Westeros

There are two distinct eras in the history of modern television: pre–Game of Thrones and post–Game of Thrones. Not only did Thrones reinvigorate fantasy as a mainstream television genre,
but the scope of its production resulted in an onscreen world that looked, sounded, and felt like a real place. Now, for the first time, the building blocks of that reality are available for public view and will shortly become
available for purchase by private collectors through Heritage Auctions’ HBO© Game of Thrones: The Auction.

At the September 16th press preview at Heritage Auctions’ New York location, Production coordinator Michelle Burns, Prop Master Chris Moore, and Wardrobe Mistress Donna Hughes were present to discuss their body of work before it’s scattered across private collections. All three were Thrones lifers, having been with the show from the unaired pilot to the series finale, a feat which fewer than 50 people can boast. Their work continued with the creation of the HBO Archive and the eventual curation of the auction collection.

“In 2018, HBO approached us to set up the HBO Archive and the first project was Game of Thrones,” said Moore. “We entered an 80,000 square foot warehouse with sealed crates floor to ceiling high, full of bodies, horses, carts, you name it. Armor. We’ve spent the past five years navigating our way through to the end, which you can see on the walls here.”

Those walls, festooned with house banners, shields, prop weapons, and more from all seasons of the show, set the visual history of Game of Thrones production on display in a way the public has never been able to access until now. In one section of hanging banners, Moore pointed out the difference between a House Lannister banner from Season 1, screen printed on a shiny red fabric with a thicker, plastic-looking fringe and a House Stark banner from Season 6, which had a thick tapestry texture, era-appropriate aging, and was visibly created with more authentic techniques.

Lannister and Stark banners from different seasons, created using different techniques.

As they have teased, fan site Winter is Coming had the opportunity to interview GRRM during the Glasgow Worldcon. Although discussion of HBO’s shows and The Winds of Winter were off the table, the latter got a passing reference initiated by George himself. More generally, however, the interview—conducted by Daniel Roman, and also including comments from Raya Golden, the artist behind the Hugo nominated The Meathouse Man and the Locus shortlisted Voyaging Part 1 is a fun and interesting discussion of George’s history in fandom, his friendship with the late Gardner Dozois, and more.

Touching on a subject very near and dear to our hearts, the House of the Dragon official podcast, hosted by Jason Concepcion and Greta Johnsen, has invited show runner Ryan Condal to answer a number of questions about adapting Fire and Blood to the screen. A lot of big topics are spoken of, including Nettles, Damon’s time in Harrenhal, Aegon’s prophetic dream, and more… and at the end, a discussion of George R.R. Martin’s role as an executive producer on the project which, I think, lays out a sense of how much role GRRM actually has at this stage in the production.

Interestingly, this is a surprise episode—two weeks ago, they announced that they’d have a final episode about now… but that one has been pushed into the future because, according to the hosts, they had so many fan questions sent to them after the finale about adaptation choices that they thought it was worth an added podcast. Things have been fairly quiet in the month since the show ended, though we suppose GRRM indicating issues with the season and making clear that he felt a lot has gone wrong on the show. NOTE: There are spoilers, not just for Fire and Blood, but GRRM reveals details about current plans for season 3.

But then, he has begun his promised post (archive link) about Blood and Cheese, and the butterfly effect it causes, and seems like he’ll go further in explaining his problems with the season.

ETA: An update, as HBO has issued a response via a spokesperson:

Via The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast (hosted by House of the Dragon‘s Ryan Condal and Veep‘s Dave Mandel), huge news as it seems WBD has decided to let go of a great part of their Game of Thrones prop and costume holdings. This is very unexpected, to say the least. Here’s Mandel with a reveal video:

Full details can be found at Heritage Auctions. There will be preview dates both in London and in Los Angeles.