Game of Thrones Pilot Starks

Apparently Game of Thrones wasn’t always as amazing as it is now.

Although Thrones is now arguably one of the most popular TV shows ever, its creators have confessed that it started out as ‘complete shit’.

Hard to believe, but according to The Independent showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff were incredibly disappointed when they watched their pilot, saying that it ‘sucked’.

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Craig Mazin was another person present at the screening. Both he and John August are highly reputed Hollywood screenwriters who run a podcast together, and they invited Weiss and Benioff on to discus their absolute shocker of a pilot.

Weiss described the moment: “Watching them watch that original pilot was one of the most painful experiences of my life. As soon as it finished, Craig said, ‘You guys have a massive problem’.”

HBO

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Part of the massive problem was that nobody who watched it realised Jaime and Cersei Lannister were actually siblings, therefore missing the whole point of their story – the pairs incestuous relationship.

Benioff said:

I was taking notes, I had this yellow legal pad and I just remembered writing in all caps, ‘MASSIVE PROBLEM’, and it’s all I could think about the rest of the night. Craig didn’t really have any great ideas except that he said, ‘change everything’.

Save-Me

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Fortunately for us they decided to persevere with the show, and saved it by recasting loads of major roles and reshooting about 90 per cent of the episode with a new director.

Mazin watched the new-look Thrones pilot and was amazed by the transformation, calling it a ‘miracle’ that left him ‘stunned’.

He added:

I very specifically remember walking out and I said, ‘That is the biggest rescue in Hollywood history’. It wasn’t just that they had saved something bad and turned it really good. You had saved a complete piece of shit and turned it into something brilliant. That never happens!

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Season six starts on April 24, and Emilia Clarke – who replaced actress Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys in the recast – has promised it will be ‘epic’.