94 Game Of Thrones Facts You Didn’t Know

Are you looking for Game of Thrones facts that you didn’t know? If so, you have come to the right place. We have compiled some of the most interesting tidbits about the hit television and book series. This includes facts about the characters, actors, production, and also about the audition process. Many of us are obsessed with the series but there are still a lot of things that you can learn about it!

Game Of Thrones Facts About The Cast, Characters, Auditions, And More

1) Alfie Allen originally auditioned for the role of Jon Snow.

Allen didn’t get the part but was later cast as Theon Greyjoy.

2) The casting of Jon Snow came down to Kit Harington and Iwan Rheon as the final two.

The producers went with Kit Harington as Jon Snow but they liked Iwan enough to cast him as Ramsay Bolton.

3) Iwan Rheon also auditioned for the role of Daario Naharis.

The role of Daario was played by Ed Skrein and then Michiel Huisman.

4) During his audition for Khal Drogo, Jason Momoa performed the Haka.

This is a ceremonial dance or challenge in Māori culture.

5) The producers initially asked Carice Van Houten to audition for the role of Queen Cersei Lannister.

Van Houten had to pass because she was filming another movie at the time. The producers approached her again before Season 2 to audition for the role of Melisandre and she landed the part.

6) Ed Skrein (aka the original Daario Naharis) denies the rumor that he left the show on his own accord.

There was a rumor for a while that Skrein left the show because he was cast as the lead in a reboot of the Transporter film franchise. Skrein said in a 2015 interview that it was actually “politics” that prevented him from returning. Michiel Huisman took over the role of Daario in Season 4.

7) Natalie Dormer (who played Margaery Tyrell) revealed that she originally auditioned for another role in season 2.

Dormer originally didn’t want to play Margaery because she played a similar character in The Tudors. She was eventually convinced to take the role and the rest is history.

8) Finn Jones originally auditioned for the role of Jon Snow.

Finn didn’t get the part but he was cast as Ser Loras Tyrell instead.

9) Gillian Anderson revealed in a 2013 interview that she turned down a big role in Game Of Thrones.

Anderson has never revealed which role she turned down but the popular speculation from fans is that it was either Cersei Lannister or Melisandre.

10) Jennifer Ehle was originally cast in the role of Catelyn Stark.

Ehle even filmed the pilot episode of the show but decided it was too soon to return to work after the birth of her daughter. Ehle was replaced after the pilot by Michelle Fairley. It is weird to think of anyone else but Fairley in the role but it almost happened.

11) Sam Claflin (from The Hunger Games) auditioned for the role of Jon Snow.

Claflin also auditioned for the role of Viserys Targaryen.

12) Before Aidan Gillen was cast as Petyr Baelish (aka Littlefinger), the role was offered to Tom Hollander, who turned it down.

Hollander has since said that he regrets the decision to turn it down.

13) Jaime Bamber auditioned for the role of Jaime Lannister.

Bamber is probably best known for his role in Battlestar Galactica. He was beaten out by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who played the role of Jaime Lannister for all 8 seasons.

14) Kit Harington had a black eye for his audition for Jon Snow.

This came after Kit got into a fight at McDonald’s on the night before his audition.

15) Kit Harington broke his ankle right before Season 3 was about to start filming.

The injury happened after a night of partying. Harington forgot his keys to his London flat and tried to climb into his first-floor window. As a result, this led to him falling and breaking his ankle. Luckily, they were able to shuffle around the shooting schedule and they also used a body double for his scenes as Jon Snow.

16) Kit Harington filmed 15 hours of fake scenes for Season 7 because they wanted to avoid spoiler leaks.

This shows you how far that the producers went to stop spoilers from leaking online.

17) Kit Harington’s mother named him after the famous playwright, Christopher Marlowe.

Kit’s real name is Christopher Catesby Harington and his first name has been shortened to Kit.

18) Kit Harington was terrified while filming the ‘Battle Of The Bastards’.

This is because Kit is claustrophobic and “mortally afraid of crowds”.

19) The role of Daenerys Targaryen was originally played by Tamzin Merchant.

Merchant played Daenerys Targaryen for the pilot episode that was filmed in 2009. Merchant was eventually replaced by Emilia Clarke and that pilot episode never made the light of day. It is definitely weird to think of anyone other than Emilia playing the part but it nearly happened.

20) Emilia Clarke did the “Funky Chicken” dance at her audition for the role of Daenerys.

This dance seemed to work as she landed the role.

21) While filming the scene where Daenerys Targaryen eats the stallion heart, Emilia Clarke got stuck to the toilet.

The fake blood on the heart was basically like a sugary syrup and acted like glue. At the end of the shoot, Clarke was covered in the stuff, which led to her getting stuck.

22) Emilia Clarke suffered two brain aneurysms and underwent multiple surgeries during the first few seasons of the show.

Luckily, she made a full recovery and was able to portray Daenerys for the remainder of the series.

23) In 2017, a newly discovered species of sea slug was named after Daenerys.

It is known as ‘Tritonia Khaleesi’.

24) When Emilia Clarke first met Jason Momoa (who played Khal Drogo), he screamed “WIFEY!”, ran across the hall, and then rugby-tackled her to the floor.

25) There were 560 baby girls born in 2018 that were named ‘Khaleesi’.

26) Peter Dinklage was the one who recommended Lena Headey to the producers for the role of Cersei Lannister.

Peter and Lena are good friends and previously worked together on the movie, Pete Smalls Is Dead.

27) Peter Dinklage revealed during an interview that he and Lena Headey would have to avoid eye contact while filming their scenes together.

This was because they were trying to avoid laughing.

28) Charles Dance (who played Tywin Lannister) revealed in an interview that he would apologize to Peter Dinklage after their scenes together.

This is because Dance would feel bad about Tywin’s treatment of his son during their scenes together.

29) Peter Dinklage was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award (for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series) for all 8 Seasons of the show.

30) Maisie Williams was selected out of over 300 female actresses who auditioned for the role of Arya Stark.

31) Maisie almost skipped her audition because she didn’t want to miss her class field trip to a pig farm.

32) Arya is left-handed and Maisie Williams is naturally right-handed. As a result, Maisie trained herself early on to do everything with her left hand for the role.

33) There were 2,545 baby girls born in 2018 that were named Arya.

It was the 119th most popular name for girls of that year.

34) Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner both have 07.08.09 tattooed on them.

This commemorates the date that they found out they got their roles on the show.

35) Sophie Turner found out that she landed the role of Sansa from her mom, who woke her up by saying, “Good morning, Sansa”.

36) Sophie Turner adopted Zunni, who was the Mahlek Northern Inuit dog that played Sansa Stark’s direwolf (Lady) on the show.

Unfortunately, Zunni passed away in 2017.

37) Sophie Turner is allergic to horses in real life. As a result, this made her scenes more difficult when she had to rise a horse.

38) George R.R Martin revealed that they looked at over 300 actresses before giving the role of Cersei Lannister to Lena Headey.

George also noted that they were very impressed by the range that Lena showed during her audition.

39) In an interview after Season 8 aired, Lena Headey admitted that she was hoping for a better death for Cersei Lannister.

40) Jack Gleeson received a letter from George R. R. Martin after the first season aired, saying: “Congratulations on your marvelous performance, Everyone hates you!”

41) Jack Gleeson says that his portrayal of Joffrey Baratheon was partly inspired by Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus from Gladiator.

42) Jack Gleeson majored in Theology & Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin.

In 2012, he was elected a scholar at the university.

43) Sean Bean was the second actor who was cast in the show (as Ned Stark).

The only person who was cast before him was Peter Dinklage.

44) Sean revealed that the cast kicked around his severed head like a football while filming the scene of Ned Stark’s death.

45) Iain Glen (who played Jorah Mormont) revealed that for Season 8, the cast could only read scripts on secure iPads.

This was because they wanted to make sure that nobody leaked any spoilers.

46) Iain Glen’s wife suffered a brain hemorrhage while they were shooting the Battle for Winterfell. 

Emilia Clarke told Glen to “get on a flight” back to his wife after she heard the news.
Glen’s wife made a full recovery and he came back two weeks later to finish filming his final scenes.

47) The performance of Richard Madden inspired series creator, David Benioff, to write more scenes for Robb Stark.

48) Richard Madden cried like a baby after his final day of filming on the show.

49) Dean Charles Chapman played two different characters in the show.

In Season 3, he played the role of Martyn Lannister for two episodes. In the next season, he was cast Tommen Baratheon and went on to play the role for sixteen episodes.

50) Pedro Pascal based Oberyn Martell’s Dornish accent on his own father’s real-life Chilean-Spanish accent.

51) David Bradley (who played Walder Frey) says that he had to re-do his speech during the Red Wedding scene 70 times to get it right.

52) Stephen Dillane (who played Stannis Baratheon) revealed in an interview that he didn’t like the way that he played his character.

53) Ben Hawkey (who played Hot Pie) opened up his own real-life bakery called “You Know Nothing Jon Dough”.

54) 5 actors reportedly earned $1.2 million per episode for Season 8 of the show.

Those actors were: Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

55) Thomas Brodie-Sangster (who plays Jojen Reed) is the voice of Ferb in the show, Phineas And Ferb.

56) Jerome Flynn (who plays Bronn) was in a pop duo called ‘Robson and Jerome’.

They had three number one singles in the United Kingdom.

57) Sibel Kekilli (Shae) says George R.R Martin told her that her version of Shae was better than what he wrote for the character in the books.

58) Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) and Carice van Houten (Melisandre) played the role of lovers in the 2011 film, Black Butterflies

59) Oona Chaplin, who played Robb Stark’s wife, Talisa Maegyr, is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin.

60) The actor who played Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd) is the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens.

This is probably my favorite of all the Game Of Thrones facts because of how mind-blowing that it is.

61) Alfie Allen is the younger brother of singer, Lily Allen.

In 2007, Lily released a song about him, called “Alfie”, in which she criticizes him for being lazy.

62) Kit Harington is related to John Harington, who is the inventor of the flushing toilet

63) Coldplay drummer, Will Champion, appeared in the infamous Red Wedding scene.

Will plays a drummer during the scene.

64) Rob McElhenney from Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia made a cameo in the show.

He played an Ironborn soldier in Season 8, Episode 1.

65) Country music star, Chris Stapleton, made a cameo in the show.

He played a wildling who gets resurrected by the Night King in Season 8, Episode 3.

66) Gary Lightbody from the band, Snow Patrol, made a cameo in Season 3, Episode 3.

Lightbody played the Bolton soldier who sings “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”.

67) George R.R. Martin made a cameo in the original pilot episode for Game Of Thrones.

He was a guest at the wedding of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo. After they re-shot the pilot episode, George didn’t end up making that cameo.

68) In George R.R. Martin’s original outline for the book series, he was planning to feature a romance between Arya Stark and Jon Snow.

69) “The Lion and the Rose” (Season 4, Episode 2), was the fourth and final episode that was written by George R.R Martin.

Following Season 4, George decided not to return to the show as a writer in order to work on the last two books in the series.

70) George R.R Martin said in an interview that if it was up to him, the show would have gone for “11, 12, 13 seasons”.

He joked that they ended after 8 seasons because showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss wanted a life.

71) George R.R Martin says that J.R.R Tolkien killing off Gandalf in Lord Of The Rings had a profound effect on his willingness to kill off important characters.

72) The ‘R.R’ in George R.R Martin’s name stands for Raymond Richard.

73) Tyrion Lannister appeared in the most episodes out of any of the characters in the show.

Tyrion appeared in 67 out of a possible 73 episodes.

74) Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Cersei Lannister all appeared in 62 out of a possible 73 episodes.

As a result, they tied for second place behind Tyrion.

75) Arya and Sansa Stark both appeared in the same number of episodes (59 out of a possible 73).

76) Jamie Lannister appeared in 55 out of a possible 73 episodes in the series.

That puts him in 7th place in terms of the most episodes appeared in among cast members

77) In the books, Yara Greyjoy is known as Asha Greyjoy.

Her name was changed in the TV series in order to avoid confusion with Osha, the wildling.

78) The Three-Eyed Raven is known as the Three-Eyed Crow in the A Song Of Ice And Fire books.

79) It was originally announced that Oona Chaplin would be playing Jeyne Westerling in the show.

They ended up naming her Talisa Maegyr instead and distanced her from Jeyne in the books.

80) The 8th season of the show cost $15 million per episode to produce.

This is according to a report from Variety.

81) The series finale of the show drew 13.6 million viewers for its initial airing. Adding in replays and early streaming, that number jumped to 19.3 million viewers.

As a result, both figures are records for not just Game of Thrones but also for HBO’s entire history.

82) As a parting gift on the last day of filming, Dan Weiss and Dave Benioff (the showrunners) presented each actor with storyboards for a specific scene of their character.

83) The “Battle Of The Bastards” took 25 days to film.

It also required 600 crew members, 500 extras, 70 horses, and 65 stuntmen.

84) The longest episode of the show is ‘The Long Night’ (Season 8, Episode 3), which is 82 minutes long.

85) D.B. Weiss and David Benioff originally wanted Florence + The Machine to record “The Rains of Castamere” but the band turned it down because of their schedule.

The song was subsequently recorded by The National.

86) According to sound designer, Paula Fairfield, the sounds the dragons make in the show were inspired by the noises that tortoises make while mating.

87) The Dothraki language was created by David J. Peterson. According to an interview with Peterson, he created more than 4000 words for the language.

Peterson also created High Valyrian for the show.

88) After the Season 4 finale, Queen Elizabeth visited the set of the show but she did not sit on the Iron Throne.

89) Season 8 is the only season to not get a rating of 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes.

It currently sits at 58%.

90) There are 4 episodes of the show that have received a 9.9/10 rating on IMDB.

Those episodes are ‘The Rains Of Castamere’ (Season 3, Episode 9), ‘Hardhome’ (Season 5, Episode 8), ‘Battle Of The Bastards’ (Season 6, Episode 9), and The ‘Winds Of Winter’ (Season 6, Episode 10).

91) Season 5 did not feature Isaac Hempstead-Wright (aka Bran Stark).

This is the only season of the show that he was not heavily featured in.

92) Hannah Murray (Gilly) was roommates with Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) before he got cast in the show.

93) Harvard offers a GoT-themed course titled: ‘The Real Game of Thrones: From Modern Myths to Medieval Models’.

94) Gandalf’s sword, Glamdring, from the Lord Of The Rings is forged inside of the Iron Throne on the TV show.

Conclusion

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