Game of Thrones‘ premiere episode on April 17, 2011, was visually stunning and wildly intriguing—and it wasn’t the original $10 million pilot that was shot to suck you into the world of Westeros.

Actor-filmmaker Tom McCarthyHe was the former director of Dinklage The Station AgentAnd was named the Best Picture Oscar Winner in 2016 SpotlightHe was integral in the GOT casting process and helmed that 1. first episode.

Ironically, it felt like a lot. Too contained. Hibberd was told by Lombardo that there were doubts about whether the wide shots were sufficient. Lombardo stated that there were concerns about the absence of an epic scope. “I recall the quote being, ‘We could’ have shot this in Burbank.

Continue reading Craig MazinAnd John August‘s podcast ScriptnotesWeiss in 2016 described the “most painful experience of my life” as watching his friends’ reactions to screening the pilot.

Benioff noted that no one seemed to have caught on that amorous twins Jaime and Cersei Lannister were brother and sister—”a major, major plot point that we had somehow failed to establish.”

They credit the co-president of then-HBO Richard PleplerWith the ability to see beyond what is there and towards what might be. He placed orders for 10 episodes and a pilot. Filming began in July 2010.

After watching the version that made it to HBO—directed by Tim Van Patten, with McCarthy credited as a consulting producer—at the series’ big premiere, Mazin remembered telling Weiss and Benioff afterward, “‘That’s the biggest rescue in Hollywood history.'”

It Chernobyl writer continued, “Because it wasn’t just that they had saved something bad and turned it really good. It was a piece of genius that you had turned into shit. This never happens!”

McCarthy was not able to go into great detail but did tell ABC News that when they came back to “reshoot, rework the pilot”, he was still working on his 2011 film You can winThey wouldn’t go. “And,” he stated, “And.”[GOT]”It was tremendously successful even without me.”