Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is the first adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise, a series of high fantasy novels by, the first of which is A Game of Thrones. The show 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 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. The second major arc 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 the Seven Kingdoms' northern border.
Game of Thrones attracted a record viewership on HBO and has a broad, active, and international fan base. Many critics and publications have named the show one of the greatest television series of all time. Critics have praised the series for its acting, complex characters, story, scope, and production values, although its frequent use of nudity and violence generated controversy. The final season received significant criticism 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.
Two prequel series, House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, premiered on HBO in 2022 and 2026, respectively.
Premise
Plot
Game of Thrones is roughly based on the storylines of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series by, set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the continent of Essos. The series follows several simultaneous plotlines. 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 actions of the exiled scion 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 ensemble cast 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 per episode, making them among the highest paid television performers.Eddard "Ned" Stark is the head of House Stark. His children with his wife, Catelyn, include: Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon who is the youngest. Ned supposedly has an illegitimate son, Jon Snow, who, along with his scholarly friend Samwell Tarly, serves in the Night's Watch under Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. The Wildlings living north of the Wall include Gilly and the warriors Tormund Giantsbane and Ygritte.
Others associated with House Stark include Ned's ward Theon Greyjoy, Ned's vassal Roose Bolton, and Roose's illegitimate son, Ramsay Snow. Robb accepts help from the healer Talisa Maegyr, while elsewhere, Arya befriends a blacksmith's apprentice and also King Robert's bastard Gendry and assassin Jaqen H'ghar. In the Stormlands, the tall warrior Brienne of Tarth is introduced to Catelyn.
In King's Landing, Ned's best friend, King Robert I Baratheon, shares a loveless political marriage with Cersei Lannister. Her younger twin brother, Ser Jaime, serves on the Kingsguard while their younger brother Tyrion is attended by his mistress Shae and mercenary Bronn. Cersei's father is Tywin, head of House Lannister and the richest man in Westeros. Cersei has two sons: Joffrey and Tommen. Joffrey is guarded by the scar-faced warrior Sandor "The Hound" Clegane.
The king's Small Council includes his treasurer, Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, and his spymaster, Varys. In Dragonstone, Robert's younger brother, Stannis, is advised by foreign priestess Melisandre and former smuggler Ser Davos Seaworth. The Tyrell family from the Reach is represented at court by Margaery. The High Sparrow is given power as a religious leader, while, in Dorne, the warrior Ellaria Sand seeks vengeance against the Lannisters.
Across the Narrow Sea in Pentos, siblings Viserys Targaryen and Daenerys Targaryen are in exile, with the former plotting to reclaim his father's throne. Daenerys is forced into marrying Khal Drogo, a leader of the nomadic Dothraki. Her retinue eventually comes to include the exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont, her aide Missandei, mercenary Daario Naharis, and elite soldier Grey Worm.
Themes
Both television critics and historians have praised the series for what was perceived as a sort of medieval realism. 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 said, "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 overlapping 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. In the series, political leaders have mostly been portrayed negatively, as they usually disregard the well-being of the common people and are guided in their decisions by selfish reasons. Few possible exceptions include Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister, who have shown concern about the populace. Still, their methods or commitment to the cause have been criticized. Martin explores the relationship between good and evil through the questions of redemption and character change. Unlike in many other fantasies, the series allows the audience to view different characters from their perspective.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 of 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, 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, including torture tropes.A principal inspiration for the novels is the English Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York, reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark. The scheming Cersei Lannister evokes Isabella, the "She-Wolf of France". She and her family, as portrayed in Maurice Druon's historical novel series, The Accursed Kings, were a main inspiration of Martin's. Other historical antecedents of series elements include: Hadrian's Wall, the Roman Empire and the legend of Atlantis, Damascus steel, Byzantine Greek fire, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age, the Mongol hordes, Ancient Egypt, the Hundred Years' War, and the Italian Renaissance. The series's popularity has been attributed, in part, to Martin's skill at fusing these elements into a credible version of alternate history.
Episodes
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. received multiple fantasy writing awards and nominations, including a World Fantasy Award and multiple Locus Awards, 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 fantasy 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, 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 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 already 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, 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 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. 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". 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.