Great time for a winter feast
WINTER IS COMING … SO GRAB SOME POPCORN, SNUGGLE UP AND TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO A KING’S RANSOM OF GAME OF THRONES PROGRAMMING ON BINGE
The least surprising plot twist of Game of Thrones came when Ned Stark was beheaded towards the end of the first season. That’s because the King of the North – a man who had looked destined to be the series moral compass -- was being played by Sean Bean. And, as film fans know all too well, Bean is a master of dying on screen.
The British actor has been sent to meet his maker a remarkable 24 times in TV and film!
For this reason, Bean is as famous for his impressive cinematic deaths as Tom Cruise is for his heroic sprints or Meryl Streep for her many accents.
Entire YouTube montages have been made of Bean’s deaths. Most notably, he has been killed by famous heroes like James Bond (Pierce Brosnan in Golden Eye) and Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford in Patriot Games) as well as being pin cushioned with arrows in Lord of the Rings.
Bean has been stabbed, bayoneted, shot, lynched and even run off a cliff by a herd of cows. His dubious reputation for meeting certain death in almost every production is finally wearing a little thin. That’s why he’s now started knocking back roles where his character goes to God.
Bean, 60, says: “I’ve turned down stuff. I’ve said: ‘They know my character’s going to die because I’m in it!’ I just had to cut that out and start surviving, otherwise it was all a bit predictable.”
Bean had decided to change his screen fate shortly before being offered the role of the doomed head of House of Stark but took the part because he’d read George R. R. Martin’s books and thought his character, Ned, could make an impact before being separated from his head.
Unfortunately, the end for Ned came a little sooner than Bean would have liked. And he got to watch on, somewhat enviously, as his cast mates became cultural phenomena while his GoT decapitation was added to his CV of screen demises.
That’s not to say Bean has any regrets about being part of the series. He is one of the many actors who are sharing their memories in the documentary Game of Thrones: Behind the Scenes, on Binge.
Bean along with some of the franchise’s most famous heroes – Kit
Harington,
Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner – talk about life on the Game of Thrones set in the selection of behind-the-scenes interviews and documentaries that are now available in the new “Binge Centres”.
These specially created streaming centres allow subscribers to better explore all their favourite television shows and movies.
For GoT fans it is opportunity to learn more about the show which inspired countless social media hashtags and Cosplay costumes.
Here they will learn where Jon Snow got his name and why he joined the Night Watchmen in the first place.
Acclaimed actor Peter Dinklage who played Tyrion Lannister discusses why his character’s short stature ultimately made him such a giant player in the quest for the Iron Throne.
And we learn what went wrong in the marriage between Cersei (Lena Headley) and her husband King Robert (aside from the fact she was in an incestuous relationship with her own brother).
For those less familiar with the plot twists and turns of Game of Thrones, the documentaries are an opportunity to develop a better appreciation of what made it a show that attracts an eclectic fanbase that includes former President Barack Obama, rapper Snoop Dogg and actress
Sophia Vergara. In addition to cast interviews, the show’s bearded creator George R. R. Martin (who, apart from his jaunty pork-pie hat, looks like an eccentric character from one of his own novels) talks about his inspiration, while the costume and set designers reveal how they turned his fantasy world into a reality.
No detail (apart from a rogue plastic water bottle in the final series that eagle-eyed fans noticed in the background and quickly sent viral) was left to chance.
We learn that thought even went into everything from the fabrics of the costumes to the colour of the stews eaten in the castle mess hall, to give every realm its own tone and mood.
Inuit dogs were trained to move like wolves so they would be believable as the Stark children’s killer pets.
Ravens were also taught to perform on cue.
The production team went to extraordinary lengths to create eight seasons of memorable television. Locations in
Northern Ireland and Malta were selected for filming because they had the right natural landscapes and architecture to make believable backdrops for both the bleak Castle Black and the sultry King’s Landing.
Most remarkably, a linguistics professor was hired to create an entirely new language for the nomadic Dothraki tribe, which actor Jason Momoa had to learn – with some difficulty – to deliver his character Drogo’s bloodcurdling speeches.
According to the series director, this Dothraki language is so nuanced that the professor created more words for death than for love, to better represent the imaginary people’s thuggish culture.
With this level of detail, it is little wonder that so many viewers fell under the spell of this series.
Regularly, throughout the show’s run, social media would light up as fans would discuss and decry the latest memorable murder or sizzling sex scene.
If you were one of the few people left bamboozled when #redwedding started trending on Twitter in 2018, Binge gives you the chance to find out what all the bloody fuss was about. Binge has not only the entire series available to stream – start to finish – but lifts the lid on those iconic loin cloths and battles with a series of behind-the-scenes docos and cast interviews.
Here you’ll learn that the Red Wedding was one of the most seminal moments in GoT history.
Because, unlike other TV weddings that usually involve designer gowns, a lovestruck bride and groom and a complicated albeit happy trip up the aisle, these nuptials ended in slaughter.
But, as any true GoT fan will tell you, that’s what makes it one of the most binge-worthy shows in TV history.