Before the cameras start rolling several things happen on set. The crew set up the equipment while the actors get into character through costume changes and makeup. Several more things happen in between, including the crew just being regular folk and mingling with each other.
Now that Game of Thrones is over, and we are waiting for possible spin-offs, we can take an in-depth peek behind the curtains. Most of the cast and crew members have already spilled the tea about a couple of moments they can’t forget from their eight years on the GoT set. Let’s take a walk down memory lane to revisit some of the GoT crew’s moments behind the scenes.
A Smooth Transition Between Characters
Cersei Lannister had a reputation for being ruthless to a fault on GoT and she was the kind of person who made more enemies than friends. We can thank Lena Headey for the exceptional job she did at bringing Cersei to life. From what we now gather, it might have just been an extension of her own character.
It’s safe to say that whether recording or not, it was a good idea to steer clear of Headey if she was in a foul mood. She didn’t particularly like wearing the excessive amounts of makeup and accessories needed to transform her into Cersei. The payoff was that she pulled off the part flawlessly while filming.
Pranks That Run Cold
Jon Snow ranks high on the list of the show’s most beloved characters. Snow took himself too seriously because he essentially carried the weight of the North’s fate. Behind the scenes, Kit Harington strayed a bit from Snow’s character and he was known for playing pranks on set.
The pranks got old at some point and Leslie Rose, his co-star, almost stopped talking to him entirely because of a nasty prank he played on her. Harington once stashed a prop of his head in the fridge and Rose was the unlucky person who discovered it.
Ringing Alarm Bells For The Producers
Harington didn’t draw the line at just pranking his co-stars, he also went for the producers. To put things into perspective, actors have to maintain their appearance despite filming different scenes at different times or days.
Harington decided to pull a fast one on producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss by sending them a photo of himself with a clean-shaven head. Lawyers even got involved only for it to turn out that Harington had just sent an old photo of himself as a joke.
The Night King Is Quite The Gentleman
The Night King is best described as Game of Thrones’ very own villainous Thanos. We tip our hats to the prosthetics team who made him realistically scary, and we are thankful that he’s just a character who is dead and buried in the show.
Richard Brake is the man behind the prosthetics who portrayed the Night King. Brake has been described as an overall great guy, and several behind-the-scenes photos support the notion. There’s a photo of him holding up an umbrella to shield Isaac Hempstead, who played the part of Bran Stark, from the elements in between filming.
How The Pros Warm-Up
Jamie Lannister is another character we all loved because despite being conflicted emotionally, he always stood for what’s right. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is the man behind the character we saw on the show and he had a unique way of preparing to deliver his lines.
Part of his routine that helped him get into character involved performing some lip stretches. Lena Headey even posted a video on her Instagram account showing him warming up. He might look funny doing this but thanks to the exercises he never had a slip of the tongue on the show.
A Sticky Situation
If there’s one thing we can say about GoT in general, it's the fact that the show never shied away from gruesome and gore-filled scenes. The show unleashed upon viewers tons of battles, scenes of beheadings, and other such torturous moments.
Emilia Clarke wasn’t spared either and she was involved in a couple of gory scenes. After one such scene that left her character, Daenerys drenched in fake blood, she found herself in a rather sticky situation. Clarke had to use the restroom following the scene and unfortunately, the sticky stuff left her glued to the john!
Sword Fights Behind The Scenes
The GoT set must have been the perfect playground with all the cool props used while filming. Take the swords for instance, we all know someone who would have loved to play around with them. That’s precisely what the boys did in between takes.
Once they were done filming the scenes with swords, Kit Harrington, Richard Madden (Robb Stark), and Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy) could never resist continuing the fight. They would get together to engage in sword fights just because it was so much fun.
Swords Make Great Souvenirs
The swords used in GoT had special names and this was a crucial element used to drive the story at certain points. The show sourced their swords from the India-based company Windlass Steelcrafts. Ned Stark’s sword, aptly called Ice took the longest time to craft.
Maisie Williams’ character, Arya Stark, also wielded a sword called Needle. Williams developed a connection to the prop so much that she couldn’t resist taking one of the replicas home as a souvenir.
An Emotional Goodbye
Eight years is a pretty long time for a show to stay on the air, and it’s an accomplishment few shows achieve nowadays. After eight seasons, the show aired its final episode in May 2019. The cast and crew members had practically become family during the show’s run and it was understandably an emotional moment for them.
Videos surfaced online showing how the final read-through of the script went. A couple of tears were shed and in fact, we believe it’s amongst the best clips we’ve seen related to the show. We hope there’ll be another globally-popular show that will knock us off our feet like GoT.