INSIDE HBO’s GAME OF THRONES - SEASONS 3 & 4
By C.A. Taylor
Foreword by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Published by ORION BOOKS
Reviewed by Scott Weller
Receiving the much welcome kind of attention to detail and voluminous accompanying special features all too rare in the worlds of DVD and Blu-ray these days, George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series converted to HBO reality, GAME OF THRONES, has also recently gained an additional series of sumptuous behind the scenes companion books that are just as lavish, info-packed and worthy of fan purchase. The latest, from ORION and author C.A. Taylor, is out now, a 192-page celebration and look back at the heady, game-changing events of its third and fourth seasons- a pivotal time for the overall series where its storytelling was getting ever darker, braver, and more varied in its world-evolving, portraying shades of grey characters and intertwined alliances not always for the good but the necessary, and the ill consequences soon following from their machinations.
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| Series adaptors and creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. Image: Helen Sloan/HBO. |
Series creators/adaptors David Benioff and D.B. Weiss provide a sprightly foreword to the book and reveal more about their creative decision-making progress for the series, showing the kind of all too rare love and dedication to the material which makes it the Number One television series in the world, having previously bet their careers on its success, yet ultimately winning in spades at bringing to life the most ambitious and character relatable fantasy show ever conceived for television now often more cinematic in visual texture than the cinema medium itself!
This is a story where the great and the good are truly poles apart, where power isn’t always with the honest man. The corrupted Lannisters and their chalk and cheese partners, the Tyrells, claim the continued prized domains of Westeros, though soon generating the attentions of an emergent, revenge-seeking clan from an exotic isle across the sea, whilst fragmented rival houses outside the core rotten King's Landing face shattering civil wars to even worse, often barbaric, degrees. Having previously suffered in long exile, there’s also a young Queen in a far-off realm determined to win back her family’s name to the sword throne, but not before she has fought back against the rising tyranny and oppression threatening the freedoms she has fought so hard to bring to her former slave followers. All this, and the depleted but brave-hearted Night’s Watch valiant if unheeded and woefully unsupported efforts beyond the Great Wall of the North to save everyonefrom attack by the Wildling Alliances and the even darker threat building of the previously thought extinct, ominous harbingers of death, and un-death, that are the terrifying blue-eyed White Walkers…
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| The cast of Season Three. Image: HBO. |
Its not hard to see why this series has become so addictive and so beloved to so many, as key series sequences now iconic in television history are given true celebration in gorgeous photo spreads and layouts- the gruesome and barbarous “Red Wedding” and the no-holds-barred Battle of the Wall being particular standouts, accompanied by interview/contributions with the series unique all-star cast, including newcomers such as Diana Rigg’s matriarch Olenna Tyrell and Pedro Pascal’s revenge seeking Oberyn Martell, getting their chance to talk about the characters and their parts in the giant storytelling process, joining an attractive ensemble reflecting on some of the tender, violent and most surprising moments of the two seasons and how they’ve been surprised by the way their characters have grown, changed or even died across the seasons. Plus more on those other supporting players who will have lots more to do in Season Five.
As a photography director myself, I have been aware of the series primary set photographer Helen Sloan’s work in the media since the nineties, but her portfolio on THRONES is really showing her talents and composition eye at their best, particularly atmospheric and detailed at capturing our flawed, tragic and noble heroes, and their downright unredemptable, often despicable nemeses, whilst the “back stage” photographs show what it takes to bring such a memorable series to life, not just in Ireland, the show’s primary filming/studio home whose amazing sets not only thrill the viewers but stagger the cast as well, but also across the harsh and haunting climes of Iceland, Croatia, and the resonant warmth of Morocco?
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| The key sigils of the Westeros houses. Image: HBO. |
Giving us more on the lore of the series, the book has specially created maps, charts, histories of characters and their Houses, alliances of both good and evil, and a look at the various faiths and religions that weight themselves on the destinies of the characters.
As we go further behind the scenes, we get to look at the decision-making contributions of the shows key directors (including Michelle MacLaren, Neill Marshall and David Nutter), and see the immense work of Production Designer Deborah Riley and other key production members, whose attention to detail and the huge need from planning and preparation grows alongside the series storytelling complexity. We get to examine the wardrobe of costumes (notably for the female characters), props and distinctive armour devised and realized on a daily basis, its makers revealing the thoughts behind their creation and ultimate material compositions, production designs and blueprints, and the importance of their adhering to George R.R. Martin’s books yet also adding vital new areas of richness that even its creator didn’t expect once series filming was underway. Beyond the practical filming, there’s a delve into the integration of CGI in ways that add rather than detract from the storytelling, especially important for the epic Battle of the Wall concluding Season Four…
Rounding the tome out on a darkly humorous note worthy of the series, the back page gives select cast and crew the chance to humorously speculate on who’ll next be joining the series esteemed “Death List”, during the next tumultuous events of the destinies crossing, surely even more audience rousing Season Five. Roll on Book Three in the companion series to cover all that...
KOOL TV RATING: An attractive, thoroughly illuminating examination of the making of a TV series that’s well worth a special place on your bookshelf. 9 out of 10
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