fans talked online about the series in 2012, compared to 1.8percent of the over ten million fans of '' True Blood'' (HBO's other fantasy series). 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 A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee about a celebrity, thing, or particular cultural phenomenon. Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, bi ...

dedicated to the TV and novel series; and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

s cover ''Game of Thrones''.

Awards

''Game of Thrones'' has won numerous awards throughout its run, including 59 Emmy Awards, eight

Screen Actors Guild Award Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

s and a Peabody Award. It holds the record for total Emmy Award wins for a scripted television series (surpassing the record of 37 wins held by '' Frasier'' since 2004) and for most Emmy nominations for a drama series, with 161. In 2019, the show's final season established a new record for most Emmy nominations received in a year with 32, breaking the 25-year-long record of 26 nominations established by '' NYPD Blue'' in 1994. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America listed ''Game of Thrones'' as the 40th best written series in television history. In 2015, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' placed it at number four on their best TV shows ever list, while in 2016 the series was placed seventh on ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' "The 50 best TV shows ever". The same year, ''Rolling Stone'' named it the twelfth "greatest TV Show of all time". In 2013, at the Media Access Awards, George R. R. Martin accepted the Visionary Award from the Writers With Disabilities committee of the Writers Guild of America, for its positive portrayal of character with disabilities.

Viewership

''Game of Thrones'' was considered a ratings success for HBO throughout all eight seasons. The show premiere was watched by 2.2million, and the first season averaged 2.5million viewers per episode. For its second season, the series had an average gross audience of 11.6million viewers. The third season was seen by 14.2million viewers, making ''Game of Thrones'' the second-most-viewed HBO series (after ''The Sopranos''). HBO said that ''Game of Thrones'' average gross audience of 18.4million viewers (later adjusted to 18.6million) had passed ''The Sopranos'' for the viewership record. The season five episode "

The House of Black and White "The House of Black and White" is the second episode of the fifth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones.'' The 42nd episode overall, it was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directe ...

" was simulcasted in 173 countries, becoming the "largest TV drama telecast" according to ''Guinness World Records''. By the sixth season the average per-episode gross viewing figure had increased to over 25million, with nearly 40 percent of viewers watching on HBO digital platforms. In 2016, a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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". By season seven, the average viewer numbers had grown to 32.8million per episode across all platforms. The series finale was viewed by 19.3million people across HBO platforms, becoming the network's most watched episode. The lead-out show also benefited from the finale's record viewership. ''Game of Thrones'' also set viewership records outside the United States on pay-television channels in the United Kingdom (with a 2016 average audience of more than five million on all platforms) and Australia (with a cumulative average audience of 1.2million). Video streaming research company Parrot Analytics stated that after the US, the season eight premiere demand was "particularly strong in the United Kingdom and France". Nielsen Media Research noted the show was popular among 18 to 49 key demographic with strong female viewership for a fantasy series. The show also benefited from time shifting viewership. Between season one and season seven, 7-day viewers, the number of both DVR and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

views during the week after the episode broadcast, grew from 3.3million to 13.7million. Following the show finale, commentators said many viewers might cancel their premium television and streaming subscriptions. HBO parent company

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

reported that subscription revenue declined only 0.9 percent between April and June 2019.

Other media

Video games

The series and the novels have inspired several video games.

Merchandise and exhibition

HBO has licensed a variety of merchandise based on ''Game of Thrones'', including

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

, replica weapons and armor, jewelry,

bobblehead A bobblehead, also known by common silly nicknames such as nodder, wobbler, or wacky wobbler, is a type of small collectible action figure. Its head is often oversized compared to its body. Instead of a solid connection, its head is connected to ...

dolls by Funko, beer by

Ommegang Ommegang or Ommeganck (Dutch: "walk around" (the church, village or city), ) is the generic name for various medieval pageants celebrated in the Low Countries (areas that are now within Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern France). Ommegang ...

and apparel. High-end merchandise includes a $10,500 Ulysse Nardin wristwatch and a $30,000

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on nat ...

replica of the Iron Throne. In 2013 and 2014, a traveling exhibition of costumes, props, armor and weapons from the series visited major cities in Europe and the Americas. Starting 2018,

Diageo Diageo plc () is a multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweichow Moutai of China in 201 ...

released several ''Game of Thrones'' themed whiskies.

Related shows

''Thronecast''

Thronecast ''Thronecast'' is a British television series which aired on Sky Atlantic between 2011 and 2019. From the fifth series onwards, the show was presented by Sue Perkins and Jamie East. It is an aftershow to '' Game of Thrones'', which also aired o ...

: The Official Guide to Game of Thrones'', a series of podcasts presented by Geoff Lloyd and produced by Koink, were released on the Sky Atlantic website and the UK iTunes store during the series's run; a new podcast, with analysis and cast interviews, was released after each episode. In 2014 and 2015, HBO commissioned ''

Catch the Throne ''Catch the Throne'' is a two-volume mixtape. The first volume was released digitally on March 7, 2014, and on CD on March 28, 2014 as a free mix tape that features various rap artists to help promote the HBO series '' Game of Thrones''. The albu ...

'', two rap albums about the series. A companion book, ''Inside HBO's Game of Thrones'' 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's first two seasons and its principal characters and families.

''After the Thrones''

After the Thrones ''After the Thrones'' is an American live television aftershow that premiered on April 25, 2016, and ended on June 28, 2016. It was hosted by Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan who discussed episodes of the HBO television series '' Game of Thrones''. ...

'' was a live aftershow during which hosts

Andy Greenwald Andy Greenwald (born May 19, 1977) is an American author, critic, podcaster, screenwriter, and television producer. Life and career Greenwald grew up in Philadelphia and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Friends' C ...

and Chris Ryan discussed episodes of the series. It aired on ''HBO Now'', the Monday following each season six episode. The

Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience ''Game of Thrones'' Live Concert Experience is the concert tour by the HBO epic fantasy series '' Game of Thrones'' featuring composer Ramin Djawadi. The all-arena tour was announced on August 8, 2016 at an intimate concert in Los Angeles, Cal ...

, a North American 28-city orchestral tour which performed the series's soundtrack with composer Ramin Djawadi, began in February 2017 and concluded in April 2017. A second tour followed in 2018 across cities in Europe and North America.

Home media extras

Each season's Blu-ray and DVD set contains several short

still motion Still motion is a method of displaying many images one after another as frames, using the technique of "frame-by-frame", similar to the concept of stop motion. The difference between this and stop motion, however, is that still motion is not a ...

animated sequences titled ''Histories and Lore'', narrated by the cast, in character, as they detail events in the history of Westeros. 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. A week after the series finale, HBO released a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled ''Game of Thrones: The Last Watch''. The program documented the production of season 8 along with read-throughs and interviews with the cast.

Successors

In May 2017, after years of speculation about possible successor series, HBO commissioned

Max Borenstein Max Borenstein (born June 20, 1981) is an American screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the ''MonsterVerse'' film series featuring classic Kaiju of Toho's Godzilla mythos, including writing ''Godzilla'' (2014) and '' Kong: Skull Isla ...

, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland,

Carly Wray Carly Ann Wray is an American television writer and producer. She is known for her writing on the AMC drama ''Mad Men'' and '' The Leftovers'' on HBO. She won a Writers Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series for ''Mad Men'' in 2016, and was ...

, and Bryan Cogman to develop five individual ''Game of Thrones'' successor series; the writers were to be working individually with George R. R. Martin, who also co-wrote two of the scripts. D. B. Weiss and David Benioff said that they would not be involved with any of the projects. 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's father by Robert Baratheon) as a possible idea and revealed that some may be set outside Westeros. 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 had been abandoned completely, while others remained as possibilities for the future; Martin said that: "at least two of them are solidly based on material in ''Fire and Blood''". In May 2019, Martin stated that two of the projects were still in the script stage, but were "edging closer". In April 2019, Cogman confirmed his prequel would not be moving forward. In January 2021, it was revealed that HBO were developing another prequel series to be based on Martin's novella series '' Tales of Dunk and Egg''.

Steve Conrad ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

was attached as writer and executive producer of the ''Tales of Dunk and Egg'' series in November 2021. In March 2021, it was reported that three additional ''Game of Thrones'' spin-offs were in development at HBO; they include ''10,000 Ships'', a reference to the voyages made by warrior queen Princess Nymeria, who later founds Dorne; ''9 Voyages'', about the voyages of Corlys Velaryon on the Sea Snake; and a project based on Flea Bottom, the poorest slum in King's Landing. In June 2022, it was reported that a Jon Snow sequel series with Kit Harington to reprise his role was in early development at HBO. The

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

is ''Snow'' and Martin confirmed his involvement with the project and that Harington initiated the idea. Also in June, Martin said there were still three other live-action series in development: ''10,000 Ships'' (written by Amanda Segal), ''9 Voyages'' aka ''Sea Snake'' (written by Bruno Heller), and the Dunk & Egg prequel series (written by Steven Conrad), tentatively titled either ''The Hedge Knight'' or ''Knight of the Seven Kingdoms''.

''Bloodmoon''

On June 8, 2018, HBO commissioned a pilot to a ''Game of Thrones'' prequel series from Goldman as showrunner and Martin as co-creator. 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. Martin suggested ''The Long Night'' as a title for the series. S. J. Clarkson was announced to direct and executive produce the pilot, while Naomi Watts was cast as the female lead playing "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret". Other series regulars were to include: Josh Whitehouse,

Toby Regbo Toby Finn Regbo (born 18 October 1991) is an English actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his role as young Nemo Nobody in the science fiction drama '' Mr. Nobody'', as Francis II of France on The CW series ''R ...

Ivanno Jeremiah Ivanno Jeremiah is an English actor known for his role in ''Humans''. In 2016, he appeared in " Shut Up and Dance", an episode of the anthology series ''Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Ch ...

, Georgie Henley,

Naomi Ackie Naomi Ackie (born 22 August 1991) is an English actress. She made her television debut as Jen in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "Face the Raven" (2015). For her role as Bonnie on the television dark comedy-drama series ''The End of the F***ing World' ...

Denise Gough Denise Gough (born 28 February 1980) is an Irish actress. She is the elder sister of the actress Kelly Gough. She has worked in film, television, video games and theatre. Gough is a double Olivier Award winner. Early life Born in Ennis, Cou ...

Jamie Campbell Bower James Metcalfe Campbell Bower (born 22 November 1988) is an English actor and singer. He made his feature film debut in 2007 with a supporting role in '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''. He went on to feature in '' The Twiligh ...

Sheila Atim Sheila Atim (born 1991) is a Ugandan-British actress, singer, composer, and playwright. She made her professional acting debut in 2013 at Shakespeare's Globe in '' The Lightning Child'', a musical written by her acting teacher Ché Walker. F ...

Alex Sharp Alexander Ian Sharp (born 2 February 1989) is an English actor. He is known for originating the role of Christopher Boone in the Broadway production of '' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''. After graduating from the Juilliard ...

, Miranda Richardson, Marquis Rodriguez, John Simm, Richard McCabe, John Heffernan, and Dixie Egerickx. In September 2019, Martin claimed the pilot was in post-production but in October 2019, it was announced that HBO had decided not to move forward with the series.

''House of the Dragon''

In September 2019, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wi ...

'' 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. This prequel, titled ''House of the Dragon'', was commissioned as a complete 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. In January 2020, HBO stated that the series is scheduled for a 2022 release and that the writing process has begun. Casting for the series started in July 2020. In October 2020, it was revealed that Paddy Considine was cast as King Viserys I Targaryen. In December 2020, three more castings were announced: Olivia Cooke as

Alicent Hightower ''The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens'' is an epic fantasy novella by American novelist George R. R. Martin, published in the 2013 Tor Books anthology '' Dangerous Women''. The novella is presented in the form of writings ...

Emma D'Arcy Emma Zia D'Arcy (born 27 June 1992) is an English actor. They are known for their roles in the BBC drama ''Wanderlust'' (2018), the Amazon Prime series ''Truth Seekers'' (2020), and the HBO fantasy series ''House of the Dragon'' (2022–), the ...

Rhaenyra Targaryen ''The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens'' is an epic fantasy novella by American novelist George R. R. Martin, published in the 2013 Tor Books anthology '' Dangerous Women''. The novella is presented in the form of writings ...

, and

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC series '' Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targaryen in the HBO series ''House of the Dr ...

Daemon Targaryen ''The Rogue Prince, or, a King's Brother'' is a novelette by George R. R. Martin, published in the 2014 Bantam Spectra anthology '' Rogues''. It is set on the continent of Westeros of Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series, hundreds of year ...

. In February 2021, HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys stated that the show would start production in April, with filming occurring in England. In February 2021, Steve Toussaint,

Eve Best Emily "Eve" Best (born 31 July 1971) is an English actress and director. She is known for her television roles as Dr. Eleanor O'Hara in the Showtime series ''Nurse Jackie'' (2009–13), First Lady Dolley Madison in the ''American Experience'' ...

, Rhys Ifans, and

Sonoya Mizuno Sonoya Mizuno (born 1 July 1986) is a Japanese-British actress, model, and ballet dancer. She notably starred in the miniseries ''Maniac'' and the '' Game of Thrones'' prequel series ''House of the Dragon'', and appeared in all the works direct ...

were confirmed to also be starring in the series. In March 2022, HBO announced a series premiere date of August 21, 2022, followed by the release of the official teaser trailer.

Animated series

In January 2021, an animated drama series was announced as in development at

. In July 2021, two more animated series were in development at HBO Max, with one being set in Yi Ti, a nation in Essos loosely based on Imperial China.

References

External links

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