Plenty here for Game of Thrones fans to enjoy.
As we wait for the new season, fans of the show can find solace in the fact that plenty of little anecdotes and Game of Thrones secrets are being released ahead of the big finale.
With Season 8 now in post-production, the world's most beloved show is coming to an end and on that note, JOE was invited to
Winterfell Festival on a weekend in September to meet some of the cast and crew.
We got to chat with Mark Addy (Robert Baratheon), Ian McElhinney (Ser Barristan Selmy) and a host of people that worked behind the scenes on the fantasy epic.
If you're a Game of Thrones fanatic, you'll find some of these behind the scenes Game of Thrones secrets, stories and anecdotes quite interesting
1. Varys very nearly wasn't Varys
Mark Addy (Robert Baratheon) said that he had a feeling Conleth Hill (Varys) originally auditioned for the role of King Robert.
2. Parts of the pilot are still there
Only 20% of the original pilot, filmed in 2009 by Spotlight director Tom McCarthy, made it into the final version. You can read
more about that pilot here.
3. Winter is coming...so is fun!
After doing their scenes, Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark) used to have sword fights on the set because they were so excited to actually get to play with weapons!
4. An iconic scene could have been very different
During the famous scene where everyone kneels down to meet King Robert as he enters the Winterfell courtyard, Addy said that Sean Bean had a pocket sewn in to his costume to help him store his keys, smokes etc.
During the first take of that scene, Bean forgot that he had filled his pockets with chocolates and sweets. When Ned Stark bends down to meet the King, loads of Kit Kats fell out of his pocket. Sadly, it didn't make the cut.
5. A dark horse for Season 8
Regarding the end of the show, Ian McElhinney (Ser Barristan Selmy) feels that Bran is going to be very significant. "One option is that the whole place will be destroyed by dragons - the nuclear option - but I think it's not going to be as obvious as Jon/Daenerys on the throne," he told us.
"The logic says that the whole show really did start with Bran. He'll be significant because he has those incredible powers. I'd say, watch what happens to Bran."
6. The North Remembers
Boyd Rankin, the armourer on the show, said that Ned Stark's sword Ice was the sword that took the longest to make. He also confirmed that Maisie Williams took one of the replica 'Needle' swords when she finished filming.
7. Ours is the Fury
Addy said that he'd love to see Robert Baratheon return in some way and if so, he'd love to play him again. Perhaps a spinoff, or a vision from Bran?
8. Prepare for your jaw to hit the floor
The Battle of the Bastards will be topped in Season 8, McElhinney told us.
9. He drinks and he knows things
Mark Addy wants to see Tyrion on the Iron Throne at the end of the show because he thinks he'd do the best job. He also feels that it won't be Jon Snow or Daenerys because they're too obvious.
10. The pointy end
Any time you see a character on a horse in the show, if they're carrying a sword, it's completely fake. The actors aren't allowed have a real life weapon near a horse, just in case it fell. In fact, during those scenes on horseback, the swords are so flexible that they can be rolled up, just like a roll of toilet paper.
11. "The things I do for love"
The window that Jaime Lannister throws Bran out of in the very first episode was actually added via CGI. The tower itself is real - and was actually used for filming - but the window was too narrow and it had to be digitally inserted.
12. Ramsay's last laugh
Ian Beattie (Ser Meryn) thinks the most significant line in Game of Thrones belongs to Ramsay Bolton when he said: "If you think this story has a happy ending, you weren't paying attention."
13. "When you play the game of thrones, you win or die."
Addy believes that what makes Game of Thrones unique to other fantasy shows is the the female characters because "they're stronger than the men in most ways".
14. Cersei rules
While their marriage in the show was horrific, Addy couldn't be a bigger fan of Lena Headey (Cersei).
"She's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Cersei isn't a very pleasant woman but Lena is. She's absolutely hilarious and and an absolute sweetheart - as is Jack Gleeson, who plays Joffrey. That's how good they are, that people around the world universally hate them!," he said.
15. Great warrior, terrible king
King Robert was quick to remind us that we never actually see him sitting on the Iron Throne. A point that's easy to forget.
16. "A hall to die in and men to bury me"
McElhinney said that the scene where he stands down as a Kingsguard and openly slates Joffrey was his favourite one to film.
"It was the most satisfying scene that I had to shoot and to be honest, I would have liked more of that. I think that if I had survived longer, I would have had more of that type of stuff. That memory definitely stands out. The fight sequence in Mereen also stands out - just as an exercise it was fun to do."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OaMvxVHFs4
Clip via Nineteen1900Hundred
17. A beautiful death
Ian Beattie (Ser Meryn) absolutely loved the fact that his grisly death was the
most expensive one in the show's history.
18. Cersei rules (part two)
Cersei is also Beattie's favourite character but he think she's not invulnerable. Beattie reckons that Arya will kill her; his second choice is Jaime.
19. Lord (there's no) Snow.
The producers once spent close to a million quid on artificial snow because they needed that look for a particular scene and the elements weren't helping. A week later, it started to snow.
20. Farewell, Barristan the Bold.
McElhinney has mixed feelings about Ser Barristan being killed off in the show but if the opportunity arises, he would play the character again.
"You have to accept that at some point when you do Game of Thrones, you will die," he said.
"The fact of being out of it is not a problem. The problem to me is because I read the books, I had expectations of not being out of it at that point. That was my disappointment. If I had got to the end of the season and something had happened, I wouldn't have had a problem with that. The problem was that season was only getting up and running and I was already dead.
"I think the character had so much more to offer and I think with regards to George's take on the character, I think that there's a bigger story to be developed. It's the fact that I knew there was something I was missing out on because they chose to terminate him at that point, that's what disappointed me," he said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Gzy6QSJ2g
Clip via Ice & Fire Reviews
21. A return for the best swordsmen and most honourable man in the whole of the Seven Kingdoms?
Regarding the potential for Ser Barristan to appear again, he said: "A Barristan story. Who knows? The point is this. A lot of actors say that 'I really want to play him/her, X and Y'. But from my own point of view, I don't spend an awful lot of time worrying about what I'd like to play or thinking if Ser Barristan will come back. If it happens to be that (a spinoff) then I won't thumb my nose at it, but right now, I'm just thinking who out there will offer me work and does it appeal to me."
22. "Gods! I was strong then!"
When he auditioned for the role, Addy was given a brief character description which said: "Robert Baratheon, once a fearsome warrior. He has now grown fat, drunk, and lazy!"
23. As for King Robert's death, the producers toyed with the idea of training a wild boar to kill him on screen.
24. An inevitable death
Ian Beattie (Ser Meryn) believes that his character will meet his doom in the books. "Meryn Trant is not a character that George Martin will let live."
25. House Targaryen
Fans will notice that in Season 7, Jon Snow echoed something that Ser Barristan told Daenerys about her brother, Rhaegar. As you can see in the scene below, we're told that "Rhaegar never liked killing, he loved singing."
In the most recent season, Daenerys tells Jon: "We all enjoy what we're good at," to which he replies: "I don't."
McElhinney said that he didn't pick up on this foreshadowing. "I saw very little of Season 7," he said.
"I saw the last two episode so I'm up to speed, but I didn't follow it religiously. At some point, I'll enjoy sitting down and watching it."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7QWRPw0eFA
Clip via Kristina R
26. A theory debunked
Addy debunked the theory that King Robert had somehow 'marked the Starks' for death during the scene where the Lannisters/Baratheons meet the Starks at Winterfell.
There's more about that theory here.
27. The Seven Kingdoms will not include the U.S.
There's a reason why you don't see an awful lot of American actors on the show.
"The US is only a couple of hundred years old, it always jars with me when you see actors in period films," said Addy.
"The producers cast me, Sean Bean and Lena pretty early - we all have strong Yorkshire accents. Maybe that sort of just came to be known as the Game of Thrones accent! Which is great for me and every other English and Irish actor that worked on the show."
28. A royal pain in the arse
McElhinney said that while those scenes on horseback look great on TV, they're actually a pain in the arse to film... literally. The actor said he frequently got friction burn on his behind.
29.The King is dead, long live the King!
Want to know Mark Addy's favourite line of Robert Baratheon? Here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11HsYHm1fsI
Clip via gewton
