After making such a splendid use of Spain over the last two seasons on Game of Thrones, it seems the show is looking to expand to another region of the country for the rest of the series- the beautiful Canary Islands.
Meridian reports that Fernando Clavijo, president of the government of the Canary Islands, has confirmed to the Canarias Film Commission that Game of Thrones is currently in negotiations with them and examining potential locations for filming. It is expected that any negotiations would take some time to work out.
According to Meridian, Game of Thrones is looking for warm places, and the team “left delighted with the potential of the Teide National Park,” on Tenerife. Teide National Park is home to Spain’s highest mountain, as well as a volcano and lava flows. Reportedly scouts also were set to view other areas including Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.
Filming in the Canary Islands could bring a huge benefit to the show financially, as well as aesthetically. Under Spain’s new filming-related tax laws, HBO would receive a 35% tax deduction on expenses for shooting in the Canary Islands.
Meridian mentions that Game of Thrones requires a desert, possibly for Daenerys. There are some arid, desert-like areas on the islands, as well as lusher, greener areas and lovely beaches, providing quite the variety for the show to work with. Dany is on the move at the moment, and if she finally starts traveling west next season as we’d like, perhaps there are island stops along the way?
Thanks to Los Siete Reinos for the initial heads-up on the Canary Islands news!
7a and 7b.
Dragonstone? Valyria?
There are amazing landscapes in Tenerife.
Maybe the Shadow Lands of Asshai?
Amazing! Although I think we can tell that Dany isn’t coming to Westeros this season. Can’t think of what else this landscape works for except her story or Dorne? Either way, I’m guessing she won’t land in Westeros episode 10.
So this + the earlier report about Girona? Time to start a GOT S7 joint-spoilers doc, methinks.
Well, it certainly appears Dany is going to be traveling for quite a while longer unless by some chance it’s Dorne..(ugh) I’d take Valyria or Dragonstone though, happily.
So Dany will land in Dorne?
I’d think more like the Stepstones.
-chain of islands connecting Essos and the obvious invasion point of Dorne.
i guess they could also make for Rainwood and take out what’s left of the Baratheon’s as revenge, but Dothraki + dense forests might not be the best most.
Its for the DORNISH WAR!!!!!!!
HYPE!!!!!!!!
Valyria, Sothoryos, Summer islands? Dorne? Or farther east?
I recommend all of you to check this batch of photos to appreciate it’s diverse beauty.
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/04/canary-islands-photographed-by-lukas-furlan/
Dorne, is my guess.
ore,
God…..Just amazing.
Nadia,
She may not land this season but given there’s only 15-ish episodes left I think she’ll leave Essos this season at least. Would love to see her stop in Valyria.
SPECULATION…
Think she lands in Dorne where Varys has made arrangements with the Sand Snakes (and possibly the Tyrell’s)
House Adder,
Yeah, I think the fire and blood vengeance story of Dorne happened this season because the “queens” – Dany and Ellaria – are coming together
Btw I’ve always wondered if Jon and ¸Dany will be antagonists, at least at first. Even if he IS Rhaegar’s son, he still clearly affiliates and feels like a Stark in the North, and Starks were traitors to Dany. Plus, she doesn’t have anyone telling her WWs are a threat at all.
Desert? Say it ain’t so. Now my bubble got burst. Any desert areas in Westeros?
Gendry’s broken compass,
My guess as well.
Might want to spoiler tag that though.
Newbietothegame,
Dorne.
I guess we will see Dorne burn in dragon fire.
Location scout for GoT has to be one of the best jobs.
Dragonwolf,
no more deserts for danny please. sick of it
Gendry’s broken compass,
Varys definitely could have made an arrangement with Ellaria Sand, since we know from season 4 when Oberyn and him are chatting in the Throne room, Oberyn does invite Varys to meet Ellaria at the brothel. We really have no indication of anything like that happening offscreen, but it would be an interesting twist for Ellaria’s character and the whole Dornish story, are they even going to come back to it again this season?
Soon as I read volcano and lava flow I thought ‘flashback of old Valyria’ or back to the Ruins of it; or landing on Dagonstone. Are we told what the whole of Dragonstone looks like?
The desert part made me think of Dorne though…
Hopefully it’s Dany making her way through Dorne, pressing into KL from the South as Jon and co hold the North. No more Essos, please.
This is totally random speculation, obviously, but if Dany/Dorne is still in play, and we see Dorne’s trajectory this season, it makes me wonder if the Wall really has fallen and the WWs invade? Or if this is still Dany landing for revenge with the Martells and to take back the Iron Throne
Which, btw, I don’t think the Wall falls this season. Regardless of how short it feels for us as fans, I really don’t think there’s going to be 13 episodes of WW invasions and battles, for so many reasons – that it gets anti-climactic, that the CGI would be insane, etc.
so I guess dany is landing in Dorne cause I really don’t think she is spending any more seasons in Essos
No E6 photos yet? It’s wednesday, so…
Nadia,
I think it’s just her conquering the seven kingdoms.I don’t think she would know about the White Walkers yet.
Darjan,
Yes they are.
IMO, Canary Islands can mean only one thing: Dany is going to Asshay.
Jenny,
Right, my point is, some people thought the Wall would fall at the end of this season. I don’t really think it will, because 13 episodes is a LOT for WWs to be crawling over Westeros, as much as we want to see it.
If she’s landing in Dorne, I still think it’s because winning the Iron Throne is her goal at that moment – which means the Wall probably hasn’t fallen.
First place that come to my mind. And I hope that’s right, no matter how bad Dorne storyline was in this season, at least Dorne is still part of Westeros.
Because if not, just how long she intends to stay in Essos? 🙁 To end slavery, you still can wait for seven years just like Tyrion had said. But winter is coming and the dead come with it. Don’t waste your time, Khaleesi of so many things.
If Dany is angling to ally with Ellaria, there’s a pretty obvious wrinkle there for Tyrion, since Ellaria murdered his niece.
I groaned when I saw this… So that means more Essos or Dorne. Ugh.
Get to Kings Landing already!
Wow, the Canary Islands are very beautiful, so it would be ace if they did some fling there. My guess would be Dorne too, because otherwise I’d have thought they could just continue with mainland Spain.
I think everyone just wants to move on from Essos at this point. Both Tyrion’s and Arya’s storylines have been pretty average so far this year (as opposed to the awesomeness of everywhere else). The place is simply not as interesting as Westeros, whomever you have there. Beside it is time they moved on to where it really matters as we will be in endgame territory very soon.
Inga,
I think in the books she definitely will go to Asshai – “To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.”
But I wonder if the show will have her do that. I can’t for the life of me remember now, did Quaithe in the show mention this? I only remember in the books how important the idea of Asshai is.
Maybe Kinerva will be the motivation in the show….
Nadia,
Yeah I used to think the wall might fall this season,but I’ve changed my mind it’s too soon.13 to 15 episodes with the wall down would be too much.I think we still have shit to deal with before the wall comes crushing down lol
They usually come out at 7:20pm where I live. So less than an hour now
Nadia,
I don’t think Canary Islands are going to play Dorne. Dorne = Spain. Canary Islands with their volcanic landscapes are fit either for Valyria or for Asshay and I would bet on the later because of the prophesy. Which actually means that Dany is not coming to Westeros – at least not the way we have imagined her to come. Could that be the third WTF thing GRRM revealed to D&D?
No, tell me that this is not happening!
I would find that hilarious actually:P
Inga,
I’m pretty sure GRRM has said nobody will be going to Asshai in the books.
Sean C.,
Wait really? Then why all the high priestesses and the scene with Quaithe?
are you retarded? Haven’t you heard what D&D and HBO said? They can’t even make 10 episodes per year anymore, so they are considering 7 episodes per year.
Nadia,
I recall George saying we would never have a pov in Asshai
GRRM has said that we won’t see Ashai, but that we may see it through the thoughts of Melisandre
This.
You beat me to it
Joh,
My thought exactly.
In the last interview D&D said 15 episodes left after this season… so it will mean there are 18 episodes… Anyway, they said that they are just considering shortened seasons (because it’s getting too expensive) and that isn’t anything yet set in stone. That being said, I still think that there will be two full seasons, they just want more money.
Easy there killer. Seems like a bit of an overreaction, no?
I’ve heard what was said, which is why I said 7a/7b. You can call it Season 8 if you want, but I expect a group of 6/7 episodes and another group of 6/7 episodes, not necessarily a full year apart.
Might want to lighten up on those roids bro.
The canary islands have very many different colors of sand and stone, and some places with very little vegetation – those and the black and red sands would make a lovely scorched-earth landscape. Maybe the dragons burn large strips of land down to ash when Dany lands? Could they use the islands, among other things, as a backdrop for devastation?
Or maybe for after the final battle, when spring finally comes and the first tender saplings spring up between blackened rocks.
If the choice is between Essos and Dorne, I’ll take Essos. Unless all of the characters in Dorne are dead at the time Dany arrives. Or, better yet, we get to see the Dornish bastards roast. Okay, I can get into this being Dorne on those conditions.
Dragonmcmx,
I’ve been refreshing the site to see if they had posted the photos yet lmao.
I think it’d be hilarious if Dany turned out to be the biggest red herring of a character ever created and she never made it to Westeros. Maybe even her dragons warged by Bran and stolen from her. Do I think this is going to happen? No. But I’d find it very funny if it did.
only Tyrion doesnt know this ..if he learns it before season is over, then maybe an issue..but I can seeing him working with Ellaria until she isnt useful, then making her pay for murdering Mrycella (if Dany doesnt kill her first lol)
Canary Islands! So beautiful! I hope they stand in for Dragonstone, and Daeny lands there first. I really, really want her to go to her place of birth – “to go forward you must go back.” Canary Islands could also stand in for Bran’s visions of the way, way past, when he is changing more things there.
Tyrion Pimpslap,
That won’t happen…
……Or it can be Dragonstone, or whatever the show likes, as long as it is in Westeros….. ? I’m in desperate mode.
You guys think we’ll get the Westerlands and Casterly Rock next year? Not that this location will be used… but we’ve seen every other region. Just seems like a shame if we don’t get to see the Lanister’s homeland.
dan,
The fact that HBO wants ten seasons and D&D want seven tells me that his genuinely isn’t about money
Nadia,
Yea I think you’re right. I think Tyrion will also play a roll saying Starks are honorable. And of course they waged war after the father and first son were brutally killed. Plus Jon is a great guy etc. Then attention is turned towards white walkers after some minor conflict maybe
Calm down, guys. Just because a desert pic is shown in the article doesn’t mean that Dany will land in Dorne or stay in Essos or go to Asshai. Check Google Images, the Canary Islands have many beaches, forests, mountains. It could be anything.
I’d love for it to be asshai, so dany could finally gain the knowledge she needs.its an area of planetoes we no next to nothing about.
Dorne, Volantis harbor, or Valyria imo.
I can’t wait to see Tyrion’s reaction when he finds out GoT’s Kardashians murdered his niece after he tried to arrange that marriage to keep the peace.
“To go east, you must go westto go north you must go south”
Is there something in Dorne that
ore,
thank you for that. Looks like a lovely place to live, let alone film 🙂
A volcanic island … Westeros after Dany unleashes her dragons? 🙂
ore,
Awesome.
So my guess for this setting: just outside Volantis, Dorne, just outside Oldtown or Casterly Rock.
DireWolfHeart,
Sam
Don’t think it’s for Dragonstone, but if it is they could be changing the location for something important, Dany might’ve conquered it and maybe Jon, Davos, and Tormund will go on a secret mission to snatch some Dragonglass, and maybe one of the dragons will follow Jon home. Now I’m just spitting out fan fiction
Dragon nukes?!
Dany still in the desert? Oh bollocks.
Dorne for Dany’s arrival, I guess?
I’m sure everyone is hoping it’s not more travelling around Essos for the Mother of Dragons, but there are a lot of really neat things it can be as far as what they can be filming there that’s unrelated to Dany, or even Essos for that matter.
As far as Daenerys is concerned, I assumed #EfficiencyisComing and not many episodes left after S6 meant some sort of Dany proclamation of setting sail to Westeros by the finale.
I’ll pretend it’s something really cool for the time being, until we get set reports this summer.
Wow. Thanks for this article and the great picture. My wife and I both have ancestors from the Canary Islands – although from a few generations back. And where we live now (Louisiana) is more like The Neck than any place the Canary Islands might stand in for. Still, it’s kinda fun hoping they might film over there.
From what i remember, Tenerife is pretty much Dorne. Big mountains. check. Sandy beaches. check. Cool architecture. check.
I have a friend who will move to Tenerife in half a year… Looks like I’ll be visiting him soon 🙂
Well, that would be great as I live in the Canary Islands! However, not on Tenerife, Fuerteventura or Gran Canary. I’m on the most westerly island of La Palma –
Yep, the one that the Discovery Channel made ‘sensational’ claims about a few years ago that will one day will split in half due to volcanic activity and cause a tsunami that will destroy the eastern coast of the USA !!! Complete crap according to the Spanish volcanologists who monitor these events in the Canary Islands.
That aside, it would be great if HBO do decide to film the final seasons of GoT in the Canary Islands 🙂
jentario,
Everyone needs a Sam!
Hmm I think the remainder of the series will be flash backs? Perhaps Dany will land in Dorne and we’ll see that lemon tree and red door and maybe Quaithe? Or the rest of the Tower of Joy and Ned going to Starfall? Who knows possibilities are endless.
Jamie kills Cersei for doing what he killed the mad king for commanding. He kind of would have to at that point.
She will have the Red Priests and Priestesses telling her that. Now, will she believe it? I have no idea.
That seems like as good a guess as any: and probably better than most!
If Tyrion learns of that, then he might lay the blame on Cersei. Of course, he might lay some blame on himself for sending Myrcella there.
Geez, do you wander around singing “Everything is Awesome”?
😀
Joh,
Dark volcanic sands, almost has to be the shadowlands!
such a gorgeous place!! I can totally see this being dorne/edge of Stormlands
speaking of stormlands..anyone else think we get to see Storms End next season? Since all the Baratheons are gone it would be easy pickings for Dany and be a good base to start from
Daenerys needs to get in contact with Littlefinger’s travel agency in order to arrive in Westeros before the show end.
Oh Lord, not Bore(ne).
Ahh, not recently 🙂 It is pretty cool though!
I came here 30 years ago to work up at the astrophysical observatory at 8000ft – Usually high above the clouds. Was great at first, but driving up and down a mountain 5 days a week for many years, the novelty soon wears off.
Its a great place for making movies though and if HBO can save a few bucks in production costs, the Canary Islands would be a good location for them.
I reckon it’ll be Asshai. The pic reminds me of how i think Asshai would look
Qarth as well plus Dorne as that’s where I reckon Dany lands
Obviously Dany will be setting up a shell corporation there to hide all her profits from Essos so they are not seized by the Iron Bank when she gets to bankrupt Westeros.
If the Wall doesn’t fail until the end of season 7 that leaves approximately 7 episodes. Subtract one for a post victory wrap up of everything episode, leaving 6.
I’ve always thought of it in comparison to LOTR where we are told elves and dwarves hate each other at the beginning but by the middle of Act I everybody, at least in the fellowship, has put that aside and accepts that Sauron is a real problem. When other characters can’t put aside their petty nonsense to face the threat it’s hard to accept because we’re just told about their conflicts in passing. In comparison it’s awful hard to imagine everyone in Westeros getting along to fight the White Walkers because we’ve experienced their conflicts and lived with the characters for so long. But we’re going wait until the middle of Act III for them to even learn that the threat actually exists?
That’s why I figured the wall would fail at the end of this season. Not because we need 13 episodes of battles with the White Walkers, but because we need time for the characters to be interacting with each other facing this new reality. I always figured the entire North would be overrun. Also, after taking Hardhome and having killed every other living thing north of the wall, what else do the White Walkers have to do besides come south? Apparently chill waiting for Bran to pop up in a vision. But they’ve done that now. If Bran being marked and crossing the Wall is what breaks the magic and lets them pass then it can’t possibly take Bran all the rest of this season plus 5-6 episodes next season to get there. So again, what are the White Walkers doing for all next season? It would kill the momentum if they just do nothing for a whole season.
On the other hand if the Starks are retaking Winterfell this season I don’t know if even GRRM is cruel enough to then make them immediately lose it again, or all get killed trying to defend it.
dragonreborn,
I love all sorts of landscapes but desert isn’t one of them. It’s just boring. Give me snow or moss covered mountains, glaciers, rainforest, waters, flowers, fertile green plains, gardens, majestic trees, anything other than beige parched ground with the occasional prickly shrub.
No no noooooooo.
Deserts are some of the most varied eco systems you can find. the shit life has to do to survive in it is great. You get crazy trees and mental looking things. Ugly lizards and weird bugs. And most of them look nothing like sand dunes forever.
It is possible that Dany will remain in Essos all her life. Ultimately, the dragons will not be needed to flame the WWs because the WWs will be turned off by the commandos going north to the end of Always Winter and neutralizing the WWS power source.
Desert?? Warm places??? Oh come on, we’re talking about the last 13 episodes!! All of Westeros (with the exception of Dorne) and large parts of Essos should be under snow, it’s Winter!! They’ve done poorly to make you feel winter has come… I would think this cool if it’s some sort of flash back from Valyria.
Asshai.
No more Dorne please, not in the show.
I dream of Asshai (travel east to go west…).
Can someone tell me how and when should i go to the casting? I’m from spain, and i want to try for being an extra obviously, but if i can, i want to try to be an actor on the serie, what can i do?
Jenny,
If you really think Dany is going to take the seven kingdoms I fear you are in for disappointment. She has a role to play but I would be very surprised if she took anything, and doesn’t die towards the end.
Not sure, but see – http://watchersonthewall.com/faq/ Item 6
My son-in-law has worked as an extra here on La Palma. The was an announcement in ‘infoisla’ . A web site for these sort of things in the Canary Islands. He applied, was successful and was offered a contract.
I guess it just depends where you are in Spain, but a search on the web ‘How to become an extra in a movie’ would probably find something?
Nadia,
Nadia, that is the literal intepretation. I think otheres have interpreted her last chapter in ADWD as providing clues (the shadow being the shadow of Drogon, East and South being the directions she was traveling on her way down the mountain by the stream, etc. Not sure which is correct. Based on a number of posts I’ve read I think hink GWWM may have commented that we would not see Asshai but I could be wrong on that.
GRRM said we won’t see Asshai except in memory of a POV character, but that we might see Valyria.
Sean C.,
Yes, it would only perhaps appear in the memory of a POV character, likely Mel as Euron appears to be the only other possible candidate and he doesn’t have a POV
GRRM is. Cruel enough. He drinks from a stein of fan tears every day, it’s what sustains him and his writing process. D&D are the same, only quicker about it.
Seriously, anybody who thought the Stark reunion was a “happy ending” is deluded. It’s a moment of happiness, soon to be overshadowed by terrible events, some of them brought on by bad decisions by our protagonists right after that happy moment.
I’m not a total nihilist, not everybody is going to die, not everybody is going to betray everybody else, but I think there’s going to be a lot of interpersonal and internal confilcts and “betrayals”, uninted (bad) consequences among the main characters. (and some fanfav minor ones – Jaime, Brienne, Sandor, I’m looking at YOU!) They’ll be put through the wringer, and hopefully learning in the process. Maybe learn to rise above it because the ice apocalypse is REAL.
Hopefully enough people – characters in this story – will finally see the light and put aside their petty quarrels to fight the real war. They probably won’t until the WW overrun the North and are knocking on the south’s gate at the Trident. Stupid, stupid people!
I think Wimsey (and others) here on WotW is advocating the notion that the humans are the “bad guys”, the evil, selfish ones who fuck up the balance of the world with their conquering, exploitative ways etc. I’m wary of drawing any parallels from fantasy literature to “real life” but there seems to be a point.