Game of Thrones is the biggest hit in HBO’s history, but it got off to a bit of a rocky start. The original pilot was legendarily rough, and had to be heavily reshot before it debuted as “Winter Is Coming,” the premiere episode we know today.
A lot was lost during the reshoots. We’ve never seen footage of Tazmin Merchant playing Daenerys Targaryen, or Jennifer Ehle playing Catelyn Stark. The original pilot also featured a cameo by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, who played a guest at Dany’s wedding feast to Khal Drogo. But because the part of Daenerys was recast, that whole scene had to be reshot, and Martin’s cameo ended up on the cutting room floor.
But at least one picture remains. Behold Martin in his costume as a Pentoshi nobleman:
Martin posted this picture to his Not a Blog, where he wrote about that Westworld episode where Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss appeared as Delos techs, alongside Drogon. Being no stranger to cameos himself, Martin was all for that little crossover:
I’ve done my own cameos over the years as well. You can catch a glimpse of me (young, dark-haired me) in two different episodes of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The first one you’d need to be blind to miss; the second one you’ll miss if you blink. More recently, I played a zombie version of myself in Z NATION (still signing books), and had my head bitten off by a shark in SHARKNADO 3 (though they cut all my lines, pfui).
Martin mentions a couple other attempts to get Game of Thrones cameos. He wanted to be a head on a spike outside the walls of the Red Keep in season 1, but that was too expensive (remember, the budget was way lower in the first season). He also thought he might die at the Red Wedding, but it was thought such a winking Easter egg would distract from the seriousness of the scene.
Hopefully, we’ll one day get to see that original Game of Thrones pilot in all its glory, and if not, then we’ll always have George in his stunning Sunday-best bow-hat.
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h/t TV Guide
