The latest episode of Westworld season 3 featured a crossover with Game of Thrones, but it actually wasn't the first time the science-fiction show referenced the world of Westeros. Created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, Westworld is based on the 1973 film of the same name. Written and directed by Michael Crichton, the film starred Yul Brynner as a malfunctioning android that goes on a violent rampage at a futuristic Western-inspired theme park. Nolan and Joy subverted the film's tropes and went deeper into its themes, making the androids (known as hosts) the focal point as they achieve true consciousness and rebel against creators and tormentors alike. Following a successful first season, a muddled Westworld season 2 concluded with Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) finally escaping into the real world. Westworld season 3 premiered earlier in March, with Dolores pursuing a new master plan for the human species.
Game of Thrones, meanwhile, was created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Based on a series of popular novels, the fantasy-drama debuted in 2011. Though popular from the outset, the series became an outright cultural phenomenon by the time it officially concluded with a divisive eighth season.
In Westworld season 3, episode 2, "The Winter Line," Benioff and Weiss made a rare foray in front of the camera. Playing a pair of newly out of work technicians, Benioff and Weiss plotted to take apart a host version of Daenerys' surviving dragon, Drogon, and sell it to a teasingly unspecified party in Costa Rica. This isn't the first nod to Game of Thrones, however, with a subtle visual reference appearing in season 1.
After abandoning him to be savagely beaten in an earlier episode, Logan (Ben Barnes) catches up with Dolores and William (Jimmi Simpson) in Westworld season 1, episode 8, "Trace Decay." Arriving with a group of hosts designed to be Confederate soldiers, Logan is revealed to have joined their ranks. Though his uniform matches that of the hosts, there is one notable difference: on the left-hand lapel, there is a familiar pin. Though it isn't an exact match, it's undoubtedly an homage of the infamous Hand of the King badge worn by such characters as Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) in Game of Thrones. The pin is even more prominent in Westworld season 1, episode 9, "The Well-Tempered Clavier" when Logan tries to sway William to his way of thinking and vengefully attack Dolores.
The inclusion of the badge actually proved to be a subtle hint regarding Logan's fate and his dynamic with William. Logan spent Westworld season 1 believing that he was very much the alpha to William's beta. As it turned out, however, Westworld park unlocked William's truer, infinitely darker nature, and he ultimately usurped Logan's position at the Delos company. As a result, Logan spent the remainder of his life in a subordinate role to the "titan of industry" that William eventually became.
The Hand of the King reference was no doubt borne from both shows being HBO offerings, as well as Nolan and Joy being notable fans of Game of Thrones. Author George R.R. Martin took credit for Benioff and Weiss' cameo, which has since sparked theories that one of the as-yet-unseen theme parks set to be revealed in season 3 must be based on Westeros. If so, coupled with the pin, it could be a theme park that Logan, an apparent in-show fan of Game of Thrones, had a personal hand in creating at some point in the sprawling Westworld timeline.