The final season of Game of Thrones is right around the corner. And the HBO show creatives are spilling the beans on the iconic opening sequence that has added to the iconic status of the show.
The show has grown in popularity over the years and so has the iconic opening music along with the map of the kingdoms.
And now it apparently turns out the show made an unexpected format change, with some serious new direction for the opening. Apparently, Creative Director Angus Wall revealed when he was starting out on the series, the department had some very different ideas for the intro.
Speaking to Empire magazine, the production member shared the inspiration behind the series' opening, and it would have been nothing like what fans know today.
Angus shared: "We explored that with an animated sequence following the raven.
"In the interim, though, there was an issue that came up during the pilot, which was that nobody knew what the wider world looked like or where anyone was."
"So we created these little map journeys to go in-between scenes."
"The idea was that everything needed to be hand-built," he said.
"The idea of a mad monk in a tower, building all this stuff and going at it with a saw and a chisel."
"[And] making sure he's building his world the way he wants."
Viewers are used to expecting small additions to the opening every season, particularly when it comes to new kingdoms.
Apparently, it also turns out the crew often secretly had fun with the intro, even dropping in small Easter eggs for fans to discover and scrutinise.
"There are a lot of Easter eggs in the titles if you're paying attention," he said. He also said: "Little things that will reward you over the course of the show."