Details from Spain about new Game of Thrones locations and extras casting

Torre_de_Bujaco
Torre de Bujaco

Game of Thrones filming on season 7 is set to begin in just a couple weeks, and today we have fresh information about location shooting in Spain.

Los Siete Reinos is sharing rumors they’ve heard out of Spain, concerning filming locations Cáceres city and Malpartida (located in Cáceres province). The sites were reported as new Game of Thrones filming locations back in July, with Hoy stating filming would take place in November.

Regarding Malpartida, L7R says they’ve heard that extras casting will take place in early September and filming will actually be starting in October. The extras will reportedly fit the “Dothraki” description that we’ve seen in past seasons: people with darker skin and hair, long hair and no tattoos. However, this information has not yet been officially confirmed.

Los Barruecos
Los Barruecos

L7R is also reporting the rumor that Thrones director Mark Mylod was seen in Malpartida a few weeks ago. Our own sources confirm that during July, director Jeremy Podeswa has been scouting Cáceres, as well as Cordoba, Seville, and  other places in the country.

It’s believed that Game of Thrones will be filming aquatic scenes in Malpartida’s Los Barruecos. The beautiful and rocky coastal point could provide an interesting location for a landing scene, since Daenerys has set sail and may be landing in new and unusual places. The Dothraki casting call, if it’s accurate, would gel with that theory.

Filming will be taking place in the city of Cáceres itself as well, focusing on the Old Town district. El Periodico de Cáceres says that filming will be happening within that area, around the Plaza de la Veletas. They report that HBO’s people visited several places in the district, including the Torre de Bujaco and the Torre de los Púlpitos. They may also have stopped by the Mayoralgo Palace, but only to check out the views it affords of the Plaza de Santa Maria. The photo snapped by El Periodico certainly looks like Mylod.

Given the well-preserved look of the place, it would make a fine replacement for Dubrovnik, Croatia and Girona, Spain, the cities that have previously been the centers of location shooting for King’s Landing and cities like Braavos.

What are your thoughts on the new season 7 locations?

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

30 Comments

  1. Amazing locations! Los Barruecos location seems a perfect place for a Queen’s Landing. 🙂

  2. Any chance los barruecos is the neck? I want to see the swamp and greywater watch! I mean, how cool are lizard lions and a floating castle?

  3. Kingofdanorf: Any chance los barruecos is the neck? I want to see the swamp and greywater watch! I mean, how cool are lizard lions and a floating castle?

    At this point in the story I’m surprised we got to see Howland at the ToJ, I can’t imagine them having enough of a reason on the TV show to not only show the Reed’s home, but setup and explain it w/the small amount of episodes we have left. Especially considering which characters are left, and what is left to get done.

    I agree though, would have loved to see this place made real.

  4. We’re getting close to the good stuff. Rapid fire gossip on a daily basis…almost as good as the season itself.

  5. Jon Snowpenhauer: At this point in the story I’m surprised we got to see Howland at the ToJ, I can’t imagine them having enough of a reason on the TV show to not only show the Reed’s home, but setup and explain it w/the small amount of episodes we have left. Especially considering which characters are left, and what is left to get done.

    I agree though, would have loved to see this place made real.

    Bran could want howland to back him up regarding Jon’s lineage, and he has his daughter as a guide.

  6. Los Barruecos looks like the approach to the Quiet Isle, but there is no narrative reason to go there anymore, right? Unless the Elder Brother plays some other role in the endgame.

  7. I believe Howland will make an appearance at some point in the show. Reason is they name dropped him and also reminded the audience he is Meera’s father at The Tower of Joy scene. They also told you in an earlier season through Jojen, that Howland was there and saved Ned during the Rebellion. Why bother with all that name dropping and foreshadowing over multiple seasons if it won’t mean anything?

  8. I hope Los Barruecos is Dragonstone from an angle we haven’t seen before. Since Dothraki-type extras are being cast in Malpartida, it suggests that this location is for the Daenerys storyline. It would be a sort of coming home if she landed where she was born.

  9. Kay,

    Yeah, the Dothraki casting suggests that the Los Barruecos location will be used for Dany’s storyline and Dragonstone seems more likely than Dorne or Oldtown based on the pic.
    Even though this location looks like it could have been a good fit for the Neck and Greywater Watch, the Dothraki casting seems to rule this out.

  10. Random Thought: Wouldn’t it be cool if Arya wrote ‘The Starks send their regards’ in Frey’s blood on the walls of The Twins.

  11. Kingofdanorf,

    orange,

    I suppose there is a small possibility, but it’s a pretty small possibility in my opinion. We have around 13 episodes, to have Bran and Meera navigate from the Wall to Greywater then back all the way north again seems to be a bit of a stretch, and kind of waste of time. His inclusion at ToJ was more part of adapting the scene and connecting Meera and Jojen to the story more concretely, and a tiny bit of fan service for us, at least in my opinion, as opposed to setting up the foundation for a new character w/only 13 episodes remaining.

    Benjen told Bran he would/should be at the wall to challenge the Night King when he comes, seems like a lot of traveling if he is going to leave to Greywater, and have to come back in time for the Night King.

    Not saying it’s impossible, but logistically with the episodes remaining it sure seems like it when Bran could easily show Jon via vision, or have it confirmed via the crypts or other easier way.

  12. Los Barruecos looks gorgeous. Idk how Dany can fit all her armies on Dragonstone. Maybe she separates them and attacks from multiple directions, or Euron somehow complicates things.

    Rhaenys Stark,

    Same.

    Jon Snowpenhauer,

    I think there’s time for Howland Reed to show up. Bran can make it to Winterfell in 1-2 episodes and send Meera with a horse and supplies to bring her father (who should arrive in 2-3 episodes let’s say). Bran doesn’t have to go there himself and Meera needs something to do too. Also, the NK is headed south and there’s no reason for Bran to go back north and wait for him.

    The show takes liberties with the time it takes to get from one location to another. Just last season Jaime went from KL to Riverrun/The Twins and back. Baelish and Varys also travelled extensively, and so did Dany, Bran, Yara and Theon. If the showrunners need Howland to appear in the story, they will make it happen. He’s already been introduced.

  13. Much as I’d like to see Greywater Watch and the Isle of Faces, Los Barruecos looks much too barren and rocky to be either. The Isle is heavily wooded, and the Neck is overgrown marshland populated by some sort of cold-tolerant crocodilians.

    The approach to Greywater Watch would need to be shot in a place resembling the Florida Everglades or the Louisiana bayous or Dismal Swamp in North Carolina. All the descriptions of travel through the Neck make it sound like there is little to no solid footing to either side of the causeway, which is why Moat Cailin is so difficult to assail from the south. Finding space to encamp even a small army would be a nightmare.

    As for the Isle of Faces, I picture one of the islands in the lakes of New York’s Adirondacks or the Boundary Waters wilderness of Minnesota: a Temperate Zone “forest primeval.” Spain, while beautiful, is just too arid for sites so far north.

  14. H.Stark:
    Another location: the Castle of Trujillo
    It has dornish look

    http://lossietereinos.com/juego-de-tronos-rodara-en-el-castillo-de-trujillo-caceres-en-noviembre/

    It does look Dornish.
    It looks like Dorne/South plays quite a substantial role moving ahead. Yet the show did short work of Doran and his line, but did introduce Dorne instead of cutting it altogether. I wonder if that suggests that there are many complications to come from Dorne in the as-yet-unwritten books.

    Flayed Potatoes: Maybe she separates them and attacks from multiple directions, or Euron somehow complicates things.

    Both very possible. The Dothraki could land via Dorne, they should feel at home in the dryer regions of Dorne.

  15. Flayed Potatoes,

    What good would a confirmation do with the time left though? Jon is already the KitN, what does his agreement on events do for Jon or the story at that point? Why would Jon decide not to believe Bran (and Bran not be able to show him somehow), but believe a friend of his father’s who was supposedly there but is otherwise a perfect stranger?

    Howland’s involvement would only make sense were he needing to prove it to someone other than Jon/himself. Even then, what good is Howland’s words on anyone left? Why couldn’t he make the story up?

    I mean again, I’m all for seeing him, but witnessing how they (show runners) deal with the show, I cannot see them taking multiple episodes simply to let Jon know his brother isn’t lying when this can be accomplished via the crypts, or Bran himself.

    I have convinced myself the show gave us all the Howland we’ll get, but I think the only reasonable way he would be on the show is if reinforcements are needed (which they’ll need all the help they can get) for the war of the dead and he brings what little men he has left (has he been involved at all in any of the fighting prior to this point in time in the show? we don’t/can’t know), and as a byproduct his involvement w/the ToJ gets brought up. I don’t think he’ll be needed or show up simply for that alone, there are easier less confusing/less resource wasting ways to do that.

    Here is to hoping though!

  16. I think one could be Ned and Howland traveling to Starfall after ToJ. Will we get to see Ashara Dayne?!!!! Maybe the casting isn’t for dothraki but for Dornish people. I want to see the tourney at Harrenhal and the Starfall trip. We need to see more of the history somehow.

  17. Jon Snowpenhauer,

    It would help Jon understand what happened and it would also confirm that Bran was right. We, as viewers, believe Bran’s visions and know them to be true, but the other characters don’t know this.

    The show also introduced Howland and even gave us shots of one of the midwives, so if they’re ever needed at some point in the story, the show can easily introduce them.

  18. I agree with the posters who are saying that these Spanish locations are too arid and barren to be northern locations such as The Isle of Faces or Greywater Watch. I too think the island may be a Dragonstone-esque location in line with Dany’s landing. It would be symbolic to have her arrive in Westeros in the same place where she was born and the location of her ancestral home (and the starting point for Aegon’s conquest). Perhaps they do run into trouble with Euron’s fleet and they straggle to Dragonstone a much reduced fleet (though I think this would be pushing the realms of reality even for GOT, as to build a sizeable fleet capable of taking on Dany’s, they would need a hell of a lot longer than they’re going to get – and not to mention a whole load more trees than those barren iron islands seemed to hold, but I digress).

    As for Bran, I can see why people think Howland Reed is going to come back into the story and if he does it will most likely that he forms some part in legitimising Jon’s claim or confirming that he is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna (personally, I don’t think Jon would want to be the ruler of the 7 kingdoms, so I don’t think he’ll be needed to convince the kingdom, but maybe Dany or some other key player?). However, I don’t think Howland Reed is going to be Bran’s priority. I’m sure his first and only aim right now is to get to Winterfell, reunite with his family (and in so doing, form powerful allegiances) and then prepare for the onslaught that will soon be arriving from north of the wall (in all likelihood, he will help break the magic of the wall and allow the WW to pass). I don’t think the politics of the 7 kingdoms are going to be high up on his list and though he’ll share with Jon what he found out, I don’t think either of them will feel terribly compelled to do anything about it till the true threat has been eliminated.

  19. I wish Daenerys lands in Dragonstone once she reaches Westeros. Would feel somewhat symbolic, though of course they haven’t explained any of it on the show properly. People might just go “what is she doing at Stannis’ ex-castle?”

  20. Che,

    I thought the same at first but isn’t Dragonstone already shown on the show? And the description of Dragonstone in the books matches what’s already been shown on the show more than these Spanish locations.

  21. Ah…yes, but Bran’s scene left off at a point where they could logically take us there next to witness important bits and pieces of the story that were left open. I feel that Ashara was mentioned for a reason since the beginning and there is a twist in store that involves her. They wouldn’t have to spend a ton of time on the vision and if you think about how many character story lines were wrapped up last season I think a girl can hope. Maybe that small chunk of her storyline would intertwine with someone else we have been waiting to show his face in current timeline, and a certain companion to Bran. That’s my thought anyway.

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