Westeros

Two weeks left for the premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones, and another behind the scenes video has appeared on HBO’s official Youtube channel of the series. This time, the focus is on the often-spectacular visual effects of the series:

The first episode premieres April 14th.

The incredible proliferation of collaborations with famous brands for the final season of Game of Thrones is breathtaking, quite unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Everything from high-end men’s fashion to limited edition sneakers to cookies, and much, much more. Now a famous soft drink joins the party:

Called “A Can with No Name”, this branding takes its inspiration from Arya Stark and the Faceless Men of Braavos. As the video shows, initially the can looks almost pure white… but once chilled, Arya’s list of names appears.

These cans won’t be available just anywhere, however. Read below for how to get a hold of one:

HBO has just announced that on May 26th—the week after the airing of the final episode of Game of Thrones—a two hour documentary by filmmaker Jeanie Finaly covering the filming of the final season.

You can read the press release below:

Another week, another look behind the scenes of Game of Thrones. This time, camera operate Sean Savage discusses his time behind the camera for all eight seasons of the show:

HBO has released the official poster for the final season of Game of Thrones:

Featuring a design mashing up the Iron Throne with Drogon’s glowing eyes looks almost like the dragon’s wearing a crown, doesn’t it?

The continuing collaboration of Game of Thrones with a wide variety of creators and brands continues with today’s announcement of a Game of Thrones capsule collectiom from men’s fashion designer John Varvatos. Some of the pieces in the 11-piece collection are featured in this video below, released today to promote the collection:

For more information about the collection, read below for the press release with quotes from Varvatos and information about where and when the collection will be available.

Fans have been wondering whether Game of Thrones, its final season just around the corner, will release art and photography books along the lines of those seen for The Lord of the Rings. Well, they need wonder no longer thanks to Insight Editions which is publishing not one, not two, but four separate books delving into all manner of aspects of the show’s production. And all of them can be pre-ordered now on Amazon. Here’s a rundown:

• Game of Thrones: The Storyboards - Due Summer 2019, this 320 page art book contains storyboards from artist William Simpson, who’s worked on the show from the beginning.
• The Photography of Game of Thrones - Another 320 page book, this one due November 2019, collecting Helen Sloan’s extensive photography across all the seasons of the show.
• The Art of Game of Thrones - 320 pages, due October 2019, devoted to production art for the series. This would include things like matte paintings, character and location designs, and more.
• Game of Thrones: The Costumes - The shortest of the books, listed at 224 pages due November 2019, this will undoubtedly present photographs and design sketches of Michelle Clapton’s award-winning costumes on the show.

HBO has released a video from behind the scenes, focused on the award-winning work of the makeup and prosthetic team on Game of Thrones. A lot of close looks at White Walkers, children and the forest, and more:

And on the same day, EW released a pictorial focused on the weapons of the TV shows, with comments from Tommy Dunne, the weapons master on the show who oversaw the armoury that produced the weapons seen in the series.

The recent announcement that long-time HBO head Richard Plepler was leaving the company following word that the recent merger of AT&T and Time Warner meant some significant reorganization caused something of a stir. The rumors that Bob Greenblatt, formerly head of NBC, would come over to take over have panned out,  with HBO and Turner now being folded into a new entity, WarnerMedia.

This has led to fans of Game of Thrones and HBO in general wondering what the future holds. Greenblatt has provided some interviews, and one in particular to The Wrap touches directly on the topic of the potential of a Game of Thrones franchise. The headline that goes with this might seem alarming—“New HBO Boss Bob Greenblatt Doesn’t Know if Doing 2 ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoffs Is Feasible â`“ Let Alone One”—but reading the actual quotes suggest that it’s overstating Greenblatt’s remarks.

Hot on the heels of EW‘s reveal of their dedicated special issue for the final season of Game of Thrones, HBO has upped it all a notch with the first official trailer. See it below:

EW has begun the onslaught of Game of Thrones promotion with a bang, unleashing a special issue with sixteen different covers—pairing pretty well with the twenty official photos HBO released over the weekend.

The special issue, their largest yet at 78 pages, features a lot of behind-the-scenes details about filming of the final season. As a taste, EW has a lengthy set report filled with anecdotes, veiled hints, quotes, and more. Here’s a teaser:

This is a pleasant surprise: publisher Devolver Digital has announced that developer Nerial has updated the diverting Reigns: Game of Thrones with over 100 new cards which include a “disasterous” trip to Casterly Rock.

These cards add more emphasis on the Lannisters and the westerlands, which is quite interesting because it might suggest there might well be more updates planned centered around houses, regions, or perhaps even organizations. The game is available on iTunes App Store, Google Play Store, and on Steam. For more about the game, see our post where Linda and I livestreamed some gameplay and answered some questions from viewers.

Yes, finally, a video about Fire and Blood ... and it’s about a topic that, I suspect, was not an obvious one to talk about for most. But for me, this particular detail is potentially the single biggest piece of world-building in the entirety of the text. And it’s all because of A Caution for Young Girls.

If you already know the gist of what the Caution is, and what manuscript culture is, jump to the 14 minute mark where I attempt to pull all the pieces together to explain why I think this is such a noteworthy expansion of our understanding of the setting. Also, as noted, the second segment had a recording issue and so I had to use a secondary audio source which doesn’t sound as nice as the rest; apologies about that!

According to a report from Deadline, the SyFy/Netflix production of Nightflyers, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s award-winning science fiction-horror novella, has come to an end after a single season.

Per Deadline, this seems quite final—it’s unlikely to see any last-minute saves by Netflix or some other streamer or network picking it up:

The Unseen Westeros art exhibit was a great success in Berlin, and the media who visited it during its run are still producing content. While the one we’re embedding below is mostly in German, it gives a great view of the ambiance of the location and artworks, and also happens to feature me providing some commentary starting at the 6:50 mark:

There are still some limited supplies of the art book and art prints, for those interested