Game of Thrones

King Robert Baratheon asks his old friend Ned Stark to serve as Hand of the King after the suspicious death of Jon Arryn. At Winterfell, Bran catches Queen Cersei with her twin brother, Jaime, gets pushed from the tower and loses the use of his legs. Ned goes to King's Landing with Sansa and Arya and learns that Cersei's children are Jaime's. Robert dies after a hunt, Joffrey takes the throne, and Ned is arrested for treason and beheaded. Robb, Ned's son, is proclaimed King in the North and captures Jaime. Jon Snow joins the Night's Watch at the Wall. Across the sea, Daenerys marries Khal Drogo, loses her brother Viserys and her husband, and walks out of the funeral pyre with three newborn dragons.

1. Behind the scenesMartin's lost cameo

   George R. R. Martin filmed a cameo as a Pentoshi nobleman at Daenerys and Drogo's wedding in the original pilot. Daenerys was recast, the scene was reshot, and he was cut.

   source ↗
2. Behind the scenesThe pilot nobody saw

   HBO wasn't happy with the first pilot, and much of it was reshot. In it, Tamzin Merchant played Daenerys and Jennifer Ehle played Catelyn; the roles went to Emilia Clarke and Michelle Fairley.

   source ↗
3. ReferenceThe Iron Throne is too small

   Martin praises the show's throne but says the one in the books is far bigger: a hunched, lopsided beast of thousands of swords, too big to even fit on the set.

   source ↗