The winter is coming

The episode begins to intertwine events occurring in different places within and outside the fictional continent of Vasteras. The main action takes place in the northern lands, the guardian of which is Lord Winterfell Eddard Stark ( Sean Bean ). Outside of Westeros, beyond the narrow sea, in exile live two surviving representatives of the house of Targaryens , the previous rulers of Westeros.

Behind the Wall

At the beginning of the episode, three of the Night's Watch - Ser Weimar Royce (Rob Ostlir), Will (Bronson Webb) and Gared (Dermot Keene) - conduct reconnaissance on the other side of the Wall, a giant ice barrier in the northern part of the kingdom. After they find the disfigured corpses of the Wild Living Behind the Wall, they are attacked by the White Walkers and the Wild Rising from the Dead. Monsters kill two sentinel, but for some reason leave Will alive. Fearing for his life, he deserts from the Night Watch, heading south.

In Royal Harbor

Queen Cersei ( Lina Hidi ) and her twin brother Jaime Lannister ( Nikolai Koster-Waldau ) watch the body of the Hand of King John Arren ( John Standing ) being courted by the Silent Sisters. They discuss whether he gave dangerous information to both of them before his death. Jaime assures her sister that if Arren had said something, they would have been executed.

In the North

After the opening credits, Starkey from Winterfell appears: Lord Eddard "Ned", his wife, Lady Catelyn "Kat" ( Michelle Fairly ) and their children are the heir of Robb ( Richard Madden ), the eldest daughter of Sans ( Sophie Turner ), the younger daughter of Arya ( Macy Williams ), ten-year-old son Bran ( Isaac Hampstead-Wright ), younger son Ricon ( Art Parkinson ), illegitimate son of Ned John Snow ( Keith Harington ) and hostage / ward Theon Greyjoy ( Alfie Allen ).

Ned is informed that Will is taken prisoner - a deserter from the Night Watch. According to the charter, members of the Night Watch give an oath not to leave their posts on pain of death. Ned takes all her sons to the execution of Will. He repeats that he saw the White Walkers, but no one believes him. Will meets death bravely, recognizing that he had to return to the Wall and warn. Ned himself passes the sentence and executes it. When Bran asks his father about the White Walkers, Ned rejects it as a madman’s delirium, insisting that the Walkers have been considered disappeared for thousands of years.

On the way back, the Starks find a dead deer - the coat of arms of the House of Baratheon. In the distance, they find a dead female canter and her surviving cubs. Noticing that the lyutovolk is the emblem of the Stark family and that the wolves are as many as the Stark children (even the last albino for John), they take the wolves for themselves.

In Winterfell, Catelyn informs her husband about a letter announcing the death of Lord Arren, the old mentor Eddard, and his brother-in-law Catelyn. In the news brought by the raven, it is reported that the king himself is going to Winterfell. Winterfell accepts the royal court - King Robert Baratheon ( Marc Eddy ), his wife Queen Cerseus, their children: the heir of Prince Joffrey ( Jack Gleason ), Princess Mirzella (Aimee Richardson) and the younger Prince Tommen (Callum Warrey), as well as twin brother Cersey. Jaime Lannister, a member of the Royal Guard, and their younger brother Tyrion Lannister ( Peter Dinklage ), a dwarf known by the name of Bes. When Robert visits the grave of Lianna Stark, his late bride and sister Ned, he confesses to an old friend that he no longer trusts anyone in his circle. He decides to appoint Ned as the new Hand of the King and, in order to strengthen the alliance between the two families, offers to betroth the daughter of Ned Sansu with his son Joffrey.

At night, Catelyn receives an alarming letter from her sister, Lord Arren’s widow. She suspects that the powerful Lannisters killed John. Ned, who initially refused to accept the position of the Hand, agrees to protect his old friend. Bran, who loves to climb the walls of Winterfell, climbs on an abandoned tower, where he finds the Queen Cersei and Jaime having sex. To keep the incestuous connection secret, Jaime throws Bran from a high window.

Beyond the narrow sea

The prince in exile Viserys Targaryen ( Harry Lloyd ) is plotting to overthrow King Robert and regain the throne of his father. To this end, he organizes a marriage between his sister Daenerys ( Emilia Clark ) and the powerful Khal Drogo ( Jason Momoa ), the leader of the nomadic Dothraki horde.

Daenerys is afraid of the leader of the barbarians, but her brother tells her to marry him. During the wedding ceremony, Daenerys receives two gifts. The first is a collection of books of the Seven Kingdoms from Sir Jorah Mormont ( Ian Glen ), an exile knight loyal to the Targaryens. The second, a casket with three petrified dragon eggs, was presented by Master Illyrio Mopatis ( Roger Allam ), who helped arrange a marriage.

Concept and Development

Several Hollywood film studios turned to George R. R. Martin on the screen version of his song Song of Ice and Fire ; Martin expressed the opinion that it was impossible to make a film on these books, since he would have to cut too much, but he believed that it was possible to make a television series on them. ^[1] In January 2006, David Benioff talked with Martin’s literary agent about the books he could present for possible adaptation, and the agent sent him the first four books, Songs of Ice and Fire. ^[2] Benioff read several hundred pages of the first book, “ Game of Thrones, ” ^[3] called D. B. Weiss and said: “Maybe I'm crazy, but in the last 20 years not a single book has amused me so much. So look, I think that this could make a big HBO series. ” ^[4] Weiss, having read the first book in two days, became very interested in the idea of ​​a television project on books. They organized a meeting with Martin, who asked if they knew who the real mother of John Snow was, and was pleased with their answer. ^[3]

In March 2006, a few weeks after the meeting with Martin, Benioff and Weiss presented the show on Showtime and Carolyn Strauss from HBO, who accepted their offer. ^{[3] [5]} HBO acquired the rights to the novels for the series ^[6] with Benioff and Weiss as scriptwriters and executive producers. Production began in January 2007. ^[7] The series began with a 1996 book from the Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones , with the intention that each novel will be the basis for the corresponding season. ^[7] However, Benioff and Weiss had to submit the project for a new review after Carolyn Strauss left HBO’s presidency in 2008. ^[8] The first and second pilot scenarios, written by Benioff and Weiss, were presented in August 2007 and in June 2008, respectively. ^[9] Although HBO approved both sketches, the pilot was not ordered until November 2008. ^[ten]

Scenario

The script was written by the creators of the series David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the pilot episode includes 1-9 and 12 chapters of the novel (Prologue, Bran I, Catelyn I, Daenerys I, Eddard I, John I, Catelyn II, partly Arya I, Bran II, Deineris II). Among the changes is the sequence of events in the prologue (in the book, surviving and then executed by Eddard Gared, not Will; Arya's material is located before the arrival of the royal family); new scenes revealing the character of the twins Lannister and Deineris; in the wedding night scene, Drogo does not wait for Daenerys to agree to have sex. ^[eleven]

Shooting

Tom McCarthy was selected to direct the pilot episode that was filmed between October 24 and November 19, 2009 in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Morocco. ^[12] However, the pilot was found to be unsatisfactory and demanded a re-take.

A new pilot episode was filmed in 2010 by new director Tim Van Patten , and several actors who appeared in the original pilot did not return to the series. Tamzin Merchant (Deineris Targaryen) was replaced by Emilia Clark , and Jennifer El (Catelyn Stark) was replaced by Michelle Fairlee . ^[13] In addition, Ian Macknis (Mag. Illyrio) was replaced by Roger Allam ^[14] , Richard Riding (Gared) ^[15] - Dermot Keene, and Jamie Campbell Bower (Sir Weimar Reuss) ^[15] - Rob Ostlir . ^[sixteen]

Another difference is that the original pilot includes scenes shot in Scotland, and Pentos scenes were filmed in Morocco, ^{[17] [18]} but for the final version, Winterfell was filmed in various places in Northern Ireland, while scenes from Pentos were filmed in Malta . ^[19] Dun Castle was originally used to recreate Winterfell, and its large hall was used for some interior shots. Several scenes survived, but since it was impractical to return to Scotland for re-recording, an exact replica of the large Dun Hall was recreated in the pavilion in Belfast. Ward Castle in Northern Ireland was used to retake King Robert’s visit to Winterfell. ^{[20] The} car park played the role of the courtyard of Winterfell, and the wine cellar played the family crypt of the Starks. ^[21] The initial scene of the meeting with the White Walkers was filmed in Tollimore Forest Park. ^[22]

All scenes shot in Morocco are shot in Malta. ^[17] The original pilot re-used the scenery from the Kingdom of Heaven in Morocco to shoot Pentos and the wedding site of Droe and Daenerys. ^[23] In Malta, Verdala , the summer palace of the President of Malta (16th century), was used for the natural scenes of the Illyrio mansion. Azure window became the backdrop for the wedding. ^[24] However, filming at the Azure Window caused some controversy when a subcontractor suffered damage to the protected ecosystem. ^[25]

In the sex scene, Lina Hidi, at the time pregnant, was replaced by a stunt double. ^[26] In the scene, when Starks, returning from the penalty, piled on a deer killed by a rifleman, a real animal, not props, was used. Since the deer had been dead for two days, it smelled so that the actors had to make a lot of effort not to show it. ^[27] Some scenes were not included in the episode, for example, flashback of the death of brother Eddard Stark and the death of John Arren. ^[28]

Original pilot episode

The original pilot of 2009 was poorly received at a private show for friends, one of whom, Craig Mazin , told Benioff and Weiss: “You guys have a huge problem,” and answered the question about suggestions: “change everything”. ^[29] Weiss said about the show: “Watching how they watched the pilot was a deep humiliation, a painful experience, because they are very smart people, and the pilot obviously did not suit any of them at the most elementary level.” ^{[30] [31]} For example, it did not follow from anywhere that the two main characters, Jaime and Cersei Lannister, are actually brother and sister. ^[31]

HBO did not make a decision within four months after the pilot episode was submitted. ^[31] In March 2010, the HBO decision was announced to give the series the green light, including the pilot; ^{[32] The} start of production was scheduled for June. ^[33] However, HBO demanded a significant re-recording and removal of all the scenes shot in Morocco. Because of this, George R. R. Martin’s cameo shot in Morocco as a Pentosian nobleman at Daenerys' wedding was cut out. ^[34] In general, in 2010, 90% of the pilot were recaptured, with some changes in the cast and another director. ^[thirty]

Released episode

The original pilot did not go on air, although some of the footage was used in the final episode, ^[35] including the Sansa scenes with Catelyn (with Jennifer El replacing Michelle Fairlie), ^[30] Will’s journey through the forest (with another actor), the big part of the feast in Winterfell and the scene of Ned and Robert in the crypt. This scene is one of the few shot on 35 mm film , and in the HD version of the episode you can see a small grain . ^[27]

Preview

On April 3, 2011, two weeks before the premiere, the first 15 minutes of the episode were available for viewing on the official HBO website. ^[36] Wired correspondent Dave Banks wrote that the fragment is “much better than expected. (How is this possible?) ” ^[37] Scott Stinson from the Toronto's National Post noted:“ there comes an understanding that this is not just another cheap drama when there are two beheadings in the first 15 minutes ”. ^[38]

Ratings

The episode managed to collect 2.2 million viewers on the day of the premiere and another 2 million during reruns that night. The day after the premiere, HBO aired the episode six more times, thereby adding another 1.2 million viewers ^[39] to the audience. The next week’s episode re-show increased the general audience to 6.8 million people ^[40] .

In other countries

The premiere of the series in Canada took place on the same day as in the United States. April 18, 2011 was the premiere in the UK and Ireland on the channel Sky Atlantic , the audience was 750,000 people. In Russia, the premiere took place on Fox Life on September 8, 2011 ^[41] . Later, on the REN TV channel , on March 11, 2012, a duplicate version was shown ^[42] .

Awards

Tim Van Patten received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Directing Drama Series in 2011. The episode was also nominated for best makeup on the television series. ^[43]

Awards

• “Winter is close” on HBO
• " Winter is coming. ” (Eng.) On the Internet Movie Database
• "Winter is coming" (eng.) On TV.com