Locations/News/Photos

First photos of the Game of Thrones set in Zumaia

Posted on by Sue the Fury
Photo: diariovasco.com
Photo: diariovasco.com

HBO’s technical staff arrived in Zumaia, Spain yesterday to pave the way for Game of Thrones season 7 and things are getting interesting already. The production team have begun altering the exterior location along a walkway by the beach, adding what appear to be battlements to the low walls. That leaves the question of, which location will this be, situated by Zumaia’s beautiful coast? The look so far is much more in line with Essos than Westeros, though we can’t rule out Dorne entirely. Will Daenerys be landing at this site? It seems like a fair possibility.

Locals have taken photos and videos of the work in progress in Zumaia. As you can see, visitors are checking out the set under development.

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Photo: diariovasco.com
Photo: diariovasco.com
Photo: diariovasco.com
Photo: diariovasco.com

There are more images at the source in El Diario Vasco.

Extras casting is due to begin in the northern cities shortly with Modexpor International having previously stated they’ll release more info on October 5th about the search in Zumaia and Bermeo. Only men are needed as extras in the Basque cities, according to Modexpor; hopefully tomorrow we’ll learn even more.

Thanks to H. Stark for the assistance with the Zumaia info!

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

85 Comments

  4. Except for the color, could they CGI that into Dragonstone? They only need a structure for the place the characters will be standing. And its quite similar to what we’ve seen in the show.

  8. Kargaryen:
    Just don’t be essos, please!

    Yes, I second the motion. Please, gods, not Essos. ?

    NotGRRM:
    Storm’s End?

    I love this idea. It’s ripe for the taking and this location looks the part.

  9. Sorry for being repetitive, but based on the In Production Teaser map at 1.30, it Dany’s landing site (and I assume they will be filming Dany’s landing here) will be the Weeping Tower in the Sormlands. Just go and take a look at that: it’s pretty clear and it makes a perfect sense strategically.

  10. Wow, so exciting to see these new sets come to life.

    The merlons look more Dornish to me. My best guess is that this could possibly pose for Sunspear or the Water Gardens. Whilst we’ve not seen Sunspear, we have seen a distant shot of the Water Gardens from season 5:

    http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Water_Gardens?file=Dorne_-_Water_Gardens_5x06.png

    This new location, as well as san juan de gaztelugatxe pretty closely resemble the geology and terrain and if you look closely at the coastal ramparts up close in the above pic, they look pretty darn similar to san juan de gaztelugatxe.

  11. Landing spot for Dany.

    It can’t be Dragonstone because where on earth is she going to house 100 000 people?

  12. Apollo,

    Yes, Sunspear is also an option, but in this case the rowers should be Euron’s men attacking Dorne. Maybe, we will get a better insight when the casting call for extras is announced. The Dothraki and the Unsulled type extras will imply Dany’s landing, otherwise Euron will probably be a better guess.

  14. Kargaryen,

    That’s very unlikely.
    If they were going to change it so much it post, it’s better to do that in a studio. The shape of the battlements can be easily recreated as blue/green boxes.

  16. lord of blogfell,

    They can use light filters or screens or whatever. They filmed uncle Benjen rescuing Brann and Meera in broad daylight and made it look like it happened at night etc.

  18. Neither the Zumaia landscape, the walls or the new prop battlements look like they are from Essos or Dorne. Where does that idea come from? It’s a strange notion, isn’t it?

    Anyway. As pretty much everyone else has suggested, I believe Storm’s End or Dragonstone are much more likely than anywhere in Essos or Dorne. Or maybe it’s another castle entirely… but not in Essos or Dorne. The vegetation and typical weather of the area, along with the European-style walls and battlements, pretty much rule that out.

  19. lord of blogfell,

    Zumaia is rarely sunny. It’s always humid, and usually cloudy. It rains a lot, too. Not all of Spain is like the south… Geologically, and climatologically, we have more to do with Ireland than Southern Spain.

    IF this is Essos, it’s one of the western Free Cities. Volantis was quite lush in the show, so that could be it. But Zumaia doesn’t look stereotypically Essosi otherwise, or Dornish.

  20. They filmed Dorne on the beach at Portstewart in S5, which is even more cloudy and rainy (and they made an ass of that but that’s another story). Like I said above- look at the distant shot of the Water Gardens…it does kinda resemble this terrain… not all of the Dornish coast is blisterng sands. Besides, they may not need sunny weather and blue skies if winter is here and a storm has also just passed.

    Luka Nieto:
    lord of blogfell,

    Zumaia is rarely sunny. It’s always humid, and usually cloudy. It rains a lot, too. Not all of Spain is like the south… Geologically, and climatologically, we have more to do with Ireland than Southern Spain.

  22. Apollo,

    I’m not saying it’s impossible, but why is it more likely than the location being exactly what it looks like, instead of the opposite? The location is lush, usually with shitty weather, and literally zero Eastern influence on its architecture. Why focus on the possibility that it is an extremely atypical an/or unconvincing Essosi or Dornish location, when it’s much more likely that it’s exactly what it looks like? Or there some other information I’m missing that would male Sue and other suggest it’s Essos or Dorne?

  23. Luka Nieto,
    Dorne was suggested for Trujillo Castle (and I, personally, keep to that – it looks really dry even in the winter pictures). I think that maybe some posters have some problems picturing the geography of Spain and the difference in the look/feel between Basque Country and Caceres?

    To me, right now, it seems that one could be Dorne, and the other could be the Stormlands, and so the Lannisters will have to fight a war on two fronts at once. Could be interesting if so.

    e: maybe, as someone with actual information, you could write a post with more educated proposals. ?

  25. Luka Nieto:
    Apollo,

    I’m not saying it’s impossible, but why is it more likely than the location being exactly what it looks like, instead of the opposite? The location is lush, usually with shitty weather, and literally zero Eastern influence on its architecture. Why focus on the possibility that it is an extremely atypical an/or unconvincing Essosi or Dornish location, when it’s much more likely that it’s exactly what it looks like? Or there some other information I’m missing that would male Sue and other suggest it’s Essos or Dorne?

    The battlements are being fitted with Merlons that look more Essos/ Dornish like in terms of the type of stone and the shape. Dragonstone has been depicted as being built with oily black stone. Could certainly be storms end, true, I’ve just gone with the style of merlon and the shot from S5 as points of reference.

  27. Apollo,

    I see no Eastern influence on those merlons. The rock is sandy instead of grey, but that’s about it. And they aren’t even half as sand-colored as the walls of King’s Landing!

    I guess we’ll have to wait and see until they build more stuff 😉

  30. Casterly Rock and Lannisport!!
    Euron attacks the Westerlands and forces Cersei into an alliance…

    Oh the tinfoilery… the tinfoilery of it all!!! 😛

  32. Dee Stark,

    Do you need to spam every post with some boring off-set photos? Who cares? What do they have to do with GOT filming? Leave it on tumblr and such like.

    Anyway, back OT. I’m thinking it’s Essos, though I hope we’re done with that place.

  33. A Dornish Tyrell,
    I am down with this ! I am down with any theory that says that, at some point, we will see Casterly Rock. I want to witness it, goddammit 😉

    However, while my heart is with the Rock, my money is on the Stormlands… We have Daenerys “Stormborn” Targaryen and Euron “the Storm” Greyjoy. I struggle to believe the Stormlands will not feature in this.

  36. It should be light winter (at least) in the South by the time Daenerys arrives there. But by the looks of it, they’ll still have Dornish/KL-type weather. I’d like a change of climate for Daenerys, Cersei and co. Give them a taste of the harsh conditions already. Will they have Long Night contained to the North only? It’d be a cop out if so. Winter is sure spreading at a snail’s pace.

  37. Another reason I’m included to go with Dorne is that this is probably the most likely spot for Dany to land. It’s closer geographically, she can be replenished by her Dornish allies and her fleet will want to land ASAP after a long voyage, to regain their strength, train for battle and mobilise forces… especially with a Dothraki horde on board.and especially if they’ve just been through a storm and a huge battle (if indeed this relates to Dany).

    Not to mention the fact this echos the landing of Nymeria and her 10,000 ships.

    I’m not gonna draw any conclusions over a half second shot from the promo.

    But- I’d certainly love to see some other locations so I’m happy whatever ?

  38. ACME,

    You are right!! Too many “storms” for them not to clash…

    My only concern is that the Stormlands might not be the best place to land… Shipbreaker Bay is not called like that just because it sounds awesome…
    But maybe that’s the kind of drama we will see: something along the lines of what happened to the Philip II’s Spanish Armada being severily damaged by storms and tidal waves and then immediately attacked by the ennemy.

  39. Now that HBO has Ben Barnes in Westworld, it’d be great if they got him to do GOT. Like have him as Rhaegar. He’d been my fancast for Jon before GOT. so it’d be neat if he played his dad.

  40. Well, I still think it might be Dorne or Essos…Please not Essos…lol. I guess we will have to wait and see, but I don’t see it as the Stormlands. I truly think Sue may be right and it might be Essos, Lord help us all!…lol

  41. A Dornish Tyrell,

    You are righ: the Shipbreaker Bay sounds bad, but what about the coast of the Sea of Dorne? If Dany sails into it, she will come close not only to Dorne, but also to the Reach getting access to it’s food resources. And the Stormlands are in disarray, their lords can be easily persuaded to join her course (especially taking into account that another alternative would be burned by the dragons), etc. And it makes a relatively short march to KL: Dorne has a disadvantage in this sense, because the way from it goes through the mountains and is rather narrow and, if Dany lands in Dorne, she risks to be blocked there both from KL and the Reach which is supposed to feed her massive army.
    All in all, the Stormlands/Sea of Dorne looks like the best choice for landing.

  42. Dee Stark:
    maeve,

    I will continue to post these here! If you don’t like it, don’t click the link the link my friend!!!!

    Where’s the “like” button when I need it? LOL.

  44. Inga,

    Yeap, that’s exactly what I think: Dorne. It would make sense for them to land there: it’s a friendly territory were they can resupply, rest and organise the attack on KL. Plus it’s very well protected from northern attacks (the history of Dorne proves, it can be very tricky territory to invade, even if you have dragons).

    I don’t think it will be Essos… unless Euron attacks when Dany is in Volantis, about to leave the Bay of Dragons… Hopefully they already left Essos east… 🙂

  45. A Dornish Tyrell,

    Dorne is good for defence, bud bad for deploying an attack group (except of its most northeastern point, probably). Stormlands are better: from there Dany can march straight to KL or retreat to Dorne or Reach, if something goes wrong (and something will).

  48. Dee Stark,

    Has his own company and going into producing. Huh. Good for him! lthough I do hope he does not to give up acting entirely cause that face is made to be on camera not just behind it 🙂

  49. Flayed Potatoes:
    Dee Stark,

    Don’t give up posting. We appreciate the updates!

    Flayed Potatoes – Love the new avatar! Made me go “awwwww” and tear up a little!

    Dee Stark – Please keep on posting off-topic photos of Kit! They brighten my day, and my lady friends who watch GoT enjoy them too. I wouldn’t mind a few of Nikolaj, either!

  50. ygritte,

    Yes, good luck to him. I’ll be definitely watching those minseries on the Gunpowder Plot, when they are released. I love historical movies and series so much: that’s why I am so much into GoT. The only problem you rarely get something other than the Tudors or Wars of Roses or Queen Victoria. Even the Gunpowder Plot won’t be a big novelty… HBO and other producers should really start searching for interesting stories beyond the. Channel, especially if they intend to keep their international audieces.

  51. She will turn around in the middle of the way, when she hears that Slaver’s Bay is under attack…

  52. MeeraReed,

    Basque coast and the north is rainy because the sea and the winds… in the coast the sea warms the temperature but 70% of the winds came from the sea so it turns into clouds and rain. When you go south in the basque country the mountains stop gradually the clouds, and you can end in places like rioja alavesa (great wines) or in a desert like royal bardenas of navarre where the famous kidnapping and dothraki commitment to daenerys was shoot.

    http://www.eitb.eus/es/television/programas/la-noche-de/videos/detalle/4430639/video-descubre-lnd-detalles-rodaje-juego-tronos/
    youtu.be/G4Huzc9qrFQ?t=8m34s
    youtu.be/2tDFHkwEAG8
    http://www.kulturweb.com/adm/imagenes/don-galparqueigeldo02.jpg
    youtu.be/5wfWEFTBLWw
    https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7390/9168040090_e52b447e74_o.jpg
    youtu.be/3aYC7nRUv8c
    youtu.be/Oo3Y19e0Kb4

  57. A lot of people are suggesting Storms End. My thoughts on the Stormlands is it is a rainy region w/ thick forests. This is desert like Dorne or Essos. Unless they are just using the castle that is fine, but they typically use the scenery to, that is why they film on-location. for the natural scenery. If I am to picture the scenery of the stormlands this would be the last thing I would think it would look like.

  59. Why is the internet going crazy with spoilers saying Jon is marrying Sansa. Is this just theory or did I miss some spoiler? Please be theory.

  63. Stargaryen:
    A lot of people are suggesting Storms End.My thoughts on the Stormlands is it is a rainy region w/ thick forests.This is desert like Dorne or Essos.Unless they are just using the castle that is fine, but they typically use the scenery to, that is why they film on-location.for the natural scenery.If I am to picture the scenery of the stormlands this would be the last thing I would think it would look like.

    THIS is a desert? Oookay :/ And you’ll be hard-pressed to find a place rainier than the Basque Country.

    I’m sorry for being so repetitive. It’s just irksome that people assume that all of Spain looks like a desert.

  65. Luka Nieto,

    Does not look like dessert to me. Just based on the pics posted here why would you think that?

    Luka Nieto:
    H.Stark,

    And they’re using Basque trainera rowers to row real boats to the coast, which is awesome.

    That is cool.

  66. Luka Nieto: THIS is a desert? Oookay :/ And you’ll be hard-pressed to find a place rainier than the Basque Country.

    Wales. ?

    (According to Wikipedia: Annual rainfall in the northern Basque Country is on average 1200mm, while “in Snowdonia averages between 3,000 millimetres (120 in) (Blaenau Ffestiniog) and 5,000 millimetres (200 in) (Snowdon’s summit)”.)

  69. Newbietothegame,

    It’s not only cool – it’s interesting. Trained rowers imply that the boats will move fast which in turn implies that it’s going to be an attack rather than a peaceful approach to a friendly territory. That gives us two options: either it should be Dany taking some jumping-off ground in the Stormlands (presumably, the Weeping Tower on the coast of the Sea of Dorne); or it will be Euron attacking Dorne (Sunspear or Ghost Hill) to take out Dany’s allies and to prevent her landing on a safe ground. My bet might be on Euron, because if Dany had to take some minor caste in the Stormlands to get a jumping-off ground, she would simply mount Drogon and threaten the local garrison to choose between surrendering and total incineration (with a predictable result).

    As for the landscape of Zumaia, it can hardly be much of a hint. The Stormlands in S2 looked to have a rather rocky coast, so Zumaia may look like Stormlands. The Dornish coast we saw in S5 was sandy, but again that was the vicinity of Water Gardens/Sunspear. The show-runners can easily move the Sand Snakes (including Ellaria) to some other castle (the Ghost Hill, for instance) under the excuse that it would be more convenient for Dany’s landing and have Euron attacking them there. And that may imply a totally different Dornish landscape than we saw in S5.

  72. Rei,

    As much as I love Iain Glen, I hope he’s involved in another production/show and that’s why he’s in Northern Ireland… His departure last season was very nice. I feel it would ruin it if he reappears in Westeros for whatever reason.

  74. A Dornish Tyrell:
    Rei,

    As much as I love Iain Glen, I hope he’s involved in another production/show and that’s why he’s in Northern Ireland… His departure last season was very nice. I feel it would ruin it if he reappears in Westeros for whatever reason.

    Nah, same scruffy look. He will be back….

  79. Totally! And does Emilia have a new wig? Looks more realistic (from the small part we can see)… no lace at the scalp at all.

    Luka Nieto: It’s exciting to see Emilia in her wig again, and on location. Here we go again! Aside from the actual airing of the show, obviously, the filming is my favorite GoT part of the year.

  80. Stargaryen:
    Why is the internet going crazy with spoilers saying Jon is marrying Sansa.Is this just theory or did I miss some spoiler?Please be theory.

    Sounds like wishful thinking to me…

  81. Guys you need to see this. Trailer for Richard Madden’s upcoming tv drama ‘Medici: Masters of Florence’. He’s co-starring with Dustin Hoffman.

  83. Inga:
    jarjarblinks,

    Great! I am definitely watching this. When is it expected to air?

    Rai TV in Italy will air Episode 1 on October 17th.

    In France , the series will be available on the platform Zive in autumn 2016.

    Rest of the world,no dates yet but sold to:

    Sky (Germany), SBS (Australia), eOne (New Zealand), Sony Pictures Television (Latin America), DBS (Israel), VRT (Belgium), Canal Plus (Poland), LRT (Lithuania), RTV (Slovenia), RTVS (Slovakia), Canal Plus Overseas (French Speaking Africa), Hulu (Japan), Georgian Public 1 Broadcast (Georgia), and BTV (Bulgaria), among others.

    SFR/Altice Group for France, French-speaking Belgium, and Luxembourg, and by Telefonica/Movistar Plus for Spain. All these deals were signed for first window-rights. Further sales are in negotiations for Britain and Scandinavia, along other other territories.

    WME is handling the sale to North America.

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