It's hard to imagine a world whereGame of Thronesisn't the massive hit we know and love today. But actually, it could've just as easily gone up in Melisandre's flames if HBO had aired the infamously disastrous original cut of the pilot.
Though it was never released to the public, those who saw the scrapped version of Episode 1 called it nothing less than a "piece of shit." Showrunners D. B. Weiss and David Benioff openly talk about its transformation, which entailed recasting Daenerys and Catelyn as well as reshooting about 90 percent of the original material.
An alleged version of the first pilot's script leaked years ago, though its authenticity was never confirmed. Now, Huffington Post reporter Bill Bradley has tracked down a verified production draft of the failed pilot from a George R.R. Martin collection at Cushing Memorial Library.
And the changes are pretty wild in retrospect.
Since it's dated right around when filming began, the script found at Cushing is likely the closest we'll ever come to seeing what this earlier pilot looked like. (The leaked copy could have been a real draft, too, though probably from an earlier phase of production.)
Daenerys deserved a less traumatizing wedding nightCredit: helen sloan/hboWe won't go into all the minute changes. But looking down the barrel of Game of Thrones' final season, it's fascinating to consider what might've been -- from a drunken Jon Snow to a White Walker language.
Overall, the Cushing script is closer to the books than the final cut that aired on HBO. That's telling in and of itself for those trying to suss out how different the show's version of events will be from the books' endgame, which George R. R. Martin has yet to finish writing.
Notably, the oft-debated wedding rape scene between Daenerys and Khal Drogo mirrored the much more consensual exchange they have in the books.
The Cushing script reportedly has her smiling at Drogo when she realizes "no" is the only word he knows from her language. She even begins to undress Drogo before (and this is key) explicitly saying yes to having sex.
Here's the snippet of the Cushing script provided by HuffPost, reprinted by Mashable:
He pulls her down into his lap. Dany is flushed and breathless. He cups her face in his huge hands and she looks into his eyes.KHAL DROGONo?She takes his hand and moves it between her thighs.DAENERYSYes.
That's a far cry from the aired version, where Daenerys cries as she's undressed by Drogo, then forced onto her knees and indisputably raped.
Over the years, the show's use of rape has been the source of many controversies. Diverging from their counterparts in the books, everything from Dany to Cersei to Sansa's rapes come across as lazy shortcuts for more complex and empowering female character development.
To be fair, Drogo and Dany's book relationship is not totally free of sexual violence either. But the love they develop is much less jarring than on the show, which completely glosses over the trauma she repeatedly experiences at his hands.
Can you imagine hearing the Night King speak?Credit: helen sloan/hboBack in 2011, we couldn't know that the White Walker threat teased in Season 1's very first opening scene would take six years more to become finally realized in the Season 7's finale. But now that the questions of who the White Walkers are, what they're capable of, and what they want are more pressing than ever, it's fascinating to consider this major cut from the Cushing script.
Like in the book, the Night's Watch brother that makes it out alive overhears them speaking a strange language that sounds like "the cracking of ice on a winter lake.” The script elaborates further:
The crackling is coming from multiple sources now. These are not the noises of mindless predators. This is a language, and whatever is speaking it is getting closer.
David J. Peterson, creator of the Dothraki and Valyrian tongues heard on the show, has talked before about the cut White Walker language he named Skroth. But HuffPost obtained a sample from him of what it would've sounded like (before the digital effects that would've undoubtedly made it creepier).
The most important takeaway from this change, though, is how the show wanted to emphasize from the get-go that the White Walkers are intelligent creatures with a plan, not just a mindless threat like a zombie horde.
What's Skoth for, "I'm comin' for yah."Credit: helen sloan/hboIn the book version of the scene, the White Walkers even laugh and seem to mock their victims -- all in that eerie ice language. Cutting Skoth is probably what led the showrunners to add the visual of wildling body parts arranged in a weird pattern. It was important for viewers to understand the White Walkers have social structures similar to humans, like ritualistic symbols and practices.
Even now, the reason behind their return and march south of the Wall remains a mystery. But presumably, intelligent creatures who have language, history, and ritual can also be reasoned with -- or at least have a reason for acting the way they do.
Will Skoth finally make an appearance in Season 8? It'd be in line with what many fans theorize: that the way to beat the White Walkers won't be in a battle, but through a peace treaty.
This change from the original pilot script not only rippled out into a later scene from Season 5, but also affected a major feature in the recent teaser for Season 8.
The subtle but significant change happens after the scene between Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark in the Crypts of Winterfell, as they visit his sister Lyanna Stark's gave.
Who knew a little feather would become so important?Credit: helen sloan/hboIn hindsight, the scene was a hugeforeshadowing to the series' big reveal: That Jon Snow is actually Aegon Targaryen, the trueborn son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, heir to the Iron Throne, and the child of ice and fire.
In every version of the pilot, Robert places a bird feather on Lyanna's statue. That's the feather that comes back in Season 5, when Sansa picks it up and recounts the (now debunked) story of how Rhaegar "kidnapped" and "raped" Lyanna Stark, which eventually led to Robert's Rebellion.
But the Cushing script brings Cersei down into the Crypts as well, after Ned and Rob have left and right before the big feast scene in the Great Hall:
INT. WINTERFELL - CRYPT - NIGHTA long shot of Cersei in profile, wearing a heavy fur over her elegant dress. She stares into one of the burial vaults. The shadows about her dance in the candlelight.
After exiting the Crypt, Cersei does what she does best. She enters the feast room and orders someone to burn a target of her ire into ash:
CERSEIA word with the Stark girl.The Handmaiden nods and Cersei steps forward.CERSEIOh...She reaches into her sleeve and pulls out the brilliantly colored bird's feather Robert had placed on Lyanna's stone hand. Cersei hands the feather to her Handmaiden.CERSEIBurn this.
The pilot that aired did other things to establish Cersei's hatred for Robert, Lyanna, and the Starks. But this would've probably tipped us off more to the fact that she was plotting to murder her own king/husband, and it foreshadows the Starks being casualties of her revenge.
Most importantly, that feather became a significant and reoccurring visual symbol on the show. Aside from Season 5, it returned in the Season 8 trailer where Jon, Sansa, and Arya are walking through the Crypts of Winterfell.
We see the feather fall from Lyanna's statue over soundbites of characters like Catelyn and Ned talking about Jon Snow's parentage. Then, winter comes (a.k.a. the White Walkers), freezing the feather on the ground.
Clearly, the feather represents what the show is really all about: the unlikely and secret hero of this song of ice and fire, Jon Snow.
We can't know exactly what the teaser means when it freezes the feather. Some speculate that Jon will have to become the new Night King or sacrifice himself in another way to negotiate peace with the Walkers, explaining why the feather symbolizing his blend of ice and fire would fall and freeze.
Regardless, it's interesting that Cersei failed to burn the feather in the pilot. Because ironically, that feather and the parentage it represents will now be the biggest threat to her claim to the Iron Throne in Season 8.
This cut doesn't change much of anything for the upcoming season, but is pretty hilarious in contrast to the ever-serious, sulking White Wolf that Jon Snow eventually became on the show.
Jon Snow got faaaaadedCredit: helen sloan/hboThe aired version of the pilot kept Jon outside the feast happening in Winterfell's great hall (per Catelyn's wishes). But in both the Cushing script and the book, Jon sneaks in to get white boy wasted.
The conversation he has with uncle Benjen was a lot tipsier, too:
JONI threw a spear seventy yards. Nearly seventy yards. Ser Rodrik measured it.BENJENThe problem with throwing your spear seventy yards is you're seventy yards away from your spear.Benjen gives Jon a playful shove-- don't get cocky. Jon, a little drunk, nearly falls off the bench.BENJENAre you drunk?JONNo.BENJEN (playfully shaking him)Little Jon! Drunk!
To make matters worse, the Bastard of Winterfell makes quite the notable exit (we're sure Cat would've been thrilled):
Finally he pushes back from the bench and stands-- but loses his balance and lurches into the Serving Girl, sending a flagon of wine crashing to the floor.Laughter booms all around. Jon flushes and runs for the door. Ghost follows at his heels.
So there you have it, folks.
There are plenty of other interesting tidbits you can check out in HuffPo's breakdown of the pilot-that-never-was. But the ultimate takeaway remains the same: Magic is a fickle thing, and Game of Thronesalmost failed to capture it.
So thank the Seven Heavens that D. B. Weiss and David Benioff reworked their massively ambitious failure of a pilot into the cultural phenomenon that's getting us all through winter now.
TopicsGame Of ThronesHBO
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