The pilot episode of Game of Thrones is often regarded as one of the best pilots in all of television for its ability to perfectly establish the tone and set up the rest of the series, doing more than enough to keep the viewers interested in the story that will span several years.
What many may not be aware of is that there was an entirely different version of the pilot that was shot in 2009, which audiences didn't get to see. This was on account of the show's creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, as well as HBO themselves, being unhappy with the final product and deciding to reshoot it. That original version of the episode "Winter is Coming" is much different than the version that aired, so here are 10 things you didn’t know about Game of Throne's unaired pilot.
A New Daenerys
After over eight years in the role, Emalia Clarke has become synonymous with her role as Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons. Throughout the first season, the character quickly became a favorite of many, even if she lost a lot of support from fans in the show's final episodes.
What some may be unaware of is that the character wasn't always portrayed by Clarke. In the first version of the pilot episode, the role of Daenerys was portrayed by Tamzin Merchant. Tamzin is best known for playing Catherine Howard in the BBC Series, The Tudors.
Catelyn Stark
Daenerys was not the only major character that was recast from the original version of the pilot episode. The second character that was recast was Catelyn Stark, Ned's wife.
The original version of the episode saw the character played by Jennifer Ehle, however, when it was time to do reshoots, the actress was replaced by Michelle Fairley. Another change to the character of Catelyn was that, in the original version, she urges her husband to let Sansa and Joffrey be married.
New Direction
Another way the two versions are different comes from behind the camera. The new pilot had a completely different director than the unaired pilot, with the original being directed by Thomas McCarthy, while the new scenes that were shot were under the direction of Tim Van Patten.
Since McCarthy had a hand in casting a decent amount of the characters, in addition to the directorial work he did in the first version, he was given a Consulting Producer credit in the version that aired.
The Final Scene
The major shock of the pilot comes at the very end of the episode when Bran discovers Jamie and Cersei Lannister having sex. Since the two characters being brother and sister has a large effect on the scene, it was important that the audience understood that early on.
The people behind the show realized that the first version of the pilot left this detail as too vague, causing the impact to be stripped away from the final scene. In an effort to make it more clear, they included more lines of dialogue that indicate the relationship between them. Another difference between the two versions of the pilot is that in the original version of the scene, Cersei tells Jamie to stop, but in the final version, their act is much more consensual before they are ultimately caught.
Jon Arryn
The events of Game of Thrones are all kickstarted by one major incident, the death of Jon Arryn. The original pilot had Jon still alive, stumbling into his chambers after being poisoned in an attempt to quickly write a letter telling of the conspiracy he had uncovered before dying and not getting the chance to complete it.
While John Standing, the actor who was cast as Jon, doesn't have a major presence in the final version of the pilot since it starts with Jon already dead, he does appear as the dead body of the character in one of the scenes that shows his corpse.
George R.R. Martin Cameo
Like many book adaptions, Game of Thrones initially featured a cameo from the creator of the books, George R.R. Martin. In the original version of the pilot, Martin played a Pentoshi nobleman wearing a large hat and a necklace made out of gold balls.
The cameo would have seen Martin as a guest at Daenerys and Khal Drogo's wedding, but it was ultimately cut due to the entire scene needing to be reshot. It is surprising that Martin never made a cameo later on in the series since this scene was removed.
White Walkers
The first scene of the released Game of Thrones pilot gave us our first official look at the White Walkers, the main antagonists of the series. The original design of the White Walkers also differs greatly from the finalized version.
In the books, the creatures are referred to as "The Others." The audience would have had a chance to hear them speak "Skroth," their language, with the script describing the sound of them talking as "cracking ice."
Title Sequence
Arguably, the most iconic part of Game of Thrones is the show's title sequence. It shows a 3D map of Westeros and the different locations that make it up, as the landscape slowly and mechanically builds up, all while the series' beautiful theme plays in the background.
However, the original title sequence was actually much different. It showed a man, whose face isn't shown, writing a message and attaching the scroll to a raven's leg. We then see the raven fly across the landscape of Westeros from Castle Black, with the different locations that he passes being labeled.
Sansa's Age
One of the few scenes retained from the original pilot was the one in which Catelyn Stark introduces her daughter, Sansa, to Queen Cersei. It is the only scene kept from the first episode to feature one of the child actors and because the scene was reshot a year later, Sophie Turner had visibly aged since the original production.
This resulted in Sansa looking noticeably younger in this scene compared to other scenes in the pilot that were filmed the following year.
Daenerys And Khal Drogo
While Jamie's Cersei sex scene was changed to be more consensual, the opposite change was made for the sex scene between Khal Drogo and Daenerys on their wedding night. In the original version, Daenerys gives her consent to Drogo as she does in the book that the scene is based on. However, in the reshot version, Daenerys doesn't consent, resulting in him raping her.
While the scene was difficult to watch, it does lay the groundwork for the change in their dynamic over the course of the season, making it more apparent as Daenerys begins to take control of her life and gain more agency.