The Original pilot

[Abyssalix]

Do you guys think that D&D or HBO should ever release the original pilot? I mean i am truly curious about that episode, i dont know why they never put it in the extra's in the DVD.

If you are wondering why the Original pilot seems important to me , let me highlight whats going on :

-GRRM Cameo's in the original pilot

-Brandon stark and THE MAD KING are shown in a flashback

-Catelyn stark is played by a different actress

[Onna Lewyys]

It'd be interesting to see. I can't believe it didn't open with the WW scene, though. That would have been unforgivable.

[Spragues]

I would watch it. I'm surprised it wasn't an extra.

[Ser Areo Mace]

I would definitely watch it, just for flashback the the throne room if nothing else.

[Cravensbayne]

I bet they will add that to the complete box set in 10 years so the people who bought each season individually will spend more cash. Still, I would gladly pay big dough to see that.

[victim]

I seriously doubt it. Apparently, it was quite bad and everybody was shocked when HBO actually went for it afterwards. It's hard to say how bad it was but if it sullies the show in any way, we'll never see it.

[Newstar]

I seriously doubt it. Apparently, it was quite bad and everybody was shocked when HBO actually went for it afterwards. It's hard to say how bad it was but if it sullies the show in any way, we'll never see it.

Yeah, seriously. That pilot hasn't seen the light of day to date--which I suspect is entirely deliberate--and I doubt it ever will. HBO's going to bury it so deep. We didn't even get any deleted scenes for Season 1 (although to be fair it seemed like in Season 1 they were running short on material.) There was an article on io9.com a while back about the original pilot, based on a supposed script of the pilot the authors of the article weren't 100% sure was the real deal. The changes are interesting, to say the least.

I wouldn't mind seeing Jennifer Ehle (the original Catelyn cast) as Catelyn in the pilot. It would be a very different take on the character; based on my sense of Jennifer Ehle as an actress, I suspect Jennifer Ehle brought a more refined, aloof vibe to Catelyn than Michelle Fairley wound up bringing to the character. It's not surprising that Gillian Anderson (Scully from The X-Files) was offered the role of Catelyn and turned it down, as she also has a very refined, aloof vibe. Of course, Book Catelyn is more refined and aloof than the ultimate incarnation of Show Catelyn as played by Michelle Fairley.

Another thing about Jennifer Ehle originally being cast as Catelyn is that the pilot had that scene of Cersei and Catelyn sitting side by side at the feast. Originally, the scene was shot with Jennifer Ehle, but it was later reshot with Michelle Fairley (that's why Sansa looks so young when she's talking with Cersei...the shots of Sansa were from the earlier scene shot with Jennifer Ehle). The funny thing is that in the original version of the pilot, Jennifer Ehle would have been seated next to Lena Headey, not Michelle Fairley; Jennifer Ehle and Lena Headey actually played lovers in a 2002 movie called Possession. Ha!

[Hiram McDrogon]

I had no idea Jennifer Ehle was originally supposed to be Catelyn. I think she's a fantastic actress, but I have no idea how she'd play the part - she's one of those actors that just disappears into a role, and you're halfway through the film before you even realize it's her.

Thanks for the io9.com article. I'm sure there must have been lots of discussion here when it was first published a few months ago, but I somehow missed it.

[Myrddin]

It'd just be salt in the wound for actors who were recast, wouldn't it?

As much as I'd like to see the pilot out of curiosity's sake, they'll never release it formally. Though the True Blood pilot was leaked (at least scenes with a different Tara), so who knows.

I was excited for the "Possession" reunion as well, when Ehle and Headey were initially cast, but Fairley's performance was so strong, I'll never wish it wasn't her.

[Hot3.14]

I would love to watch the original pilot. It would be interesting to see how Tamzin Merchant played Daenerys.

[Onna Lewyys]

I would love to watch the original pilot. It would be interesting to see how Tamzin Merchant played Daenerys.

I'd imagine she played her very well at that point. She tends to play very sweet and timid, which is how Dany was in the beginning. But B&W probably realized that she couldn't quite pull off the fierceness Dany comes into later. They say in one of their commentaries that it was easier to find actresses who could play one personality or the other, but not both.

[The hairy bear]

I can't believe it didn't open with the WW scene, though. That would have been unforgivable.

The pilot opened with the WW scene. With different actors for Gared and Royce, though, and also with Gared as the survivor (as in the books).

I would really love to see it, and I'm confident that it will come out sooner or later. Besides being able to see the acting of Ehle and Merchant, many scenes were given a completely different approach. Specially the Pentos part of the story, as it was filmed in Marrocco instead of Malta, and the wedding night happens as in the books (with Daenerys not crying ond going willingly to Drogo).

[Fat Mac]

I believe the scene in the crypts was actually the one they filmed for the pilot. I remember seeing that somewhere.

I wouldn't really mind seeing the pilot. Daenerys and Catelyn were played by different actresses, as were some of the more minor characters (Illyrio), but it'd be interesting to see their take on the characters.

[Onna Lewyys]

The pilot opened with the WW scene. With different actors for Gared and Royce, though, and also with Gared as the survivor (as in the books).

I listened to all the S1 commentaries last week and I could swear that they said that scene was not originally in the episode.

[Darryk]

The Brandon-Mad King scene must have gotten buried for a reason. My guess is it didn't do the moment justice.

[Colonel Green]

I wouldn't mind seeing Jennifer Ehle (the original Catelyn cast) as Catelyn in the pilot.

One of the things I find interesting about Jennifer Ehle's casting originally is that Sophie Turner has a pretty decent resemblance to Ehle, like Sansa is supposed to; but when they recast with Fairley, it's actually Arya who looks more like her mom.

[The hairy bear]

I listened to all the S1 commentaries last week and I could swear that they said that scene was not originally in the episode.

Here's

we ever got of Game of Thrones, including fotage of the first version of the NW scene. At 0:17 there are glimpses of Richard Ridings as Gared and Jaime Campbell Bower as Royce. And George even discussed the issue in his blog.

Probably the confusion comes from the commentaries saying that the whole scene had to be filmed again from scratch. They changed two of the actors, they added much more blood and gore to the wildling cadavers and arranged in a weird shape, and they made Will survive instead of Gared.

[oierem]

In the commentaries, they say that you didn't see the Wall in the original pilot, not that the whole scene wasn't there, just the opening section (or scene) where the three rangers cross the Wall.

[Werthead]

Ian McNeice as Illyrio, with the Hat From Hell.

Jamie Campbell Bower as Ser Waymar Royce.

Yeah, seriously. That pilot hasn't seen the light of day to date--which I suspect is entirely deliberate--and I doubt it ever will. HBO's going to bury it so deep. We didn't even get any deleted scenes for Season 1 (although to be fair it seemed like in Season 1 they were running short on material.) There was an article on io9.com a while back about the original pilot, based on a supposed script of the pilot the authors of the article weren't 100% sure was the real deal. The changes are interesting, to say the least.

It was an internal pilot for HBO's own consumption. They do a lot of these, and their policy is never to show them to the public, ever.

The reasons why are partially financial: releasing the episode would mean arranging compensation for the actors who were in it who were not retained for the show. There's also an element of professionalism involved: it would not be fair either to the original actors or the replacements to put this material out there for lots of compare-and-contrasts. On a final note, these kind of internal pilots usually don't have finalised music or special effects, and would not be up to the standards of a 'proper' episode in terms of production value.

It's not surprising that Gillian Anderson (Scully from The X-Files) was offered the role of Catelyn and turned it down, as she also has a very refined, aloof vibe. Of course, Book Catelyn is more refined and aloof than the ultimate incarnation of Show Catelyn as played by Michelle Fairley.

Is there a source for that? There was a strong fan contingent arguing in favour of Anderson as Catelyn, but AFAIK never an official approach by the producers to Anderson.

-Brandon stark and THE MAD KING are shown in a flashback

I think that was filmed for a later episode and discarded, not the pilot.

I believe the scene in the crypts was actually the one they filmed for the pilot. I remember seeing that somewhere.

Yes. For what it's worth, here's the full (as far as we know) list of scenes that survived from the pilot. You can also tell because Sean Bean's hair is a bit different (a bit more unkempt) and also all these scenes are shot on film rather than digital:

The Eddard/Robert exchange in the crypts.

The scene at the Winterfell feast where Ned and Benjen discuss Will's execution.

The scene where Ned and Jaime bump into each other at the feast and talk about tournaments.

The scene where Sansa is presented to Cersei; Cersei and Catelyn's coverage is new, but Sansa's is from the original pilot (as mentioned above).

The scene in Winterfell's courtyard where Tyrion and Sandor exchange some words before Robert thanks Ned for accepting his offer. You can see Theon has his blonde hair in this scene (and Tyrion's hair is a bit blonder than normal, and Sandor's make-up and hair are slightly different). The shot of Bran seeing his father leave is probably new, though.

There's been some talk that some of the other feast stuff (Joffrey making eyes at Sansa and extra-who-is-Jeyne-Poole; Robb sending Arya to bed after the food flinging) might also be from the pilot, but the feast scene from the pilot was filmed in an actual castle hall and the Episode 1 reshoot was on a set, with the two rooms looking rather different (you can see this in the background of the Jaime/Ned exchange, where the hall looks longer and more narrow than the rest of the shots, where the room is more square), and those other shots are on the square-looking set. Of course, Winterfell is so huge and the feast presumably takes place over several rooms, so this actually adds to the effect.

It's also worth noting that we not only lost several actors and GRRM's cameo, but we also lost a guest appearance by German folk band Corvus Corax, who originally played the musicians at the feast but didn't come back for the reshot episode.

I listened to all the S1 commentaries last week and I could swear that they said that scene was not originally in the episode.

The scene was in the episode, but what wasn't was the shot of the Wall and them riding out. It started in media res like the novel, with them already in the Haunted Forest. They added the shot of the Wall after it was pointed out that otherwise no-one would have a clue what 'the Wall' was until the end of Episode 2.

The Brandon-Mad King scene must have gotten buried for a reason. My guess is it didn't do the moment justice.

Apparently the writers were very uneasy about including it in the first place because of the level of casting it required, and ultimately settled on a 'no flashbacks' policy. Otherwise the huge cast would have become totally unwieldy (you'd need Rhaegar, Lyanna, Elia, the Mad King, Rickard, Brandon...it'd be too much). That meant the scene had to be ditched.

[protar]

The issues with the cast aside, I do wish they hadn't made the no flashback's policy. It's easy for us to forget as we've read the books, but if you just watch the show and ignore that prior knowledge it's really quite astounding how little we know about Robert's Rebellion. Presumably this was to avoid going too heavy on the exposition, but flashbacks would have helped make that information more digestible.

We only really needed four: Brandon and Rickard's deaths, Jaime on the IT, some quick shots of Rhaegar vs. Robert, and the Tower of Joy. We'd need to cast Aerys, Brandon, Rickard and Arthur Dayne certainly. Sean and Nikolaj could hopefully be made to look younger, and helmeted extras could play Ned's companions, the KG and Robert and Rhaegar.