George R.R. Martin reveals the scene he was least happy with in the 'Game of Thrones' series
George R.R. Martin has revealed the scene the Game of Thrones series which he was least pleased with once it arrived on TV.
Though the HBO show suffered increasing critical disdain during its final seasons, the scene which writer Martin thought was done the least justice was actually in the first season.
And the issue was largely down to budgetary issues surrounding a pivotal plot point.
Spoilers for the first series of Game of Thrones follow...
In particular, it was the scenes during which British actor Mark Addy's King Robert Baratheon met his maker.
“Where we really fell down in terms of budget was my least favorite scene in the entire show, in all eight seasons: King Robert goes hunting,” Martin says, in a excerpt from the book via Entertainment Weekly.
“Four guys walking on foot through the woods carrying spears and Robert is giving Renly s***. In the books, Robert goes off hunting, we get word he was gored by a boar, and they bring him back and he dies. So I never did [a hunting scene].
“But I knew what a royal hunting party was like. There would have been a hundred guys. There would have been pavilions. There would have been huntsmen. There would have been dogs. There would have been horns blowing — that's how a king goes hunting! He wouldn't have just been walking through the woods with three of his friends holding spears hoping to meet a boar. But at that point, we couldn't afford horses or dogs or pavilions.”
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Though the budgets for the HBO swelled in later seasons, it had $6 million per episode to spend in the early series, and though substantial, it appeared it was not enough to realise Martin's grand vision for a royal hunt.
The book, by Entertainment Weekly's editor-at-large James Hibberd, delves into the making of the show from start to finish, and is due out next month.
The HBO prequel series House of the Dragon, which will centre on the Targaryan dynasty 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, is currently casting.
It's planned to air in 2022.
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