David Benioff and D.B. Weiss say they were asked by AT&T if Game of Thrones episodes could be filmed vertically.
Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, via Variety, Game of Thrones creators Benioff and Weiss confirmed that HBO’s owners were interested in filming episodes of the hit series vertically so that fans could watch them on their phones.
“Benioff and Weiss, who have been friends since grad school, weren’t crazy about HBO’s then-owners, AT&T, whose executives once asked whether Game of Thrones could be shot vertically so it would fit on your phone,” the Wall Street Journal’s article states. “The company also openly discussed the idea of snackable mini-episodes of the series.”
“Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction,” Weiss said.
Benioff added, “When you sign a five-year deal with a company, you want that company to be stable so you can be left alone to do your work and not have to worry about it being bought by the phone company. Finding the smoothest ride in the ocean was key.”
More Game of Thrones is coming
Based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Game of Thrones premiered on HBO in April 2011. The series ran for eight seasons, with the finale premiering in May 2019.
A Game of Thrones spin-off series, House of the Dragon, premiered on HBO Max in August 2022. A second season is in the works and expected to debut in the summer of 2024, while Warner Bros. Discovery also recently announced that another spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, will debut in 2025. Several other Game of Thrones-related series are also in various stages of development.
All eight seasons of Game of Thrones, along with the first season of House of the Dragon, are currently streaming on Max.
