Watch “Game of Thrones: A Day in the Life”

Did you miss HBO’s 25 minutes special “A Day In The Life” on the making of Game of Thrones last night? Not to worry. The entire thing is up on line. We’ve got it below, along with thoughts of what they show, and, maybe more importantly, what they don’t show.

Check it out after the jump….

If you were watching for clues about Season 5, though, there wasn’t a huge amount of information.

First thing that struck me: though we are in “three” locations, they deliberately picked a point where the actual filming was of main characters who have been with us since the first season, in locations we’re already somewhat familiar with. We’ve been to Dany’s “penthouse” in Meereen before. And though we may not have been to quite this corner of King’s Landing and seen this level of poverty, we have been through the streets of King’s Landing before, and we know how bad conditions are (even if Cersei is oblivious.) Even though her scene is with new character the High Sparrow, played by Jonathan Pryce, the only footage we saw was of her and Meryn Trant arriving. Everything cuts away before they can reveal the new character, other than a single shot of him in costume.

Second: Just how little we know of what gets filmed in Belfast. After all, the tourist hordes are all around in Dubrovnik, so most of what was filmed in the streets was already documented. Though our pictures don’t show an exact scene like Cersei and the High Sparrow, we had already seen him in costume, and we know some of the plot points that are coming. Same with Spain. Though the production “day” does not cover filming in either of the Spain locales, we know some of what happened there. In Osuna, it was partly from the bullring being an open air venue, and loads of press trying to get a glimpse, and partly from leaked photos. In Seville, which is a much more easily locked down venue, our glimpses come from promotional footage given to the European TV station CANAL+.

But Belfast–other than “rumors of a new set in the quarry“–has been a total mystery. The show has done a great job in keeping the Jon Snow plot under wraps. The special makes sure to keep it that way too, teasing us with tidbits and set mock ups and concept art. Hardhome is never a place we see in the books–most of what happens there is off screen, which we learn about via ravens, letters, reports and in third hand mentions. Much like many of the “off book” sequences that happen in the show, it’s like Benioff and Weiss decide to “well, what if they turn left instead of right?” and we find ourselves in a mirror universe from the books where choices still lead to the same major plot points, but the path they take is different. This is a notion I can’t wait to see made reality. It is notable that they showed the director for the Hardhome section as the director for episodes 7 and 8, so now we know when the sequence will probably occur.

Oh and, finally, the stats. 86,000 applications to be extras. The show is viewed in 193 countries, filmed in 5 of them, on 151 sets, over 240 days of shooting, with 166 cast members+5,00 extras, and over 1,000 crew members. That’s beyond impressive.

• Published on 02/09/2015 at 10:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:06 PM CDT