Game of Thrones Eyes Spain

[The hairy bear]

Using parts of the Alhambra as the Water Gardens would make a lot of sense. The palace could also double as Sunspear for the rest of the season (although they should hide the iconic fountain supported by lions, as no Martell would have it :P). Perhaps, the only drawback is that the surroundings have too much vegetation for Dorne, and there's no nearby sea to be seen, so all establishing shots will need to be CGI'd.

I think that the main thing that can be found in the Iberian Peninsula that can't be found in the other countries that the show is already filming in is usable castles. Some more ideas:

• Ronda Plaza as the Arena of Mereen.
  
• Segovia as Braavos (amazing aqueduct, but no canals though)
  
• Bellver Castle as Storm's End
  
• Coca Castle could also be used as the walls of the Shadow City, or as Selhorys or Volantis (although they aren't black...)
  

ETA: Also, the real life inspiration for Casterly Rock is not far away, if they ever need to film something there.

[igrewupinKL]

Either Bravoos or Dorne

[boojam]

Spain has a very long history as a popular filming location for its beautiful, semi-arid regions and the Moorish influence on its architecture. Andalusia—the name of the region deriving from the Arabic name, Al-Andalus—served as one of the primary filming locations for David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, as well as a significant part of Sergio Leone’s westerns with Clint Eastwood, such as A Fist Full of Dollars and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and also Anthony Mann’s El Cid. Suffice it to say, it will provide a lot of possibilities for Dorne, a region Martin has explicitly connected with Moorish Spain.

Dorne of course.

When I think back to the Samuel Bronston Epics:

The Fall of the Roman Empire – 1964

55 Days at Peking – 1963

El Cid – 1961

King of Kings – 1961

( I won't mention Circus World!)

These were all filmed in Spain , I don't know about King of Kings, but the only boxoffice Bronston had was El Cid...

Fall of the Roman Empire ... (still a better telling of the Marcus Aurelius era than Gladiator, which will not a bad film, really spun off into an alternate universe!)

The real point is Bronston's directors took great advantage of beautiful settings in Spain.

I am just thinking that Slaver's Bay has looked a little cramped in Croatia, had heard Meereen was in Split?

Anyway thinking of El Cid boy there were some great exterior locations they used , old castles at Ampudia, Belmonte, Peñíscola and Torrelobatón that would CGI up right nice!

I could see keeping Dubrovnik for KL.

Dorne is a no brainer.

The story does shift to the East more than in the first 3 novels.

So Slavers bay , Meereen in particular, someplace in Spain that looks like the Grass Sea?

How about Empuriabrava for Braavos?

Good veteran film studio support and....

a ton of fine 'Mediterranean' extras (who would show up for work!)... actually a lot of the world's best actors , tho they may not all be living in Spain right now!

I still puzzle over Iceland for season 4, yes I know it's beautiful and exotic , but most of that shooting could have been done in NI.

Maybe they signed a three year deal?

[The hairy bear]

So Slavers bay , Meereen in particular, someplace in Spain that looks like the Grass Sea?

With the production's headquarters in Ireland, they would be stupid if they went to Spain looking for green fields. :P

How about Empuriabrava for Braavos?

I don't think it could work at all. Ampuriabrava has canals, but it's a modern turistic complex with absolutely no ancient building or looks.

In fact, Braavos is a very dificult location to find. I can't think of any town with canals in Spain, Iceland, Croatia or North Ireland that could easily pass. They could try somewhere in Belgium or the Netherlands (such as Ghent or Bruges), which would also fit Braavos climate better, but the architecture may look too modern or out of place in the series. I'm intrigued to see what they do with it.

ETA: I've just thought of Seville's square, which could be a possibility. It's the location of Naboo in the Phantom Menace.

[sj4iy]

Definitely Dorne.

[Frey Pies]

I think the locations in Spain could also be used for Dany as well, like with the fighting pits for example. Anyways, this is pretty exciting news, gonna be good!

How much Dorne can we expect next season? I'd say the first episode should establish the characters at Pyke, while the second should focus on Dorne. After that, I expect about 4 appearances for Dorne.

I expect the Dorne story-arc to go like this:

Ep 1: no Dorne

Ep 2: Discussion about Oberyn Martell being dead. Doran gets the Sand Snakes locked up.

Ep 3: Arianne confronts her father over him being weak.

Ep 4: no Dorne

Ep 5: Arianne sets up the Queenmaker plot.

Ep 6: Queenmaker, occurrence and consequences.

Ep 7: "Fire and Blood" speech by Doran (if this ends the episode, then Quentyn will be present immediately at the start of the next one. If it doesn't, then he will follow immediately after this conversation imo).

Ep 8: no Dorne

Ep 9: no Dorne

Ep 10: Doran learns about Young Griff. Arianne heads off to meet them (assuming Jon Con and Young Griff are in).

Or is that too much Dorne? It's possible to remove Queenmaker entirely, imo, but I think they're going to keep it in. Very excited for next season. It has a lot of potential if one of the two big battles are included! I don't know how they're going to manage with 3 additional plot-lines though.

[Lady Fevre Dream]

Many?

Arianne's cool, and that's about it.

That's certainly better than the Greyjoys though, as the only Greyjoy I find interesting has been on the show since the pilot.

I know I'm in a very small minority, it seems, but I happen to like Hotah. :leaving:

I'm interested to see many of those in Dorne.

ETA: I also want to thank everyone above for the links to beautiful Spain. I guess I'm going virtual sightseeing. I do think it's Dorne along with the chance of locales for Volantis and extras for Mereen and the entire Slaver's Bay area. There is probably alot that can be used to represent even little pitstops that many characters take along the way to Slaver's Bay. I have to wonder about glimpses of Valyria in the distance, some day for the show. Will they use CGI or will they look for a real spot with volcanic activity.

[boojam]

With the production's headquarters in Ireland, they would be stupid if they went to Spain looking for green fields. :P

I don't think it could work at all. Ampuriabrava has canals, but it's a modern turistic complex with absolutely no ancient building or looks.

In fact, Braavos is a very dificult location to find. I can't think of any town with canals in Spain, Iceland, Croatia or North Ireland that could easily pass. They could try somewhere in Belgium or the Netherlands (such as Ghent or Bruges), which would also fit Braavos climate better, but the architecture may look too modern or out of place in the series. I'm intrigued to see what they do with it.

ETA: I've just thought of Seville's square, which could be a possibility. It's the location of Naboo in the Phantom Menace.

It's true a lot of CGI work on Empuriabrava, I had seen Serville mentioned above. They can do magic with CGI these days and clever shot composition.

It's true , especially Bruges almost no set dressing at all! Well that's almost an exaggeration. Having been there it is amazing. Belgium give some kind of film break on budgets?, HBO* seems to look for those.

Of course there is Venezia! Italy (like Spain) could use some clams! I don’t know what Italy gives in film breaks now.

Tho Lord! How do you mask out all those dammed tourists? I don’t go to Venice anymore because the back streets are still, kinda ok, but getting there is like battling a plague of locus!

*You know HBO agreed to shoot ROME at Cinecittà , which I thought was insane, tho Rome is the perfect place! Spent 100 million first season, and it did look great! … I don’t know… GOT is doing light years better than ROME , Time Warner must be raking it in… I guess?.... So doing 100 million dollar seasons would still be making them a profit, I think?

[Strytos]

Dorne of course, but I think Daznak's Pit might also what they have in mind. It will be one of the most difficult scenes to film yet, and a bullfighting arena might be the perfect setting.

[Caerl Targaryen]

Dorne of course, but I think Daznak's Pit might also what they have in mind. It will be one of the most difficult scenes to film yet, and a bullfighting arena might be the perfect setting.

I hope they get that right. It's one of the scenes I'm most looking forward to seeing visualized. That and the very last thing that happens in ADWD.

[Loverboy from Dorne]

"Dorne is definitely influenced a bit by Spain, a bit by Wales. But nothing is one and one. I took that together. Dorne is a very special land, with a slightly different cultural basis than the rest of Westeros...it was politically apart for a long time, it was also culturally apart because of the Rhoynar and the traditions they brought, but they didn’t influence the rest of Westeros so much. So the dornish have their own particular sort of customs. I see that in Spain with the whole history, particularly the Moorish history of Spain, you know...it really sets it apart from France." GRRM

so duh!

[SerArthurHeath]

Bull fighting arena sounds spot on. Will be in Spain for a bit this summer, might make travel plans depending on where filming is said to be!

[The Last Conformist]

A new country, Spain, the Andalucia region, for season 5? Oh gosh, where could that possibly be? What new locale with a warm, dry, sunny climate shows up in book 4? I'm just totally stumped. . . .

To be fair, it could also be the Rhoyne. We'll see where they decide to film Tyrion's journey.

[Stannis' shadow babies]

I live in Southern Spain. Mediterranean coast to be precise. I look forward to this. There are many places they could use, mostly for Dorne. Great beaches in Almeria (search for Cabo de Gata Natural Park, for example), where movies like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and recently Ridley Scott's Exodus were shot. On the other hand, you'll never run short of castles, Moorish buildings and even Roman ruins...

I'll keep an eye on it, would be cool to see some GOT related production directly!

[Khal-a-bunga]

This is fantastic news, honestly. I've been to Spain twice, and visited a few of the places some other posters in this thread have mentioned. It's truly a beautiful country.

As far as who we're going to see there... Myrcella, Arianne, and Doran are all but confirmed, but I'm also expecting to see Tyene Sand play a fairly significant part, and perhaps even Sarella (though possibly not until season five). It's also likely that Ellaria will replace Nymeria as Dorne's representative on the small council.

[scolbert08]

Rumor has it that the GoT crew has already visited El Torcal de Antequera nature reserve among other places. It's got quite a unique look to it, but I'm not sure what it would be for.

[redriver]

I hope this happens.Beautiful country.I've visited Murcia,Cartagena and Granada-all fabulous.I'm sure Spain would be great for Dorne scenes but also for any Essos location really.

[Stormlandian]

Dorne was my immediate thought too. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! B)

[jentario]

I think the locations in Spain could also be used for Dany as well, like with the fighting pits for example. Anyways, this is pretty exciting news, gonna be good!

How much Dorne can we expect next season? I'd say the first episode should establish the characters at Pyke, while the second should focus on Dorne. After that, I expect about 4 appearances for Dorne.

I expect the Dorne story-arc to go like this:

Ep 1: no Dorne

Ep 2: Discussion about Oberyn Martell being dead. Doran gets the Sand Snakes locked up.

Ep 3: Arianne confronts her father over him being weak.

Ep 4: no Dorne

Ep 5: Arianne sets up the Queenmaker plot.

Ep 6: Queenmaker, occurrence and consequences.

Ep 7: "Fire and Blood" speech by Doran (if this ends the episode, then Quentyn will be present immediately at the start of the next one. If it doesn't, then he will follow immediately after this conversation imo).

Ep 8: no Dorne

Ep 9: no Dorne

Ep 10: Doran learns about Young Griff. Arianne heads off to meet them (assuming Jon Con and Young Griff are in).

Or is that too much Dorne? It's possible to remove Queenmaker entirely, imo, but I think they're going to keep it in. Very excited for next season. It has a lot of potential if one of the two big battles are included! I don't know how they're going to manage with 3 additional plot-lines though.

I'm thinking something like this would be great:

E1: Ellaria arrives at Dorne with Oberyn's remains, we are introduced to Doran. The funeral is held and the Sand Snakes make a scene- trying to convince Doran to take revenge.

E3: Arianne sees Quentyn and Doran plotting, confronts Quentyn- he says he's leaving Sunspear. Angrily, she finds the Sand Snakes and tell them that they need to make a move on their own, suggesting Myrcella. A Myrcella/Trystane scene (playing cyvasse?) with Arys Oakheart guarding them- Arianne barges in and asks to speak with Oakheart. They bang and she tells him about the Dance of the Dragons, convincing him to be the Queenmaker. Later, Doran is informed that Myrcella is gone along with Arianne, the Sand Snakes and Oakheart.

E4: Arrianne and the Sand Snakes talk future plans, meet Darkstar on the way. In the end of the episode, they get confronted by Areo Hotah and the showdown takes place.

E5: Arianne is brought back home. She pleads to know Myrcella is still alive and Doran confirms it, but says she will be confined to her room.

E7: Arep comes to take Arianne to Doran from her cell. There he explains his true motives and Quentyn's trip. As he says this, Quentyn arrives at Meereen.

E8: Quentyn reveals himself to Dany, it's too late.

E9: no Dorne

E10: that ADWD Dorne chapter showing Arianne has changed and supports her father, with rumors of the Golden Company being mentioned

[boojam]

Bull fighting arena sounds spot on. Will be in Spain for a bit this summer, might make travel plans depending on where filming is said to be!

Alas the partial Coliseum set and CGI-ed for Gladiator on Malta is no longer there. I can’t see the show going to the extent Ridley Scott did for that movie. There are about 25 bull rings in Spain, I never thought of CGI-ing one those as Daznak's Pit that’s a great idea.