Game of Thrones took the world by storm and it went on to win the most Emmys for a drama of all time, but the show we know and love looked very different when the pilot was pitched to HBO executives.
In an excerpt from EW editor James Hibberd’s Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of the Epic Series, which is set to be released on October 6, the cast and crew revealed some behind the scenes secrets including how the plot was an epic fail.
They spoke about how everything from the actors’ hairstyle to the actor and major scenes had to be reconsidered.
Some of the biggest changes mentioned included Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Khal Drogo’s (Jason Momoa) wedding scene with Tamzin Merchant originally playing the role of Daenerys and that Daenerys jumped a fire on a horse. The couple also consummated the marriage by a brook in the original take.
Perhaps the biggest change was that Rickon Stark was almost not part of the series, “The biggest thing was Dan and David called me up and had the idea of eliminating Rickon, the youngest of the Stark children, because he didn’t do much in the first book. I said I had important plans for him, so they kept him,” George R.R. Martin revealed.
In the end, the show got the green light from HBO and the pilot had to be reshot, even though a lot of money and time was lost during filming.
