The April 17, 2011 premiere episode of Game of Thrones was visually stunning and extremely interesting. And it wasn’t the original $10 million pilot that was shot to take you into the world of Westeros.
Actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy, who previously directed Dinklage in The Station Agent and directed the 2016 Best Picture Oscar winner Spotlight, was instrumental in GOT’s casting process and helmed the first episode.
Ironically, this felt a little too subdued. Lombardo told Hibberd, “There was some concern about whether he would be able to shoot wide enough.” Noting the lack of grand scope, he said, “I remember people saying, ‘We could have shot it in Burbank.'”
On Craig Mazin and John August’s Script Notes podcast in 2016, Weiss called observing the reactions of his friends gathered for the pilot screening “one of the most painful experiences of my life.”
Benioff said no one seemed to realize that the amorous twins Jaime and Cersei Lannister were brother and sister, and were unaware of “a very important plot point that we somehow failed to establish.”
They credited then-HBO co-president Richard Plepler with being able to look beyond what was there and see what could be. He ordered 10 episodes, including a new pilot, and began filming in July 2010.
After watching the series’ big premiere, the version directed by Tim Van Patten and aired on HBO, where McCarthy was credited as a consulting producer, Mazin remembers afterwards telling Weiss and Benioff, “This is the biggest salvation in Hollywood history.”
The Chernobyl writer continued, “Because they didn’t just save something bad and turn it into something really good. You saved complete shit and turned it into something great. That will never happen!”
McCarthy didn’t go into details, but he told ABC News in 2016 that when he returned to “reshoot and rework the pilot,” he was already busy working on his 2011 film Win Win and didn’t want to go home. “And (GOT) was a huge success without me,” he said.
