Behind the scenes
How Game of Thrones was filmed: the secrets you missed
November 7, 2025 · KK
In the world of Game of Thrones you can lose your head over the wrong word. Behind its scenes, though, a famous costume can be made from a rug bought in a furniture shop.
Details like these say more about how the show was made than the size of the budget itself. A convincing Westeros required costumes, locations, actors, stunt performers and computer effects to be brought into line. And, along the way, some surprisingly everyday problems to be solved.
Here are four stories that will probably make you watch a little differently next time.
The article mentions scenes from seasons six and seven.
1. IKEA rugs really did make it into the Night's Watch
Costume designer Michele Clapton has confirmed that IKEA rugs were used for some of the Night's Watch cloaks. The team tore them up, treated them with wax and dust and added leather straps.
But the internet version of the story became a little too confident. In a later interview with Fashionista she explained that Jon's famous cloak was not made from an IKEA rug. That material was used for Samwell and other early Night's Watch costumes.
The distinction is interesting because of the process itself, too. The shop-bought rug was only the raw material. Its surface had to be changed so that it looked worn, heavy and right for a man who lives at the Wall.
Next time, watch the edges of the clothing. That is often where a costume starts to tell you how a character lives.
2. The Battle of the Bastards took 25 shooting days
When Jon Snow stands before the oncoming cavalry, he looks alone on screen. Behind a scene like that, however, is an enormous amount of organisation.
According to figures published by Entertainment Weekly and summarised by TIME, filming the battle took 25 days, 500 extras, 600 crew members and around 70 horses.
Every repeated take means putting people, costumes, props and cameras back in place. In a crowd scene, individual movements have to add up to action the viewer understands and yet experiences as chaos.
That is exactly why HBO's behind-the-scenes footage is such good viewing. It shows the work behind a scene that is almost impossible to break down into individual tasks while you are watching it.
On your next viewing, pay attention to the height of the camera and the restricted view between bodies. The feeling of being trapped also comes from how much of the battlefield the shot allows us to see at all.
3. The dragon attack combined a digital creature with practical effects
The attack on the Lannister column in the episode The Spoils of War looks like a scene that ought to have been created entirely on a computer.
HBO's documentary feature The Loot Train Attack shows a more complex picture: visual effects departments working together with horses, props and stunt work, and the use of practical fire effects.
During the riding scenes, Emilia Clarke sat on a mechanical rig that imitated the movement of the dragon. The rig moves, and the actress has to create the impression that she is in control of a gigantic creature, even though it isn't there around her yet.
For the viewer, all these elements come together into a single event. So on your next viewing, besides Drogon, watch people's reactions, the light and what is happening on the ground. It is precisely the contact between the digital creature and the physical environment that sells the feeling that the attack is really happening.
4. The opening map came about because of a very concrete problem
The famous title sequence with its mechanical cities has a practical story as well.
Angus Wall of the studio Elastic said in an interview with Art of the Title that the production needed a way to explain the geography of an invented world to viewers. At first they tried short maps between scenes, but these interrupted the flow of the story.
They moved the solution into the title sequence. The map thus prepared the viewer for the locations before the episode had really begun.
Wall also explained that they wanted to design the computer animation as a physical object. Cogs, materials and light were meant to create the feeling of a complex mechanism that someone could actually build.
That is an excellent reason not to press “Skip intro” straight away next time. Some of the most carefully considered storytelling in the series happens before the first line is spoken.
Videos and sources
- HBO: Anatomy of a Scene, The Battle of Winterfell. The video is about the battle from season 6, not the episode The Long Night from season 8.
- HBO: The Loot Train Attack.
- Fashionista: interview with costume designer Michele Clapton and the IKEA clarification.
- TIME: the numbers behind filming the Battle of the Bastards.
- TheWrap: a breakdown of HBO's behind-the-scenes video of the dragon attack.
- Art of the Title: interview with Angus Wall about the title sequence.
