The Making of the Game of Thrones Pilot was a Sh*t Show

Making high fantasy television is hard. Let’s talk about how difficult it was to make the pilot of Game of Thrones, from the showrunners producing a terrible first episode to recasting the iconic Daenerys Targaryen.

In the entertainment world, there are millions of dollars on the line and troubled productions are bound to happen. And we are going to talk about these disastrous, never ending, and sometimes dangerous productions. From the creators of WTF Happened To This Movie?, Sh*t Show is a video essay/documentary/podcast series looking at some of your favorite films and tv shows, and why they were such a nightmare to make.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:23 - George R.R. Martin’s History in Hollywood
02:49 - Adapting A Song of Ice and Fire into a TV Series
03:51 - Dan Weiss & David Benioff Meet George R.R. Martin
04:54 - HBO Ushers in a New Golden Age of Television
06:43 - Pitching Game of Thrones to HBO
08:00 - Writing the Pilot for Game of Thrones
08:52 - Casting Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean & the Children
10:33 - Filming the Doomed Pilot
12:08 - The Pilot Fails on All Levels
14:03 - Coming Clean with HBO
14:57 - Fixing All the Mistakes
17:00 - Game of Thrones Debuts April 17, 2011
17:55 - A Worldwide Phenomenon

Sources:

Featured Footage:
24 (2001–2010)
25th Hour (2002)
Altered Carbon (2018–2020)
Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009)
Baywatch (1989–2001)
Beauty and the Beast (1987–1990)
Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000)
Breaking Bad (2008–2013)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
The Crown (2016– )
Dawson's Creek (1998–2003)
Deadwood (2004–2006)
Dexter (2006– )
ER (1994–2009)
Friends (1994–2004)
The Golden Compass (2007)
GoldenEye (1995)
Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and special features
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1999)
The King's Speech (2010)
The Kite Runner (2007)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Lost (2004–2010)
Mad Men (2007–2015)
Marco Polo (2014–2016)
Max Headroom (1987–1988)
NYPD Blue (1993–2005)
The Pacific (2010)
Parks and Recreation (2009–2020)
Rome (2005–2007)
Six Feet Under (2001–2005)
The Sopranos (1999–2007)
South Park (1997– )
Spotlight (2015) and special features
The Station Agent (2003)
Troy (2004)
The Tudors (2007–2010)
The Twilight Zone (1985–1989)
WandaVision (2021)
Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

Music:
The Hold Steady - The Bear and the Maiden Fair
Julien Hauspie - South Park / Game of Thrones (Wiener song mash-up)
Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones (Original Soundtrack)

#itwasashtshow #gameofthrones #houseofthedragon

[J-Vasa]

To anyone saying about 24 and lost. There is a fricking pause in the middle of the sentence, showing they are giving examples of content studios made in reaction to. Its not saying this happened then this. They aren’t saying 24 and lost was a response to mad men and breaking bad, its saying the studios were forced to react to the same things. That being the writers feeling unchained with relaxed rules and no censorship.

[ibs_haver]

The saddest part is that it sounds like they were genuinely passionate about the series when starting, and loved the books. By Season 7 they just wanted to get it over with in pursuit of some doomed Star Wars gig.

[VampireNewl]

Wow they actually admitted they screwed up on the pilot, where did that humility go?

[paul-michaelvincent]

Hard to believe it’s been 14 years since they first sat down with grrm and he still hasn’t written the damn books.

[TKainZero]

Ned getting his head taken off in the first season was one of the most jaw dropping moments in TV history. All of the characters in the show were bad people, but there was one dude who was good. Then, boom, he is dead. The whole time up until the last second you are thinking “he is going to get out of this right?”

Only the red wedding was more shocking, but by the time you got to that point, you expected the unexpected.

[aadesh]

The first 4 seasons were phenomenal. 5-6 you could start to see it fall a bit. And 7-8 were just made for wrapping it up

[crumbb_m]

So it sucked at the beginning and at the end. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

[kayamerrick]

Emilia: “Best season ever” … how can you not love her 😂

[dman]

This series made history without a doubt, and they blew it in the end without a doubt, we still had a great journey despite the bad ending

[reyco]

The super cut of Sean Bean dying was hilarious and hilariously true.

[mattipiirainen]

"...was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that's never going to come by again, and we f***ed it up." -David Benioff. That about sums it up. Thx, both of you.

[taylorgayhart]

“Dan and Dave spent two years writing the pilot and mapping out the first season…” and then spent 2 months writing every subsequent season. I now understand the decline in quality.

[BlazingOwnager]

"They were immediately confused and scrambling on a daily basis, out of their depth."

Nice to see they ended where they began then

[Black_pearl_adrift]

I'm just shocked at how they got so many excellent actors so early on

[Grivian]

I just rewatched the actual pilot for the first time in many years and I have to say that it is simply amazing. It contains more excitement, information and intrigue than the entire season 8

[justinhamilton]

Fun fact there are a few scenes reused from the unaired pilot. Every time Ned has a different slicked back hair (crypts scene, Jaime scene, Benjen scene), every time Theon is blonde (going for hunting scene), and Tyrion’s brothel scene, are all scenes from the pilot

[rebeccacrouse]

I agree with G.R.R.M and the writer's; if Dinkledge didn't take the script, it would have been a futile effort. No one could have played him better

[samuraijim]

The key with the pilot was that they nailed the opening 15 minutes perfectly. The prologue ranging beyond the wall and the introduction of the Starks with Ned executing the deserter.

[mickael]

I predict that there will never be a "water cooler" show like this ever again.(although I wouldn't mind being wrong) I think the market is too saturated with great shows currently and that means the potential audience will be splintered into smaller groups, some that are waiting to binge watch the stream, and others that are watching 3 or 4 shows at the same time at their leisure whenever they get the chance.
I remember HBO Go (at the time) crashing EVERY SINGLE Sunday night when the new episode of GoT's premiered. We had to watch some episodes at 2 in the morning and even then it would crash in the middle of it, but we HAD to persevere to be in the loop on Monday morning.

[mr.noride]

I always wondered why Ned had a different haircut in some of the scenes of the first episode, now I know why. There’s was also a scene where the Hound is sitting next to Tyrion with black hair instead of brown.