Season 5

Season 5 of Game of Thrones was commissioned by HBO on 8 April 2014, following a substantial increase in audience figures between the third and fourth seasons. The fifth and sixth seasons were commissioned simultaneously, the first time HBO has commissioned two seasons at once for a major drama series.

The season consists of ten episodes. It began filming in July 2014 and concluded on 12 December 2014. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss return as executive producers and showrunners for both seasons five and six, having signed a new two-year contract with HBO in early 2014.

The season premiered on April 12, 2015.

Season 5 is based mostly on the fourth and fifth novels of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, respectively. The storylines of the two books run concurrently but follow different sets of characters.

Production
Location scouting for Season 5 took place in Croatia and Spain. Filming in Croatia would continue in and around Dubrovnik, Split, and Žrnovnica, and expand to new locations around Imotski and Šibenik. The Spanish locations which were scouted are in Andalusia, namely the Alhambra of Granada, the Alcázar of Seville and the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos of Córdoba.

On July 2, 2014, U.S. ambassador to Spain James Costos confirmed at an economic forum meeting that Game of Thrones would be filming in the country. HBO later confirmed the same day that Seville was selected as the primary filming location, as well as other sites in the surrounding province of Seville. The Alcázar of Seville served as the Water Gardens, the seaside palace of House Martell located just outside of Sunspear, the capital of Dorne. The Alcázar is the oldest palace still in use in Europe, acting as a part-time residence for the present Spanish royal family. The site was first fortified in 712, and the Almohads expanded it in the twelfth century, making it a royal residence in 1248. Extensive additions were also made in subsequent centuries. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. The Alcázar was previously used in Ridley Scott's 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven as the filming location for the court of the king of Jerusalem.

Locations were scouted in Seville as well as the nearby town of Osuna. Fresco Film Productions put out an open casting call via Facebook for extras in the area. Rosario Andújar, the mayor of Osuna, stated in El Mundo that the scouted locations include the Plaza de Toros (a bull ring with sandstone walls, over a century old), the university (built in 1548, with four towers and influenced by the Italian Renaissance, La Colegiata (a church founded in 1535), and the Canteras de Osuna (the old quarries that supplied stone for the town).

On July 3, 2014 it was reported that filming would briefly return to Iceland, but would not feature any major characters, instead focusing on landscape shots. Line producer Snorri Þórisson confirmed that the show intended to film a battle in Iceland in the month of November, but that with rewrites, the scene grew too large. It is difficult to film protracted battle scenes in Iceland during the fall due to the very limited daylight hours. It is unclear if this was a reference to the Massacre at Hardhome or the Battle of Winterfell.

On July 13, 2014, it was confirmed that filming would begin in September in the town of Šibenik, Croatia, which largely represented Braavos. St. James Cathedral was used as the basis for the headquarters of the Iron Bank of Braavos. The cathedral is the center of Croatia's Catholic Church and the see of the Šibenik diocese. The basilica, which is in the UNESO World Heritage list, is widely considered to be the most important example of Renaissance architecture in the country.

On July 27, 2014, in an interview with Sophie Turner, she confirmed that she would start filming in Belfast on Wednesday July 30.

On August 9, 2014, it was confirmed that the production team in Spain would be filming in one of Osuna's active bull-fighting rings, the Plaza de Toros, but that actual filming in the ring might not take place until October. Bull fights are held at the Plaza de Toros annually, events which end with bulls actually being killed in the arena.

On August 11, 2014, WatchersOnTheWall.com reported that 86 year old actor actor J.J. Murphy died a matter of days after filming his first scenes as Denys Mallister, the commander of the Shadow Tower, the westernmost active castle on the Wall. The same day, Benioff and Weiss made an official statement via HBO's twitter account that the role would not be recast: "We will not be recasting J.J. Murphy. He was a lovely man, and the best Denys Mallister we could have hoped for. And now his watch is ended." In the end, Murhphy's role was brief and Mallister had no lines of dialogue. This will make Denys the second posthumous character appearing in the TV series (as well as the second cast member who has died): actress Margaret John, who played Old Nan, died only two months before Season 1 premiered, though all of her scenes had already been completed.

On August 24, 2014, WatchersOnTheWall.com reported that filming would again return to Diocletian's Palace in Croatia. This site was an ancient Roman palace built by emperor Diocletian in the fourth century. Despite the name, it resembles a fortress more than a palace (in fact, only half of it was Diocletian's residence, and the other half housed a large military garrison.) The cellars of the palace were previously used as the underground passageways in Meereen during Season 4, and they were used for this purpose again.

On September 3, 2014, Kristian Nairn (Hodor) revealed that he would not be returning in Season 5: "We're not actually in Season Five, by the way. We have a season off. We have a year’s hiatus...Solely because, I imagine, our storyline is up to the end of the books. - So I get a year off now." Although Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who plays Bran, seemed to imply he would be back, it was later confirmed Bran would indeed not be in the fifth season. On October 6, 2014, Art Parkinson (Rickon) confirmed that he and Natalia Tena (Osha) would not be returning in Season 5.

On October 14, 2014, Game of Thrones production units were observed filming in Córdoba, Spain, at the Roman Bridge of Córdoba, a famous landmark in the Historic Center of Córdoba built in the first century BC. The bridge has been restored and renovated several times across the ages, and now only two of the arches are from the original Roman construction. Benioff and Weiss confirmed the bridge would represent the Long Bridge of Volantis.

That same week, Benioff and Weiss spoke in a special event at the Teatro Central de Sevilla. They confirmed that there would be flashbacks in Season 5, despite their previous assertions that there would never be flashbacks on the TV show. They did experiment with using flashbacks in the unaired pilot episode, but afterwards felt that it broke up the dramatic pacing. The books themselves do not have straightforward "flashback scenes", but POV narrators will remember or recall past events at length (i.e. when Jaime explains why he actually killed the Mad King, in "Kissed by Fire"). In the end, season five featured a single scene of this sort: the first episode opened with a flashback to when Cersei was young and visited Maggy.

Adaptation

 * See main article on "Game of Thrones (TV series)"

While developing Season 4, Benioff admitted that "Season 5 gives him nightmares". However, once they actually had outlined the season, Benioff and Weiss revealed "the fear started to dissipate." They also claimed the season would be "drawing heavily" from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, the fourth and fifth books of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga.

The book series was originally planned as a trilogy (A Game of Thrones, A Dance with Dragons and The Winds of Winter), but Martin realized his plot of "book one" would have to be expanded into three novels (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords), which means the first three books are "Act One" of a three Act story. In fact, the climax of A Storm of Swords concludes many of the plot lines begun in A Game of Thrones. Furthermore, what Martin originally planned as the middle novel grew too vast to be published as a single tome, so he cut it into two books that take place concurrently: in very rough terms, the fourth one (A Feast for Crows) follows all of the characters in the Seven Kingdoms while the fifth one (A Dance with Dragons) covers the storylines that take place elsewhere (such as the Night's Watch at the Wall, Tyrion as he escapes to the Free Cities, and Daenerys in Slaver's Bay). Season 5 will present the events featured in these two books in chronological order, intercutting between the two clusters of storylines.

On the one hand, this combination of novels could easily span two seasons, since it would be longer than A Storm of Swords, which was adapted into the third season and most of the fourth one. On the other hand, whereas the Red Wedding happens around the middle of the third novel and provided a convenient climax for Season 3, there are no similarly game-changing or climactic events in the middle of A Feast for Crows or A Dance with Dragons —both of which are slower-paced than the previous novels anyway.

Some of those two novels had already been advanced to Season 4 (everything after Daenerys took Meereen, everything after Brienne left King's Landing to look for Sansa, Sansa's story after Lady Lysa's death, Bran's whole story and the Fall of Moat Cailin), while other storylines were delayed to Season 6 (the Ironborn and Riverlands subplots, Arya's blind period and Sam arriving at Oldtown.) Ultimately, however, the bulk of these books was still adapted into Season 5. Despite some condensations, Jon Snow at the Wall, Cersei and the Tyrells in King's Landing, Tyrion heading to Meereen, and Daenerys in Meereen cover most of the major plot points which happened to each of them. The Stannis and Bolton storylines in the North, however, was extremely condensed. Both were reasonably close to what happened in the novels until about the second half of Season 5. In the novels, Stannis leaves the Wall to begin his campaign in the North only about one third of the way into the fifth book, after which it and the Boltons at Winterfell become one of the primary focuses of the narrative. The Sansa and Brienne storylines (entirely separate in the novels, both from each other and from the Bolton storyline) were also condensed. The writers also adapted some of the Dorne subplot, but with such limited screentime dedicated to it that the main parts of it didn't appear, nor did several major characters, such as arguably the storyline's main character —Doran's daughter and heir, Arianne Martell, who is actually a POV narrator. Tyrion's storyline as he was heading east to Meereen introduced a major new subplot involving a major political shakeup in the Free Cities, but this was cut completely from Season 5, and it will probably be omitted in the future.

Cast

 * Main article: Season 5 cast

Starring cast

 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (10 episodes)
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister (7 episodes)
 * Lena Headey as Queen Mother Cersei Lannister (8 episodes)
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen (8 episodes)
 * Kit Harington as Lord Commander Jon Snow (9 episodes)
 * Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish (6 episodes)
 * Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister ("The Wars to Come")
 * Natalie Dormer as Queen Margaery Tyrell (5 episodes)
 * Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon (8 episodes)
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth (7 episodes)
 * Carice van Houten as Lady Melisandre (6 episodes)
 * Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand (5 episodes)
 * Alfie Allen as Reek (6 episodes)
 * Sophie Turner as Lady Sansa Stark (9 episodes)
 * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark (6 episodes)
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly (9 episodes)
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane (5 episodes)
 * Hannah Murray as Gilly (6 episodes)
 * Conleth Hill as Varys (4 episodes)
 * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth (6 episodes)
 * Jerome Flynn as Ser Bronn (6 episodes)
 * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis (7 episodes)
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei (7 episodes)
 * Dean-Charles Chapman as King Tommen Baratheon (5 episodes)
 * Tom Wlaschiha as Jaqen H'ghar (6 episodes)
 * Michael McElhatton as Lord Roose Bolton (4 episodes)
 * Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton (6 episodes)
 * with Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont (8 episodes)

Selected guest starring cast

 * Brenock O'Connor as Olly (9 episodes)
 * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett (8 episodes)
 * Owen Teale as Ser Alliser Thorne (7 episodes)
 * Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant (6 episodes)
 * Tara Fitzgerald as Queen Selyse Baratheon (6 episodes)
 * Joel Fry as Hizdahr zo Loraq (6 episodes)
 * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne (6 episodes)
 * Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow (5 episodes)
 * Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm (5 episodes)
 * Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Lord Mace Tyrell (5 episodes)
 * Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand (5 episodes)
 * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle (5 episodes)
 * Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand (5 episodes)
 * Kerry Ingram as Princess Shireen Baratheon (5 episodes)
 * Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand (5 episodes)
 * Anton Lesser as Qyburn (5 episodes)
 * DeObia Oparei as Areo Hotah (5 episodes)
 * Eugene Simon as Brother Lancel (5 episodes)
 * Nell Tiger Free as Princess Myrcella Baratheon (5 episodes)
 * Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell (4 episodes)
 * Faye Marsay as the Waif (4 episodes)
 * Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy (4 episodes)
 * Toby Sebastian as Prince Trystane Martell (4 episodes)
 * Alexander Siddig as Prince Doran Martell (4 episodes)
 * Will Tudor as Olyvar (4 episodes)
 * Charlotte Hope as Myranda (4 episodes)
 * Dominic Carter as Lord Janos Slynt (3 episodes)
 * Ian Gelder as Ser Kevan Lannister (3 episodes)
 * Peter Vaughan as Maester Aemon (3 episodes)
 * Hannah Waddingham as Septa Unella (3 episodes)
 * Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell (2 episodes)
 * Paul Bentley as the High Septon (2 episodes)
 * Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder ("The Wars to Come")
 * Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Ser Gregor Clegane ("Mother's Mercy")
 * Richard Brake as The Night's King ("Hardhome")
 * Lino Facioli as Lord Robin Arryn ("The Wars to Come")
 * Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris ("The Dance of Dragons")
 * Rupert Vansittart as Lord Yohn Royce ("The Wars to Come")

Crew
Regular directors Neil Marshall, Alex Graves, Alik Sakharov, and Michelle MacLaren are not returning for Season 5. Notably, this is also the first time since Season 2 that no episodes are directed by the executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. MacLaren's departure also makes Season 5 the first since Season 2 with no female director. MacLaren is the only female director who ever worked on the TV series, producing two episodes in Season 3 and another two in Season 4.

George R.R. Martin stated he would not be writing an episode, as he has done in every previous season, because he wants to focus on finishing The Winds of Winter, the sixth novel in the book series. Meanwhile, Dave Hill, the former assistant for Benioff and Weiss and the writer of the Histories & Lore short videos, was brought forward to write an episode after Benioff and Weiss were impressed with his story ideas involving Olly and Ygritte in the fourth season.

The entire production crew that worked on Season 5, spread across several countries, consisted of roughly 1,000 people. Of them, about 750 worked in Northern Ireland - that is, about 250 worked exclusively in other countries, but many of those who worked at the production's home base in Northern Ireland also visited filming locations in other countries. Of these, the entire costuming department includes about 100 people (including major designers, embroiderers, hairstylists, cleaners, cloth-agers, sorters and fitters, and metal armor forgers). As for the cast in Season 5, the show employed 166 actors who had speaking roles, and another 5,000 extras for crowd scenes.

Producers

 * David Benioff: executive producer & showrunner
 * D.B. Weiss: executive producer & showrunner
 * Bernadette Caulfield: executive producer
 * Frank Doelger: executive producer
 * Carolyn Strauss: executive producer
 * George R.R. Martin: co-executive producer
 * Vince Gerardis: co-executive producer
 * Guymon Casady: co-executive producer
 * Greg Spence: producer
 * Chris Newman: producer
 * Bryan Cogman: producer
 * Lisa McAtackney: producer
 * Michele Clapton: costume designer
 * Deborah Riley: production designer
 * Ramin Djawadi: composer
 * Nina Gold: casting director
 * Robert Sterne: casting director

Writers

 * David Benioff & D.B. Weiss: episodes 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10
 * Dave Hill: episode 4
 * Bryan Cogman: episodes 5 and 6

Directors

 * Michael Slovis: episodes 1 and 2
 * Mark Mylod: episodes 3 and 4
 * Jeremy Podeswa: episodes 5 and 6
 * Miguel Sapochnik: episodes 7 and 8
 * David Nutter: episodes 9 and 10

Media release
Season 5 will be available for direct digital download (via iTunes) starting on August 31, 2015. This will include the free behind-the-scenes featurettes previously released on the HBO Viewer's Guide website. The full season download is priced at $38.99 for HD, and $28.99 for SD (in US dollars).

Season 5 Blu-ray and DVD box sets will be released on March 15, 2016, just in time for Season 6. They are available for pre-order from Amazon.com, which prices the Blu-ray set at $72.98 and the DVD set at $53.99.

Awards
Game of Thrones Season 5 won a record-breaking 12 times in the 2015 Emmy Awards, including Best Drama.

Season 5 won awards in four major categories:


 * Outstanding Drama Series
 * Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series – David Nutter for the Season 5 finale, "Mother's Mercy"
 * Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series – David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for "Mother's Mercy"
 * Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series – Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (who previously won in this category for his work in Season 1).

Season 5 also won in eight technical categories, awarded at the Creative Arts Emmys:


 * Outstanding Special Visual Effects – "The Dance of Dragons"
 * Outstanding Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) – "Mother’s Mercy"
 * Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Contemporary Or Fantasy Program (One Hour Or More) – "High Sparrow" – Deborah Riley, Production Designer
 * Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series – "The Dance of Dragons"
 * Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series – Casting Directors Nina Gold, Robert Sterne, and Carla Stronge
 * Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series – "Hardhome"
 * Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour) – "Hardhome"
 * Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Limited Series Or Movie – Rowley Irlam, Stunt Coordinator

Many major critics and review sources, however, reacted to the wins by expressing that Season 5 was probably the weakest season of Game of Thrones to date - compared to its own prior seasons. This led to discussion about whether the Emmy voting system was skewed or out of touch. Two general positions developed:


 * The first group of critics felt that Season 5 did not deserve these Emmy wins (particularly Best Drama) in and of itself, but it has become common practice for the awards to be given to series that are "due" - series that should have won in prior awards years but were overshadowed by competition from other series. Game of Thrones never won Best Drama in its first four seasons - even after the climactic and critically very well received events of the third and fourth seasons, when it was competing against other shows such as Breaking Bad or Mad Men which were also considered to be in their prime. While Season 4 of Game of Thrones gained widespread praise, it competed at the Emmys against the universally praised final season of Breaking Bad (even Benioff and Weiss have said they are massive fans of what Breaking Bad achieved). These critics argued, in short, that Season 5 was not Emmy-worthy material but the win was meant to make up for past seasons when they should have won. This led to further criticisms of the broader pattern of voting for series that are considered to be "due" for a win even if their current material doesn't deserve it.
 * The second camp of critics, while feeling that Season 5 was the weakest season of Game of Thrones to date, expressed that this was only in comparison to the very high standard set by its own prior seasons - and moreover, because many other critically praised shows such as Breaking Bad were no longer airing, Season 5 of Game of Thrones simply faced weaker competition - in which case, these critics felt that Season 5 indeed deserved to win on its own merits, given that the awards are relative to other shows that are airing in a given year.

Either way, many post-Emmy critical reviews felt the need to express their view that Season 5 was the weakest season of the TV series so far (by its own standards), and ponder if it deserved such accolades in and of itself. These included: The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Vanity Fair, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, Deadline, TheGuardian.com, Collider, BusinessInsider, io9, BuddyTV.com, Bustle, and HitFix, among others.

TechInsider was bewildered that Benioff and Weiss won the Best Writing for a Drama Series award for the Season 5 finale "Mother's Mercy", given that it contained the strange and non sequitur line from Tyene Sand, "You want a good girl, but you need the bad pussy!" - which while not from the novels, is now officially part of a script that won an Emmy award for Best Writing.

No major critical reviews of record expressed a view that Season 5 was actually better than the prior four seasons that did not win such awards.