Despite a television president and what amounts to a high-stakes game of global chicken, even the cheap theatre of America's political soap opera can't stand up to the colossus that is Game of Thrones.

As the world's most successful television program prepares to kick off its penultimate season, its stars descended on Hollywood for the gala premiere at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

It's not your typical venue for a television program premiere, but then your typical television program does not get a full orchestra concert performance conducted by the show's composer Ramon Djwadi.

British-born actress Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark in the fantasy series, said the cast were bittersweet at the prospect of following this season with a final season that would bring the story – for now – to a close.