Winterfell. Highgarden. Storm’s End. The Wall. King’s Landing. Westeros is filled with iconic locations and cities teeming with rich histories that made them the icons they are. But is it the grand heroes and powerful rulers who made those places iconic that gives them their power? Varys ponders an alternate source in this exclusive Game of Thrones featurette.
Included as part of the special features on the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release of Game of Thrones’ eighth and final season—as well as the epic, complete-series collection of the entire show—io9 is excited to debut the first look at the animated history of King’s Landing.
Narrated in character by Conleth Hill, the feature dives into how the city was raised and got its name, with the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror on Westeros’ shore, forever changing the continent. But it’s not just Aegon’s landing that gets covered, but how his successor, Maegor the Cruel, helped establish some of the city’s most infamous buildings, from the Red Keep to the Dragonpit—and how the people Maegor treated to earn his moniker are the real icons that power the city.
The clip is one of six animated histories that are included in the special features for Game of Thrones season eight’s home release, both as a standalone season and as part of Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection, a special release gathering all eight seasons in a wooden shadow box case—designed by Robert Ball the artist behind HBO’s “Beautiful Death” series for the show.
As well as the animated histories, both releases include audio commentaries for all six episodes of the last season, five never-before-seen deleted or extended scenes, a 30 minute interview with showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and The Last Watch, the feature-length documentary by Jeanie Finlay examining how the last season of the series was put together.
Here’s the list of all the animated histories, as well as commentaries, on the releases.
HISTORIES BREAKDOWN:
- Siege of Duskendale, Talent: Conleth Hill, Character: Varys
- The Blackfyre Rebellion, Talent: Conleth Hill, Character: Varys
- King’s Landing, Talent: Conleth Hill, Character: Varys
- Meagor The Cruel, Talent: Conleth Hill, Character: Varys
- The South, Talent: Kristofer Hivju, Character: Tormund
- GreyJoy Rebellion, paired history, Talent: Pilou Asbaek & Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Characters: Euron & Jaime
AUDIO COMMENTARIES:
- Episode 1: Winterfell – Dave Hill (Co-Producer & Writer) and Deborah Riley (Production Designer)
- Episode 2: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Bryan Cogman (Co-Executive Producer & Writer) and Dan Portman (Podrick Payne)
- Episode 3: The Long Night – Miquel Sapochnik (Director), Sean Savage (Camera Operator) and Fabian Wagner (Director of Photography)
- Episode 4: The Last of the Starks – David Franco (Director of Photography), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) and Pilou Asbæk (Euron Greyjoy)
- Episode 5: Bells – Miguel Sapochnik (Director), Fabian Wagner (Director of Photography) and Conleth Hill (Varys)
- Episode 6: The Iron Throne – Emilia Clarke (Danerys Targaryen), Dan Weiss (Executive Producer/Writer/Director), David Benioff (Executive Producer/Writer/Director)
Game of Thrones season eight and Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection both hit Blu-Ray and DVD on December 3. Thank the old gods and new for the holiday season giving you the chance to binge 75 hours worth of TV show, right?
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This article was edited after publication to add the full list of commentaries and histories.
