You’ve watched all episodes of each season of Game of Thrones, but you’ve surely never heard of these amazing facts about the show.
The protagonist is Tyrion Lannister, statistics say
There isn’t a dramatic persona who can be seen in all the episodes of the Game of Thrones so far. There are some who went through one whole season, though. In Season One, we can see Cersei Lannister (played by Lena Headey) and King Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) in each episode, whereas Season Two and Season Five were dominated by Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage).
Some interested mathematicians took the trouble to scan the whole series of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire with a view of running down a character who is interconnected with other characters to a greatest extent. It turned out that Tyrion is the one who met the majority of the series’ characters; therefore, he ought to be the principal protagonist of the famed story.
The actor who wanted to do Jon Snow ended up as the baddie
We now know Iwan Rheon as the black-hearted Ramsay Snow Bolton, yet he could have been just the opposite.
As the Welshman explained in an interview with the Telegraph, he actually auditioned for Jon Snow and was one of the two at the last round. He lost to Kit Harington, as everybody knows, and finally landed as Ramsay. But the thing was, he wasn’t supposed to let on about who he was to portray, not until Season Four, so when asked he had to reply like, he was playing Boy – the arrangement that left him perturbed ever since the shooting started.
Martin played a cameo part but didn’t appear
When the pilot was filmed, George R.R. Martin stepped in for a cameo role with a Hitchcock touch – only he didn’t make it to the big screen. Fact is, the pilot was completely re-casted and re-filmed, with Catelyn Stark played by Michelle Fairley instead of Jennifer Ehle and with Emilia Clarke as Dany, Tamzin Merchant out of the picture. Since Martin appeared alongside Merchant, he also got cut out.
Discussing the episode in a web chat, the author said that he went out to Morocco for shooting. He was to perform as a guest at the wedding of Dany and Khal Drogo, a Pentoshi blueblood. But, as Dany was re-cast, the whole scene had to go and his character was scratched – though he referred to it as “my brilliant cameo.”
Little babies get named Khaleesi
If we get down to it, Khaleesi is not a name, but a title – namely, “queen” in the Dothraki language. Anyway, many people took it for a name or thought it made a good name. The Social Security Administration’s statistics reveal that in 2013 it was 1,021st on the list of most popular names; in the following year, Khaleesi rose to the 755th place, showing a distinctive boost. Don’t be surprised if a girl you meet may be called Khaleesi.
King Joffrey is the series’ Caligula
The obnoxious King Joffrey Baratheon, competing with Ramsay for the title of the most repugnant character, is reported to have been inspired by the Roman emperor Caligula, notorious for his tyranny, wickedness, and sexually abnormal practices. His name in Latin means “a little shoe.” Joffrey was marked to resemble Caligula in appearance.
Sophie Turner took her direwolf for her own
Sansa Stark was close with her companion animal direwolf Lady, and the tale repeated itself with Sophie Turner and her Lady “actress” Zunni from Season One. Now Zunni resides with the British actress and her family. Speaking with the Coventry Telegraph, the newspaper of the actress’s native town, Turner revealed she had always wanted to have a dog, but the wish didn’t meet with her parents’ agreement. Yet when Turner began working with Zunni, the family took an instant liking to her. Then Lady died, and Zunni had to go somewhere. The actress’s mother agreed for them to adopt the dog.
Season Six episodes cost $10 million and more
When filming an epic like Game of Thrones, lots of money get burned in the process, as can be seen on each season, but on the current season most of all. As reported by Entertainment Weekly last month, the series’s budget climbs up, by Season Six reaching the mark of over $10 million for each episode — with HBO seemingly never minding the expenses.
It wasn’t always this way; at the start, the costs ran to about half the sum. For instance, in Season Two, a very special from the price tag viewpoint episode with the Battle of the Blackwater amounted to $8 million only because the showrunners asked for $2 million more from HBO to do the battle. The show has gradually been becoming more grandiose and costly since then. The previous season required over 150 sets, 166 actors with more than 5,000 extras, and 1,000 plus crew members. It took 240 days’ filming in 5 countries. You can imagine the expenditure.
Jon Snow’s fate could have led to David Benioff’s divorce
One of the Game of Thrones co-creators and showrunners was David Benioff, author of acclaimed books (25th Hour, City of Thieves) and screenplays (Troy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and others). His wife, American actress Amanda Peet, stated that if Benioff dares to kill off Jon Snow, she will divorce him. While Jon’s fate is still uncertain (Martin being devious on the point), Benioff’s marriage will hopefully survive.
Cersei’s penance scene was not played by Lena Headey
For Cersei Lannister Season Five brought a penance: she had to take a shameful walk through King’s Landing in her birthday suit. Lena Headey who portrayed Cersei opted to bring in a double, so the walk was actually done by Rebecca Van Cleave.
Discussing the scene with Entertainment Weekly, Headey revealed that she had been berated by a number of fans for resorting to a double. Yet, according to the actress, she had already been shot nude, and that was not what stopped her from filming the scene. Her approach to acting lies in being emotional and vulnerable, and the situation would have affected her differently than she believed Cersei would have been. She didn’t want Cersei to manifest anger or other feelings not intrinsic to the character.
With or without contact lenses
Where contacts were really needful is for Maisie Williams who portrayed blind Arya Stark/No One in Braavos for Seasons Five and Six. The New York Times reported Williams saying that she had many close-ups for which she had to wear opaque – and painful – contact lenses that made her virtually blind. When she participated in fight scenes, she had on other contact lenses that allowed her to see what was going on.
But Emilia Clarke played Daenerys Targaryen without lenses. Although her character originally had purple eyes, it turned out that wearing purple-colored lenses interfered with Clarke’s performance. Therefore, the lenses had to go.
