Winter Is Coming 

Eddard Stark is torn between his family and an old friend when asked to serve at the side of King Robert Baratheon; Viserys plans to wed his sister to a nomadic warlord in exchange for an army.

Director:

Timothy Van Patten (as Tim Van Patten)

Writers:

David Benioff (created by), D.B. Weiss (created by)

Stars:

Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Bean	...	Eddard 'Ned' Stark
Mark Addy	...	Robert Baratheon
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Jaime Lannister
Michelle Fairley	...	Catelyn Stark
Lena Headey	...	Cersei Lannister
Emilia Clarke	...	Daenerys Targaryen
Iain Glen	...	Jorah Mormont
Harry Lloyd	...	Viserys Targaryen
Kit Harington	...	Jon Snow
Sophie Turner	...	Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams	...	Arya Stark
Richard Madden	...	Robb Stark
Alfie Allen	...	Theon Greyjoy
Isaac Hempstead Wright	...	Bran Stark
Jack Gleeson	...	Joffrey Baratheon

Storyline

In the land of Winterfell, Lord Ned Stark begins to believe that something is amiss. A deserter from the Night Watch, the guardians of the giant ice wall at the northern boundary of their territory, says he's seen the white walkers. Later, Ned and his sons find animals slain in the woods, including a she-wolf whose six pups they keep, one for each of Ned's children. They also welcome the arrival of Ned's good friend King Robert who was once betrothed to Ned's sister. She was killed before they could marry and he wed Cersei Lannister who has given him a son, Joffrey. Along with them are Cersei's two brothers, the handsome Jaime and Tyrion, a dwarf with very large appetites. The King wants Ned to return with him to his capital, King's Landing, and become the King's Hand. Ned accepts but his young son Bran accidentally sees something he should not have and suffers a serious fall as a result. Meanwhile, in the land across the narrow sea, Viserys Targaryen needs an army to attack King's ...

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Plot Keywords:

king | deserter | man undressing a woman | body parts arranged in a pattern | woman wearing a sheer dress | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 2011 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Malta

Box Office

Budget:

£10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), Television 360, Grok! Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

62 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos (Blu-ray release)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lena Headey was pregnant while filming this episode, so many scenes show her either wrapped in furs, sitting down, standing behind something, or only in close facial shots to conceal the pregnancy.

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Goofs

When Benjen goes to talk to Ned at the feast, his hair is shorter and styled differently than when he talked to Jon just a few minutes earlier. This is because the feast shot was one of the few shots from the unaired pilot episode, that was used in the first episode.

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Quotes

Waymar Royce: [to Will] Do the dead frighten you?

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Crazy Credits

The sun tells an important part of the series back story, on its panels. It does so in three segments. First, as the credits start up, the sun depicts how the Targaryens and their dragons conquered Westeros. The second time the sun is shown, a dragon is depicted in a mortal struggle with 3 other animals: The Stag, the Lion and the Wolf. It is a very literal way to show how Robert Beratheon and Ned Stark rebelled, with Tywin Lannister reluctantly supporting them, in the end. Finally, the third time the sun is shown, before the series title enter the scene, a lion (among other animals) is shown "kneeling" to a triumphant Stag. Just as Robert was crowned King after winning the war.

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Connections

Referenced in Game of Thrones: A Man Without Honor (2012)

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Soundtracks

Main Title
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Ramin Djawadi

User Reviews

Excellent beginning

The first episode of Game of Thrones opens in a suitably violent fashion. From there, we are quickly introduced to the main characters and the details of their relationships are sketched out. A lot of scenes are very short with us quickly going from one location to another, but there is a lot of ground that needs to be covered.

The wonderful title sequence is a joy.

Those who are fans of the books will find that much in this first episode follows the book quite closely, though there are some changes here and there. The introduction of the Starks is a very nicely done and the introduction of the Targaryen siblings is excellent. The scene with Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow was my favourite scene of the episode. And, of course, the ending had me wanting to watch the next episode straight away! Prior to the last scene I thought, it had been OK and I would persevere with it, but the ending made me need I each it straight away.