Filming/News

Cast sightings stack up during the first week of Game of Thrones filming

Posted on by Sue the Fury

Mountain

Filming on season 7 has begun and we’re back to the joy of seeing our favorite Game of Thrones stars popping up across the internet. The cast continues to travel in and out of Belfast, Northern Ireland as they shoot scenes for the new season.

As of last night, we have our first look this season at the Mountain (aka Hafþór Björnsson) in partial makeup. That he only has makeup done around the eyes suggests the helm is staying on this time, unlike in the season finale.

Yesterday, Aidan Gillen was spotted, via this photo from Instagram, taken at the Boojum Burrito Bar in Belfast.

The burrito joint seems popular with the cast. The restaurant also saw the Mountain a few days ago:

And Maisie Williams may be headed there herself next week:

We’ve also heard from friends that John Bradley is in town, and a couple Twitter mentions seem to confirm that. So there may be a variety of scenes being filmed at the moment, as Titanic Studios can accommodate quite a lot of activity.

Update: Lena Headey was seen in Belfast as well, two days ago:

Met the queen herself, Lena headey! #gamesofthrones#lenaheadey#queen#belfast#victoriasquare

A photo posted by Andrea (@andyydonnelly) on

And here’s John Bradley at Boojum:

And Conleth Hill and Ellie Kendrick are joining the party:

With the start of filming and the announcement of Jim Broadbent’s casting, this has been a very rewarding week for Game of Thrones fans!

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Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

65 Comments

  2. It will be an interesting to see what happen if Dany attacks King’s Landing. They will hear that Cersei blowed up the sept with wildfire and there’s more in the city. She can’t use her dragons there, because the whole city would destroyed. But in her vision the Red Keep is ruined.

  8. Is Maisie telling people that she is headed to a publicly accessible bar in a couple of days?
    Isn’t that pretty much telling stalkerish fans where to go? Either she’s got only cool fans or she is … not that educated on how to keep a low profile.
    Unless they’re paid, of course, to advertise the place.

  15. r-hard,

    Interesting looking at Emilia’s Instagram feed. It doesn’t look like she’s in NI yet, at least as of the last post two days ago.

  16. I love it when the news starts. It gives me that fresh, excited feeling of anticipation of the new season.

    I wonder who Gillen is filming with because I thought Sophie has left Belfast (could be wrong there) and Kit wasn’t there yet either. Maybe Lyanna Mormont is giving Littlefinger the filth read.

  18. HotPinkLipstick,

    Maybe Littlefinger will interact with some of the lords from the Vale and/or North. Maybe, we will find out who was his friend in the North mentioned in S6? I expect him/her to play some role in the plot.

  20. With no books to use as a reference, we are just free-swinging when it comes to spec. Anything goes.

    I spec right now that the Qyburn/Cersei’s control over the Mountain starts to fray and he goes rogue, smashing wine and stuff. Because why not?

    I’m also going to throw out there Jaime runs into Melisandre in the Riverlands and she tells him of Sansa and gives him a prophecy, weirwood dream style, that sends him north with the Lannister army.

  21. Oh those eyes… Terrifying !

    As for Aidan Gillen’s pose, well, now that’s what I call strutting 😉

    ghost of winterfell,
    Maybe Aidan Gillen is not filming this week… He is in Belfast but his facial hair does not look quite Littlefinger-ready to my highly untrained eye

  22. Aidan is such a hottie.

    Thor looks like he tried to lift just a tiny bit too much for a world record. LOL.

  23. HotPinkLipstick,

    Sophie was definitely in London fairly recently, though I don’t think there’s been any sightings in the last day or two, so it’s possible she’s over there. Kit is supposedly flying in now that his film is done.

    HotPinkLipstick,

    Jaime has already left the Riverlands. He’s going to be in KL interacting with Cersei, one imagines, seeing as there are no other significant characters there.

  24. Aiden is such a wee little man. We need more scenes of him and Kit Harington …with Gwendoline Christie.

  25. Yay, more cast sightings!!! Seeing the actor in FrankenMountain makeup surprises me because I didn’t think they were doing actual filming already. I know the pink GOT signs are up but I thought those were in preparation for the start of filming next week.

    Aidan Gillen’s pose is freakin’ hilarious. Second best to his pose with the ice cream bar a few years ago. The GOT cast really likes that Boojam restaurant, eh?

    On Tumblr, I saw a picture of Kit in La Guardia airport; hopefully he’s flying to Ireland now and we’ll get sightings of him in Belfast soon. Of the main cast, Lena, Peter, Kit, and Emilia still haven’t been spotted in Ireland. Hurry up, guys, I need my fix!

  28. BunBunStark,

    Kit was spotted in New York earlier today, and Xavier Dolan just posted a picture on instagram that he’s heading there to shoot the last couple of days of their movie. But hopefully Kit will fly home after that and then we’ll see him in Belfast next week… Though he could stay in US until the Emmy’s, another one of his movies (Brimstone) is screening at TIFF next weekend, but I don’t know if he’s supposed to go to Toronto.
    Anyway, I agree with you, hopefully more of the main cast starts showing up in Belfast soon!

  29. Sundae,

    The Emmy’s are on 19th right? I doubt Harington would stay back at the US for almost 3 weeks just to attend that. They can always fly back and forth. Same with TIFF.
    Hopefully he will be in Belfast next week.

  30. HotPinkLipstick:
    Lena was in Belfast on August 30th.
    https://twitter.com/lenaheadeygang/status/770477227423232000

    Oooo, nice! I hadn’t seen that.

    Okay, so, it’s just Peter, Emilia, and Kit. Though, I doubt we’ll get any The Dink sightings since he seems to keep a low profile while filming. At least from what I can remember. I’m surprised there haven’t been any sightings of Liam, since he’s pretty outgoing with fans. Maybe the Northern storyline won’t start filming until later in September?

    I’d forgotten how much I enjoy this part of the offseason. Like someone said in another thread, it’s almost as much fun as watching new episodes. Almost.

  31. ACME,

    Perhaps Gillen’s working on a new accent. Or maybe he’s bought a new jetpack. ;-}
    Actually, judging from the reported rapid comings and goings of cast members, you’d think they too have acquired jetpacks. Certainly, several of them will be showing up at the Emmy;s on the 18th. GoT rules, OK!

  32. How exciting!!! There seems to be some very recent building and activity in Moneyglass… No GOT pink signs yet though.
    We’ll keep a close eye on this as we live nearby.

  33. ghost of winterfell,

    Yes, you’re right, or it’s on 18th – for some reason I thought it was on the 12th? But yeah, that changes things! I haven’t seen Harington’s name mentioned on any guest lists I’ve read for TIFF, so I don’t think he going which means he should pop up in Belfast soon.

  34. BunBunStark,

    Might be later than September even. B&W specifically stated at the end of S6 that because Winter has come to Westeros, they need actual winter in order to film, hence the delay of S7 until summer 2017

  38. Boardshorts85,

    Yeah, I remember that. But I imagine there will also be plenty of indoor scenes for the Northern storyline, so Kit, Sophie, Aidan, Liam, et al. will have scenes to film indoors at Titanic studios. They could film that stuff in September/October until the adequate winter conditions materialize for the outdoor scenes. I can’t envision 1/3 of the cast sitting out filming while they wait for winter.

  40. I just checked out the Boojum menu. It looks pretty tasty. I did, however, have to chuckle at the choice between grated cheese or queso.

    irishkid: We’ll keep a close eye on this as we live nearby.

    Yes, please do! 🙂

  41. irishkid:
    How exciting!!!There seems to be some very recent building and activity in Moneyglass… No GOT pink signs yet though.
    We’ll keep a close eye on this as we live nearby.

    OMG, I think I love you! LOL. Please keep us posted.

    I did a quick Google search of Moneyglass and last August there were photos posted of construction of a castle facade. I see now that that was for the exterior scene of Jon and Sansa on the snowy WF battlements after BotB. I’m surprised Kit and Sophie were never spotted filming there. Hopefully, this year, we’ll get luckier and be able decipher what’s happening at Moneyglass/WF.

  42. Baaahahahaha!!! Aiden sure knows how to strike a pose – Lordy!!!! I can picture him tucking into a garden salad and fizzy water while hafpor goes for it with a stack of reindeer burritos washed down with pints of baileys and raw egg chasers!!

  44. Stark Raven’ Rad:
    Perhaps Gillen’s working on a new accent.Or maybe he’s bought a new jetpack

    Oh now, that’s thought ! Season 7 will introduce us to Littlefinger’s long lost twin, who sports a five o’ clock shadow instead of the his brother’s moustache-goatee combo, speaks in seven different regional accents simultaneously and is not afraid to unleash the power of Blue Steel when need be… We’re in for a treat ! 😉

  45. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYCZoh6vIr0&t=11m32s
    Another interview with Joe Dempsie where he says that he’d loved to come back. I know someone mentioned that he was spotted in Belfast a few weeks ago so who knows. Though I think Gendry still rowin’ should be addressed next season given there’s a good chance that Arya and Mel will meet in the Riverlands.

  46. BunBunStark: Aidan Gillen’s pose is freakin’ hilarious. Second best to his pose with the ice cream bar a few years ago.

    That photo of a possibly (OK, almost certainly) stoned Aidan Gillen with his ice cream bar, alongside Michael McElhatton and Conleth Hill in an unassuming convenience store, may never be topped. It was a work of art.

    Screw it, here it is again for old times’ sake. https://www.instagram.com/p/r2xAM0j9ye/?modal=true

  47. Nymeria Warrior Queen,

    Queso is generally melted cheesy goodness with onions, peppers, tomatoes, etc. versus boring ol’ grated cheese (raised on queso as a native Texan 🙂 ).

    Damn it … now I’m craving queso …. mmmm … queso …. 😉

  48. Roocat,

    I’m very familiar with “chiles con queso,” (and, yeah, it’s delicious. It used to be my favorite thing to order at the tex-mex restaurants where I grew up, and I’ll still make it, sometimes, since you can’t get it at restaurants in my area. You can get fundido, which is close, but it isn’t the same.) which, yes, is often shortened to just “queso,” but in Spanish, “queso” just means cheese, which is why it made me chuckle. I wouldn’t have necessarily thought chiles con queso would be a thing in Ireland, which goes to show what I know. 🙂

  50. r-hard,

    There might be clues in Cersei’s convo with Robert back in season 1. Cersai listens to the man in her life, Tywin, and she may have listened to Robert as well, who had a lot to say about the Dothraki and how kings and lords should respond to their invasion.

    Robert said it would be foolish to meet them in open battle and it would be unwise for lords to hide behind castle walls. So, I guess that leaves meeting the Dothraki at sea? Or perhaps, something else…unknown.

    If Cersai remembers that talk – and I think she will – it might indicate how she’ll respond.

  52. r-hard,

    The Red Keep could be ruined because the Lannisters choose to fight and maybe she orders the war ships with the trebuchets to throw burning pitch at the Red Keep and only the Red Keep? Just a thought.

  55. BunBunStark,

    I can envision 1/3 waiting to film. They need winter. Snow comes to Ireland, what December to March I believe. Filming is not ending until Feburary. This is a large cast only filming probably 9-10 hours of footage. The most used actors will only be seen 1.5 to 2.0 hours a season. Filming for an entire character on the show does not take the whole 6 months. it probably takes half that probably even less.

  58. Stargaryen,

    The reference is to him saying 604 that his friends in the North had told him that Sansa escaped Winterfell. He’s just referring to informants. I doubt there’s anything more to it than that.

  59. Conleth is actually filming a different project and still has full hair. There’s pics posted on Twitter from yesterday (9/2). So I doubt his GoT work has started (or maybe Varys will grow hair!!!)
    Plus he lives an hour from Belfast, so he was most likely in the airport returning home from whatever. He takes a car when he has GoT filming in Belfast.

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