This article is about the TV series. For the novel, see A Game of Thrones. For other works with similar names, see A Game of Thrones (disambiguation).
The series is set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, and interweaves several plot lines with a large ensemble cast. The first narrative arc follows a civil war among several noble houses for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms; the second covers the attempts to reclaim the throne by the exiled last scion of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty; the third chronicles the rising threat of the impending winter and the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of the North.Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire,George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, the first of which is titled A Game of Thrones. It is filmed in a Belfast studio and on location elsewhere in Croatia, Iceland,Malta, Morocco, Northern Ireland, Spain, Scotland, and the United States, and premiered on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011. The series has been renewed for a sixth season,[5] which will premiere on April 24, 2016.[6]
Game of Thrones has attracted record numbers of viewers on HBO and attained an exceptionally broad and active international fan base. It has received widespread acclaim by critics, particularly for its acting, complex characters, story, scope, and production values, although its frequent use of nudity, violence, and sexual violence has attracted criticism. The series has won 26 Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2015—when it set a record for most wins for a series in a single year—and numerous other awards and nominations, including three Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, a Peabody Award, and three Golden Globe Award nominations. From among the ensemble cast, Peter Dinklage won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for his performance as Tyrion Lannister.
Plot
See also: Synopsis of A Song of Ice and Fire
Main article: List of Game of Thrones episodes
Game of Thrones roughly follows the storylines set out in A Song of Ice and Fire,[7] set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. The series chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the realm's noble families for control of the Iron Throne. As the series opens, additional threats emerge in the icy North and in the eastern continent of Essos.[2] The first season is a faithful adaptation of the novel. Later seasons, however, began to diverge with significant changes. According to David Benioff, the show 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."[8]
The novels and their adaptation derive aspects of their settings, characters, and plot from various events of European history.[9] A principal inspiration for the novels is the English Wars of the Roses[10] (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York, reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark. Most of Westeros is reminiscent ofHigh Medieval Western Europe, with its castles and knightly tournaments. The scheming Cersei, for instance, calls to mind Isabella, the "she-wolf of France" (1295–1358).[9]She and her family inspired Martin, as depicted in Maurice Druon's historical novel series The Accursed Kings, in particular.[11] Other historical inspirations for elements of the series include Hadrian's Wall (which became Martin's great Wall), the legend of Atlantis (ancient Valyria), Byzantine "Greek fire" ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age(the Ironborn), the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), and elements from the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and the Italian Renaissance (c. 1400–1500).[9] The series' great popularity has been attributed in part to Martin's skill at fusing these disparate elements into a seamless whole that appears credible on its own terms as an alternative history.[9]
"The Sopranos in Middle-earth" is the tagline that showrunner David Benioff jokingly suggested for Game of Thrones, referring to its intrigue-filled plot and dark tone combined with a fantasy setting that incorporates some magic and dragons.[12] In a 2012 study of deaths per episode, the series was listed second out of 40 recent U.S. TV drama series, with an average of 14 deaths per episode.[13][14]
Cast and characters
Main article: List of Game of Thrones characters
Like the novels it adapts, Game of Thrones has a sprawling ensemble cast, estimated to be the largest on television.[15] During the production of the third season, 257 cast names were recorded.[16] In 2014, several of the actors' contracts were renegotiated to include the option for a seventh season, and included raises that reportedly made the cast among the best-paid on cable TV.[17] The following overview reduces the list of characters in Game of Thrones to those played by the actors credited as part of the main cast.[18]
Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean) is the head of the Stark family whose members are involved in most of the series' intertwined plot lines. He and his wife Catelyn Tully (Michelle Fairley) have five children: the eldest, Robb (Richard Madden), the dainty Sansa (Sophie Turner), the tomboy Arya (Maisie Williams), the adventurous Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and the youngest, Rickon (Art Parkinson). Ned's bastard son Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and his friend Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) serve in the Night's Watch under Lord CommanderJeor Mormont (James Cosmo). The red-haired Ygritte (Rose Leslie), one of the Wildlings led by Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju), is Jon Snow's romantic interest, and Sam cares for the young Wildling Gilly (Hannah Murray).[19]
People associated with the Starks include Ned's hostage and ward Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), as well as Ned's vassal ("bannerman") Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) and his sadistic bastard Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon). Robb falls in love with the healer Talisa Maegyr (Oona Chaplin), and Arya befriends the blacksmith's apprentice Gendry (Joe Dempsie) and the assassin Jaqen H'ghar (Tom Wlaschiha). Catelyn encounters the tall warrior Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie).[19]
In the capital of King's Landing, Ned's old friend King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) shares a loveless marriage with Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), who has taken her twin, the "Kingslayer" Ser Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) as her secret lover. She loathes her younger brother, the clever dwarf Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), who is attended by his mistress Shae (Sibel Kekilli) and the sellsword Bronn (Jerome Flynn). Cersei's father is the fabulously wealthy Lord Tywin (Charles Dance), and she has two young sons, the cruel Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and the kind Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman). Joffrey is guarded by the scar-faced warrior Sandor "the Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann).[19]
The king's "Small Council" of advisors includes the crafty Master of Coin, Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidan Gillen) and the eunuch spymaster Lord Varys (Conleth Hill). Robert's brother Stannis Baratheon(Stephen Dillane) is advised by the foreign priestess Melisandre (Carice van Houten) and the former smuggler Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham). The wealthy Tyrell family is represented at court by the ambitious Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer). In the southern principality of Dorne, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) seeks vengeance against the Lannisters.[19]
Across the Narrow Sea, siblings Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) – the exiled children of the king overthrown by Robert Baratheon – are on the run for their lives, trying to win back the throne. Daenerys has been married to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), the leader of the nomadic Dothraki, and her retinue includes the exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), her aide Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) and the sellsword Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman).[19]
Production
Conception and development
According to David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the two came up with the idea of adapting George R. R. Martin's novels to the screen in 2006, after Benioff began reading the first novel, A Game of Thrones. He called Weiss to share his excitement, and Weiss finished the thousand-page novel in "maybe 36 hours".[20] They successfully pitched the series to HBO, and convinced Martin – a veteran screenwriter himself – in the course of a five-hour meeting in a restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard to agree to the idea. Benioff recalled they won Martin over with their answer to his question: "Who is Jon Snow's mother?"[20]
The series began development in January 2007.[21] HBO, after acquiring the TV rights to the novels, hired Benioff and Weiss to write and executive produce the series, which would cover one novel's worth of material per season.[21] Initially, Benioff and Weiss were to write every episode, save one per season, which Martin, who also joined as a co-executive producer, was attached to write.[21][22] Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman were later added to each write one episode of the first season.[2]
The first and second drafts of the pilot script, written by Benioff and Weiss, were submitted in August 2007[23] and June 2008,[24] respectively. While HBO found both drafts to their liking,[24][25] a pilot was not ordered until November 2008,[26] with the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike possibly delaying the process.[25]
The pilot reportedly cost HBO between US$5 and 10 million,[27] and the total budget for the first season had been estimated at US$50–60 million.[28] In the second season, the show obtained a 15% budget increase to depict the climactic battle in the episode "Blackwater", which had a budget of US$8 million.[29][30] Between 2012 and 2015, the average episode's budget grew from US$6 million[31] to "at least" 8 million.[32] The budget for the sixth season was over $10 million per episode, totaling over $100 million for the full season and setting a new high for the series.[33]
Writing
Game of Thrones has used seven writers over the course of five seasons. Series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss are the showrunners and write the majority of the episodes each season.[34]
A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin wrote one episode in each of the first four seasons, but has not written an episode for the fifth or sixth seasons, as Martin wants to focus on completing the sixth novel, The Winds of Winter.[35] Jane Espenson co-wrote one episode for the first season as a freelance writer.[36]
Bryan Cogman, who initially was a script coordinator for the series,[36] was promoted to a producer beginning with the fifth season. Cogman wrote at least one episode for the first five seasons, and is the only other writer to be in the writers' room with Benioff and Weiss; besides Vanessa Taylor, who was a writer during the second and third seasons. Dave Hill joined the writing staff for the fifth season after previously working as an assistant to Benioff and Weiss.[37] Martin is not in the writers' room, but reads the script outlines and gives notes.[34]
Benioff and Weiss sometimes assign various characters to each writer; for example, Cogman was assigned Arya for the fourth season. From there, the writers spend a few weeks writing a character outline, including what material from the novels to use and what the themes are. After the individual outlines are complete, the writers spend another two-to-three weeks discussing each main character's individual arc, and arrange them episode-by-episode.[34]
From there, a detailed outline is created and each of the writers work on a portion 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. The scripts are then read by Benioff and Weiss, who give notes, and then parts of script are rewritten. All ten episodes are written before filming begins, as all the episodes are filmed simultaneously, out of order, and using two separate units in different countries.[34]
Adaptation schedule
Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss intend to adapt the entirety of the still incomplete A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. In March 2015, Benioff and Weiss said that with the fifth season adapting all material from the novels published so far, Game of Thrones might begin outpacing A Song of Ice and Fire in the sixth season. The series would then be based on an outline of the plot of the future novels provided by Martin.[38] Overall, the series is to encompass more than seven seasons, according to HBO executive Michael Lombardo in July 2015, with the showrunners aiming for eight seasons and HBO hoping for more.[39] In January 2016, HBO began discussions for a potential two-season renewal, consisting of season seven and eight.[40]
As of 2016, six seasons have been ordered and have been filmed, adapting the novels at a rate of about 0.8 minutes per page for the first three seasons.[41]
| Season | Ordered | Filming | First aired | Last aired | Novel(s) adapted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | March 2, 2010[42] | Second half of 2010 | April 17, 2011 | June 19, 2011 | A Game of Thrones |
| Season 2 | April 19, 2011[43] | Second half of 2011 | April 1, 2012 | June 3, 2012 | A Clash of Kings and some early chapters from A Storm of Swords[44] |
| Season 3 | April 10, 2012[45] | Second half of 2012 | March 31, 2013 | June 9, 2013 | About the first two-thirds of A Storm of Swords[46][47] |
| Season 4 | April 2, 2013[48] | Second half of 2013 | April 6, 2014 | June 15, 2014 | The remaining one-third of A Storm of Swords and some elements from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons[49] |
| Season 5 | April 8, 2014[5] | Second half of 2014 | April 12, 2015 | June 14, 2015 | A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, with some late chapters from A Storm of Swords[50] and elements from The Winds of Winter[51][52] |
| Season 6 | April 8, 2014[5] | Second half of 2015 | April 24, 2016 | June 26, 2016 | The Winds of Winter, with some elements of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, but mostly original content.[53] |
Seasons 1 and 2 each adapted one novel. For the later seasons, the creators conceive of Game of Thrones as an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire as a whole, rather than of individual novels.[54] This gives them the liberty to move events back and forth across novels according to the requirements of the screen adaptation.[55]
The five seasons filmed so far each consist of ten episodes, with an average runtime of 55 minutes per episode. The series' pilot and every season finale, bar the first, run for more than an hour apiece.
Filming
Principal photography for the first season was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010.[2] The primary location was the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[56] Exterior scenes in Northern Ireland were filmed at Sandy Brae in the Mourne Mountains (standing in for Vaes Dothrak), Castle Ward (Winterfell), Saintfield Estates (the Winterfell godswood), Tollymore Forest (outdoor scenes), Cairncastle (the execution site), Magheramorne quarry (Castle Black) and at Shane's Castle (the tourney grounds).[1] Doune Castle in Stirling, Scotland, was also used in the original pilot episode for exterior and interior scenes at Winterfell.[57] The producers initially considered shooting the whole series in Scotland, but eventually chose Northern Ireland because of the availability of studio space.[58]
The first season's southern scenes were filmed in Malta, a change in location from the sets in Morocco used for the pilot episode.[2] The city of Mdina was used for scenes in King's Landing, and filming also took place at Fort Manoel (representing the Sept of Baelor), at the Azure Window on the island of Gozo (the Dothraki wedding site), and at San Anton Palace, Fort Ricasoli, Fort St Angelo and St. Dominic monastery (all used for scenes in the Red Keep).[1]
For the second season, shooting of the Southern scenes shifted from Malta to Croatia, where the city of Dubrovnik and nearby locations allowed exterior shots of a seaside walled medieval city. The Walls of Dubrovnik and of Fort Lovrijenac were used for scenes in King's Landing and the Red Keep. The island of Lokrum, the St. Dominic monastery in the coastal town of Trogir, the Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik and the Dubac quarry a few kilometers to the east were used for scenes set in Qarth. Scenes set north of the Wall, in the Frostfangs and at the Fist of the First Men, were filmed in Iceland in November 2011, on the Svínafellsjökull glacier and near Smyrlabjörg and Vík on Höfðabrekkuheiði.[1]
For the third season the production returned to Dubrovnik in Croatia. The Walls of Dubrovnik, Fort Lovrijenac and nearby locations were used for scenes in King's Landing and the Red Keep. One new location Trsteno Arboretum is the garden the Tyrells use in King's Landing. The third season also returned to Morocco (previously used in the pilot episode), including the city of Essaouira, to film Daenerys' scenes in Essos.[59] The production employed three units ("Dragon", "Wolf" and "Raven") filming in parallel, six directing teams, 257 cast members and 703 crew members.[16] One scene with a live bear was filmed in Los Angeles.[3]
The fourth season returned to Dubrovnik and included new locations in Croatia, such as Diocletian's Palace in Split, Klis Fortress north of Split, Perun quarry east of Split,Mosor mountain and Baška Voda further down to the south.[60] Filming took 136 days, ending on November 21, 2013.[61]
The fifth season added Seville, Spain, as a filming location, which is used for the fictional location of Dorne. The sixth season, which will begin filming in July 2015, will return to Spain, and film in the cities of Girona and Peniscola.[62]
Directing
Each 10-episode season of Game of Thrones employs between four and six directors, of which usually direct back-to-back episodes. Alex Graves, David Nutter, and Alan Taylor have directed the most episodes of the series, with six each. Others who have directed multiple episodes for several seasons include, Daniel Minahan with five episodes, while Michelle MacLaren, Mark Mylod, Jeremy Podeswa, Alik Sakharov, and Miguel Sapochnik have directed four each. Brian Kirk directed three episodes for the first season and Tim Van Patten directed the first two episodes of the series. Neil Marshall has directed two episodes, both of which are episodes featuring large battle sequences, "Blackwater" and "The Watchers on the Wall". Other directors have been Jack Bender, David Petrarca, Daniel Sackheim, and Michael Slovis. Series creators andshowrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have also directed an episode each.[63]
Technical aspects
Alik Sakharov was the cinematographer for the pilot episode of Game of Thrones. During the course of the show, the series has had multiple cinematographers over the course of the series. The series has received seven Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series nominations.[64]
Oral Norrey Ottey, Frances Parker, Martin Nicholson, Katie Weiland, Crispin Green, and Tim Porter are the six editors that have worked on the series for various episodes each. Weiland received a Primetime Emmy Award win for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series in 2015.[64]
Costuming
The show's costumes are inspired by many cultures, such as Japanese and Persian. Dothraki outfits resemble the Bedouin's (one was made out of fish skins to resemble dragon scales), and the Wildlings wear animal skins inside out like the Inuit.[65] Wildling bone armor is made of molds taken of real bones and assembled with string and latex resembling catgut.[66] While extras who portray Wildlings and the Night's Watch wear hats as would be normal in a cold climate, main actors usually do not so viewers can identify the characters. Björk's Alexander McQueen high-neckline dresses inspired Dormer's unusual funnel-neck outfit, and prostitute costumes are designed to be quickly removed.[65] All clothing, whether for Wildlings or for women at the royal court, is aged for two weeks to improve realism on high-definition television.[66]
About two dozen wigs are used for the actresses. Made of human hair and up to 2 feet (61 cm) in length, they cost up to $7,000 each and are washed and styled like real hair. Applying the wigs is a lengthy process; Clarke, for example, requires about two hours to style her brunette hair with a platinum-blonde wig and braids. Other actors such as Gleeson and Turner receive frequent haircoloring. For characters such as Daenerys (Clarke) and her Dothraki, hair, wigs, and costumes are processed so they appear as if they have not been washed for weeks.[65]
Michele Clapton served as the costume designer for the first five seasons before being replaced by April Ferry.[67]
Makeup
Paul Engelen was the main makeup designer and prosthetic makeup artist on Game of Thrones alongside Melissa Lackersteen, Conor O'Sullivan and Rob Trenton for the first three seasons, until being replaced by Jane Walker as of the forth season alongside her crew, Ann McEwan, Barrie Gower and Sarah Gower. [68]
Visual effects
For the large amount of visual effects in the series, HBO hired the VFX companies BlueBolt, based in Great Britain, and Screen Scene, based in Ireland, for season one. Most of the environment builds were done as 2.5D projections, to give the viewer a good sense of perspective, but also to keep the amount of programming from becoming too overwhelming.[69] The season one finale "Fire and Blood" was nominated for an Emmy Award for Visual Effects in 2011.
Because the effects became more complex in the subsequent seasons, including CG creatures, fire, and water, the job was passed on to Pixomondo of Germany. Starting with the second season, Pixomondo served as lead VFX producer. For season two, nine of its twelve facilities contributed to the project, with Stuttgart serving as the lead.[70][71]Additionally, some scenes were produced by Peanut FX (Great Britain), Spin VFX (Canada) and Gradient Effects (U.S.). The episodes "Valar Morghulis" and "Valar Dohaeris" earned Pixomondo the Emmy Award for Visual Effects in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
For season four, HBO added Mackevision, also based in Germany, to the project.[72] The season four finale "The Children" won the Emmy Award for Visual Effects in 2014. Additional producers for season four included Rodeo FX (Canada), Scanline VFX (Germany) and BAKED FX (U.S.). The muscle and wing movements of the adolescent dragons in seasons 4 and 5 were based largely on those of a chicken. Pixomondo retained a team of 22 to 30 people, focusing solely on the visualization of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons, with the average production time per season ranging between 20 and 22 weeks.[73] For the fifth season, HBO also added Image Engine (Canada) and Crazy Horse Effects (U.S.) to its list of main VFX producers.[74][75]
Sound
Unusually for television series, the sound team receives a rough-cut of a full season to work on, and they approach it like a ten-hour feature film. Season 1 and 2 each had a different sound team, but for the subsequent seasons, the same team has been working on the sound.[76] For the show's blood and gore sounds, the sound team often uses ashammy. For dragon screams, they have used the sounds of two tortoises mating, as well as dolphin, seal, lion and bird sounds.[77]
Title sequence
Main article: Game of Thrones title sequence
The series' title sequence was created by production studio Elastic for HBO. Creative director Angus Wall and his collaborators received the 2011 Emmy Award for Main Title Design for their work on the sequence.[78]It depicts a three-dimensional map of the series' fictional world, projected onto the inside of a sphere, which is centrally lit by a small sun contained within an armilla.[79] As the camera swoops across the map and focuses on the locations in which the episode's events take place, complex clockwork mechanisms let buildings and other structures emerge from the map and unfold. Meanwhile, accompanied by the title music, the names of the principal cast and creative staff are displayed. The sequence concludes after about one and a half minutes with the title card and brief opening credits indicating the episode's writer(s) and director. The composition of the title sequence changes as the story progresses, as new places are introduced they replace others that no longer feature as prominently or at all.[79][80][81]
Language
The Westerosi characters of Game of Thrones speak British English, often (but not consistently) with the accent of the English region whose geographic location corresponds to the character's Westerosi region. For instance, Eddard Stark, as Warden of the North, speaks in actor Sean Bean's native northern accent, while the southern lord Tywin Lannister speaks with a southern accent. Characters foreign to Westeros are often (although not always) played with a non-British accent.[82]
While English is used to convey the common language of Westeros, the producers charged linguist David J. Peterson with developing the Dothraki and Valyrian languages as constructed languages, based on the few words used in Martin's novels.[83] Dothraki or Valyrian dialogue is subtitled in English. The BBC estimated that, through the series, these fictional languages were heard by more people than the Welsh, Irish andScots Gaelic languages combined.[84]
Effect on location
Game of Thrones receives funding from Northern Ireland Screen, a UK government agency financed by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund.[85] As of April 2013, Northern Ireland Screen has awarded the show £9.25 million and according to government estimates, benefited the Northern Ireland economy by £65 million.[86]
Tourism Ireland has a Game of Thrones-themed marketing campaign similar to New Zealand's Tolkien-related advertising,[87] and Invest NI and the Tourist Board[86] also expect the series to generate tourism revenue. According to a government minister, the series has given Northern Ireland the most publicity in its history outside politics and the Troubles.[88] The production of Game of Thrones and other TV series has also provided a boost to the creative industry in Northern Ireland, contributing to a growth of 12.4% in arts, entertainment and recreation jobs from 2008 to 2013 (as opposed to 4.3% in the whole of the UK).[89]
Tourism organizations in other filming locations also reported notable increases in bookings after their locations appeared in Game of Thrones. Bookings through one web portal in 2012 increased by 13% in Iceland and by 28% in Dubrovnik, Croatia. In 2013, bookings increased by 100% in Ouarzazate, Morocco, where Daenerys' season 3 scenes were filmed.[90]
Availability
Broadcast
Game of Thrones is broadcast by HBO in the United States, and through its local subsidiaries or other pay TV services in other countries, either at the same time as in the U.S. or some weeks or months later. The series' broadcast in China on CCTV, beginning in 2014, was heavily edited to remove scenes of sex and violence, in accordance with a Chinese practice of censoring western TV series to prevent "negative effects and hidden security dangers", according to the People's Daily. This resulted in viewer complaints about the incoherence of what remained of the series.[91]
Broadcasters carrying Game of Thrones include Showcase in Australia, HBO Canada, Super Écran and Showcase in Canada, SoHo and Prime in New Zealand, and Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[92]
Home video
The ten episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones were published as a DVD and Blu-ray box set on March 6, 2012. The set includes extra background and behind-the-scenes material, but no deleted scenes, because almost all the footage shot for the first season was used in the show.[93] The box set sold 350,000 units in the first seven days of 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.[94] A "collector's edition" of the box set combining the DVD and Blu-ray versions, a dragon's egg paperweight and the first episode of season two was released in November 2012.
DVD/Blu-ray box sets and digital downloads of the second season were made available on February 19, 2013.[95] First-day sales again broke HBO records, with 241,000 box sets sold and 355,000 episodes downloaded.[96]
The third season was made available for purchase as a digital download on the iTunes Store, in Australia only, in parallel to the U.S. premiere.[97] The third season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on February 18, 2014.[98]
The fourth season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on February 17, 2015.[99]
The fifth season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 15, 2016, in region 1.[100]
Copyright infringement
Game of Thrones is notorious for being widely infringed, mainly outside the U.S.[101] File-sharing news website TorrentFreak estimated Game of Thrones to be the most-pirated TV series every year since 2012,[102][103][104][105] and illegal downloads grew to about 7 million in the first quarter of 2015, up 45% from 2014.[101] One episode was downloaded about 4,280,000 times through public BitTorrent trackers in 2012, about equal to the number of broadcast viewers.[106][107] Piracy rates were particularly high in Australia.[108] This led U.S. Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich to issue a public statement condemning what he called Australian piracy of the series in 2013.[109]
The delays in availability outside of HBO or its affiliates[110] encountered prior to 2015 and the cost of subscriptions to these services have been pointed to as causes of the series' widespread illegal distribution. According to TorrentFreak, this cost ranges from 15 to 25 U.S. dollars per month in the U.S. up to 26 pounds per episode in the UK and 52 Australian dollars per episode in Australia, if somebody were to subscribe to a service exclusively for Game of Thrones.[111]
Viewing it as essential for "combating piracy", HBO said in 2013 it intended to make its content more widely available within the week of the U.S. premiere, including through HBO Go,[112] and in 2015 the fifth season was simulcast to 170 countries as well as HBO Now users.[101] However, on April 11, 2015, the day before the season premiere, screener copies of the first four episodes of the fifth season leaked to numerous file-sharing websites.[113] Within the first day after the leak, the files had been downloaded at least 800,000 times,[114] and in just one week the figure reached a total of 32 million in illegal downloads, with the season five premiere episode "The Wars to Come" pirated 13 million times.[115] The season five finale, "Mother's Mercy", was the most simultaneously shared file in the history of the BitTorrent filesharing protocol, with over 250,000 simultaneous sharers and over 1.5 million downloads within 8 hours.[116] For the sixth season, HBO will not be sending out screeners to the press, to prevent the spread of unlicensed copies and possiblespoilers.[117]
Observers, including series director David Petrarca[118] and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said illegal downloads did not hurt the series' prospects, as it benefited from the resulting "buzz" and social commentary, while the high rates of piracy did not significantly translate to lost subscriptions. According to Polygon, HBO's relatively relaxed attitude towards piracy and sharing login credentials amounted to a "free-to-play" model for premium television.[119] At a debate at the Oxford Union in 2015, series co-creator David Benioff stated he was just glad people are watching the show. He claimed that the illegally downloaded copies of the show sometimes captivate viewers enough to make them eventually buy a copy of the show later on anyway, especially in countries where the show does not officially air on television. D. B. Weiss responded with mixed feelings, saying the show costs a lot of money to produce and "if it doesn't make the money back, then it ceases to exist" but on the other hand also enjoying the fact that many people "enjoy the show so much they can't wait to get their hands on it."[120] In 2015, Guinness World Records named Game of Thrones the most pirated television program.[121]
IMAX
Beginning January 23, 2015, the last two episodes of season four were shown in 205 IMAX theaters in the U.S. Game of Thrones is the first TV series released in this format.[122] The show earned $686,000 in its opening day at the box office[123] and $1.5 million during its opening weekend.[124] The one-week release grossed $1,896,092.[125]
Other media and products
Soundtrack
Main article: Music of Game of Thrones
The music for the series is composed by Ramin Djawadi. The first season's soundtrack, written in about ten weeks before the show's premiere,[126] was published by Varèse Sarabande in June 2011.[127] Soundtrack albums for the subsequent seasons have also been published, featuring tracks performed by the bands The National, The Hold Steady and Sigur Rós.
The series' instrumental title music has been covered numerous times.[128] Lyrics were added for the first time in 2014, when "Weird Al" Yankovic performed a parody version during the 66th Primetime Emmy Awardspresentation.[129] In 2015, FORTE added lyrics based on High Valyrian text for their operatic performance and music video, released in March.[130]
Accompanying material
Thronecast: The Official Guide to Game of Thrones, a series of podcasts presented by Geoff Lloyd and produced by Koink, was released on the Sky Atlantic website and the UK iTunes store. A new podcast was released after each episode, featuring analysis and cast interviews.[131] In 2014[132] and 2015,[133] HBO commissioned free albums of rap songs about the series, called Catch the Throne.
A companion book, Inside HBO's Game of Thrones by series writer Bryan Cogman (ISBN 978-1-4521-1010-3), was published on September 27, 2012. On 192 pages, illustrated with concept art and behind-the-scenes photographs, the book covers the creation of the series' first two seasons, as well as its principal characters and families.[134]
After the Thrones is a live talk show in which hosts Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan discuss episodes of the series. The show will air on the stand-alone streaming service HBO Now on the Monday following each episode of the show's sixth season.[135]
Merchandise and exhibition
HBO has issued licenses for a broad range of merchandise based on Game of Thrones. These include various games, replica weapons and armor, jewellery, bobblehead dolls by Funko, beer by Ommegang, and various items and apparel.[136] Top-end merchandise includes Ulysse Nardin wristwatches for $10,500[137] and resin replicas of the Iron Throne for $30,000.[138]
In 2013 and 2014, a traveling exhibition of costumes, props, armor and weapons from the series visited several major cities in Europe and the Americas.[139]
Video games
Main article: List of A Song of Ice and Fire video games
The series has also inspired other works, including four video games based on the TV series and novels. The strategy game Game of Thrones Ascent ties in particularly closely with the series, making characters and settings available to players as soon as they appear on air.[140]
Other works based on the series
See also: Works based on A Song of Ice and Fire
The fall 2012 ready-to-wear collection by the fashion brand Helmut Lang was inspired by Game of Thrones.[141][142] In March 2012, Wiley-Blackwell published Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper than the Sword (ISBN 978-1-118-16199-9). This entry in Blackwell's Pop Culture and Philosophy series, edited by Henry Jacoby and William Irwin, aims to highlight and discuss philosophical issues raised by the show and its source material.[143]
In 2013, Game of Thrones was notably parodied on the cover of Mad on April 30,[144] as well as by a web series, School of Thrones, which set the story in a high school whose students vie for the title of prom king and queen.[145] Two pornographic parodies of the series were also announced in 2013.[146] The "One World Symphony" company announced, in 2014, a musical production based on television series including Game of Thrones.[147] In 2015, the Under the Gun Theater of Chicago premiered Swarm of Spoilers, a parody show recapitulating the first four seasons of the TV series.[148]
As of 2015, Sony Entertainment and Ary News of Pakistan were reported to develop a series inspired by Game of Thrones. Titled Rani Mahal (Queen's Paradise), it is to be set in the real-world British India of 1857 and will focus on the story of Daenerys Targaryen, played by Sakshi Tanwar.[149]
Reception
Game of Thrones was highly anticipated by fans before its premiere.[150][151] It has since become a critical and commercial success. By 2014, according to The Guardian it had become "the biggest drama" and "the most talked about show" on television.[152]
Cultural influence
Although the series was dismissed or patronizingly reviewed by some critics prior to being aired on account of its genre trappings,[152] its subsequent success has been credited with an increased popularity of fantasy themes and mainstream acceptance of the fantasy fandom. "After this weekend", CNN.com wrote on the eve of the second season's premiere, "you may be hard pressed to find someone who isn't a fan of some form of epic fantasy". According to Ian Bogost, Game of Thrones continues a trend of successful screen adaptations, beginning with Peter Jackson's 2001 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and continuing with theHarry Potter films, that have established fantasy as a lucrative mass market genre and serve as "gateway drugs to fantasy fan culture".[153] The series' success in overcoming prejudices against fantasy was attributed by writers interviewed by The Guardian to a general longing for escapism in popular culture, the series' frequent use of female nudity, and its skill in balancing light-hearted and serious topics – dragons and politics – that allowed it to claim the sort of prestige enjoyed by conventional top-tier drama series.[152]
The series' popularity greatly boosted sales of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, soon republished as tie-in editions, which remained at the top of bestseller lists for months. The Daily Beast wrote that Game of Thrones was a particular favorite of many sitcom writers, and consequently the series has been referenced in many other TV series.[154] Together with other fantasy series, Game of Thrones has been deemed responsible for a substantial increase in purchases (and abandonments) of huskies and other wolf-like dogs.[155]
Game of Thrones has also been the basis of additions to the popular vocabulary. The first season's frequent scenes in which characters explain their motives or background while having sex with prostitutes gave rise to the term "sexposition" to describe the practice of providing exposition against a backdrop of sex and nudity.[156] "Dothraki", the name of the nomadic horsemen appearing in the series, was listed fourth in a list of words from television most used on the Internet, compiled in September 2012 by Global Language Monitor.[157] After the second season, the media began using "Game of Thrones" as a figure of speech or as a comparison for situations of intense conflict and deceit, e.g., the court battles about U.S. healthcare legislation,[158] the Syrian civil war[159] or power struggles in the Chinese government.[160]
Critical response
General
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Game of Thrones has received widespread critical acclaim, even though its frequent use of nudity and violence has garnered criticism. All seasons were listed on several yearly "best of" lists published by U.S. media, such as the Washington Post (2011), TIME (2011 and 2012) and The Hollywood Reporter(2012).[166][167][168] Seasons 2 through 5 obtained a Metacritic rating of 90 or more, which the website rates "universal acclaim". It has a 94.6% "Fresh" rating on average for all five seasons on Rotten Tomatoes, with the first season receiving 83%,[169] the second season receiving 97%,[170] the third season receiving 100%,[171] the fourth season receiving 96%[172] and the fifth season receiving 98%.[173] In 2013, the Writers Guild of America placed Game of Thrones in the fortieth place on the list of the 101 best-written TV series.[174]
The performances of the very large, predominantly British and Irish cast have been widely praised. American actor Peter Dinklage's "charming, morally ambiguous, and self-aware"[175] portrayal of Tyrion, which won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe award, among others, was particularly noted. "In many ways, "Game of Thrones" belongs to Dinklage", wrote Mary McNamara of the L.A. Times[176] even before, in season 2, the "scene-stealing actor's"[177]character became the series' most central figure.[177] Several critics highlighted the performances of the women[176] and child actors.[178] 14-year-old Maisie Williams, already noted in the first season for her debut performance as Arya Stark, received particular praise for her work opposite veteran actor Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) in season 2.[179]
Reviewing the first season, critics noted the high production values, the well-realized world and compelling characters.[180] Variety wrote "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."[181]
The second season was also very well received by critics. Entertainment Weekly praised the "vivid, vital, and just plain fun" storytelling,[182] and The Hollywood Reporter said the show made a "strong case for being one of TV's best series", its gravitas making it the only genre show dramatically comparable to shows such as Mad Men or Breaking Bad.[183] The New York Times published a mixed review, disapproving of the characters' lack of complexity and their confusing multitude, as well as the meandering plot.[184]
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The third season was very well received by critics. Metacritic gave the season a score of 91 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim".[163] On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 100% with an average score of 8.5 out of 10 based on 44 reviews.[171]
The fourth season was very well received by critics. Metacritic gave the season a score of 94 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, signifying "universal acclaim".[164] On Rotten Tomatoes, all episodes obtained 91% or more positive reviews. It has a 96% rating based on 50 reviews for the season as a whole.[172]
The fifth season was also very well received by critics. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 91 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[165] On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 98% with an average score of 8.8 out of 10 based on 56 reviews.[173]
Use of 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 against women it depicts, and for how it depicts these themes. The Atlantic called the series' "tendency to ramp up the sex, violence, and—especially—sexual violence" of the source material "the defining weakness" of the adaptation.[185]
The amount of sex and nudity in the series, especially in scenes that are incidental to the plot, was the focus of much of the criticism aimed at the series in its first and second season. Actor Stephen Dillane, who portrays Stannis Baratheon, likened the series' frequent explicit scenes to "German porn from the 1970s".[186] Charlie Anders wrote in io9 that while the first season was replete with light-hearted "sexposition", the second season appeared to focus on distasteful, exploitative and dehumanizing sex with little informational content.[187] According to the Washington Post's Anna Holmes, the nude scenes appeared to be aimed mainly at titillating heterosexual men, right down to the Brazilian waxes sported by the women in the series' faux-medieval setting, which made these scenes alienating to other viewers.[188] And in the Huffington Post, Maureen Ryan likewise noted that Game of Thrones mostly presented women naked, rather than men, and that the excess of "random boobage" undercut any aspirations the series might have to address the oppression of women in a feudal society.[189] Saturday Night Live parodied this aspect of the adaptation in a sketch portraying the series as retaining a thirteen-year-old boy as a consultant whose main concern was showing as many breasts per scene as possible.[187][190]
In the third season, which saw the character Theon Greyjoy tortured at length and eventually emasculated, the series was also criticized for its use of torture.[191] New York magazine called the scene "torture porn."[192] Madeleine Davies of the feminist publication Jezebel agreed, saying, "it's not uncommon that Game of Thrones gets accused of being torture porn — senseless, objectifying violence combined with senseless, objectifying sexual imagery." According to her, although the series' violence tended to serve a narrative purpose, the titillation and torture of Theon Greyjoy in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" was excessive.[193]
A scene in the fourth season's episode "Breaker of Chains" in which Jaime Lannister rapes his sister and former 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."[194] To Sonia Saraiya, writing in The A.V. Club, the series' choice to portray this sexual act and one between Daenerys 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".[195] The Times wrote that critics fear that "rape has become so pervasive in the drama that it is almost background noise: a routine and unshocking occurrence".[194] George R. R. Martin responded that rape and sexual violence are common in war, and that omitting them from the narrative would have undermined one of his novels' themes: that "the true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves."[194]
In the fifth season episode "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", Sansa Stark is raped by Ramsay Bolton. Most reviewers, including those from Vanity Fair, Salon, The Atlantic and The Daily Beast found the scene gratuitous and artistically unnecessary.[185][196][197][198] For example, Joanna Robinson, writing for Vanity Fair, said that the scene "undercuts all the agency that’s been growing in Sansa since the end of last season."[199] In contrast, Sara Stewart of The New York Post wondered why viewers were not similarly upset about the many background and minor characters who'd undergone similar or worse treatment.[200] 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,[201] and some viewers, including U.S. senatorClaire McCaskill, announced that they would stop watching the series.[202] Business Insider cites the negative response to this scene among the possible reasons for the significant drop in ratings between this episode and the next, from 6.2 million viewers to 5.4 million.[203]
Fandom
Main article: A Song of Ice and Fire fandom
The novel series A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV adaptation Game of Thrones have an exceptionally broad and active international fan base. In 2012, Vulture ranked the series' fandom as the most devoted in popular culture, ahead of Lady Gaga's, Justin Bieber's, Harry Potter's or Star Wars'.[204] Fans include political leaders such as U.S. President Barack Obama,[205][206] British Prime Minister David Cameron,[207] former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard,[208][209] and Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, who, in a 2013 speech, framed challenges of European politics in terms of quotes from Martin's novels.[210]
In 2013, BBC News wrote that "the passion and the extreme devotion of fans" had brought about a phenomenon unlike anything related to other popular TV series, manifesting itself in a very broad range of fan labor, such as fan fiction,[211] but also Game of Thrones-themed burlesque routines, or people naming their children after characters from the series:[212] "Arya" was the girl's name rising the fastest in popularity in the U.S. in 2012, from 711th to 413th position.[213] Writers cited by the BBC attributed this success to the rich detail, moral ambiguity, sexual explicitness and epic scale of the series and novels.[212]
As of 2013, about 58 percent of viewers were male and 42 percent were female, and the average male viewer was 41 years old.[214][215] According to the marketing director ofSBS, Game of Thrones has the highest fan engagement rate of any TV series known to her: 5.5% of the series' 2.9 million Facebook fans were talking online about the series in 2012, compared to 1.8% of the more than ten million fans of HBO's other fantasy series True Blood.[216]
Among the many fan sites dedicated to the TV and novel series, Vulture noted in particular Westeros.org and WinterIsComing.net (which provide news reports and discussion forums), ToweroftheHand.com (which organizes communal readings of the novels), and Podcastoficeandfire.com.[204] There are also many podcasts covering the series.[217]
Viewer numbers
The first season of Game of Thrones had an average of 2.5 million viewers for its first Sunday night screenings, and an average gross audience of 9.3 million viewers per episode including all repeats and on-demand viewings.[218] For its second season, Game of Thrones had an average gross audience of 11.6 million viewers.[219] The third season was watched by 14.2 million, making Game of Thrones the second most-viewed HBO series after The Sopranos.[220][221] In the fourth season, HBO said that its average gross audience of 18.4 million viewers, later adjusted to 18.6 million, had beaten The Sopranos for the record.[222][223]
The following graph shows viewer numbers for the first airings:
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