Filming/Locations/Speculation

Game of Thrones adds Kaštel Gomilica in Croatia to season 5 locations

Posted on by Sue the Fury

Kaštel Gomilica

Thanks to a notice posted in a Croatian publication, a new shooting location for Game of Thrones season 5 has been discovered.

Kaštel Gomilica, a town just outside of Split, will serve as the newest filming site, according to Split.com.hr.

gom1The notice was posted in the local news to inform residents that there will be a “controlled burning of small materials” on August 14th on the land along the Bay of Kaštela, opposite the Kaštilac fortress. The incineration will serve as clean-up to prepare the coast for Game of Thrones.

The Kaštel Gomilica shooting dates are not known at this time. However, with Sibenik filming set for Sept. 18th-23rd, and Dubrovnik filming confirmed for late September through mid-October, it seems likely that Kaštel Gomilica will see Game of Thrones‘s crews before the other cities.

It’s not known at this time what purpose this new location will serve. In previous seasons, the Split region has largely served as home to Daenerys Targaryen, with Emilia Clarke filming in Diocletian’s Palace, and nearby at the Klis Fortress and at the Zrnovnica quarry.

Sue the Fury:  My first thought for this area is Braavos, with the waterfronts. Anyplace near sandy shores could stand in for parts of Dorne, but the photos of the town, the buildings and the marinas, seem like a great fit for Arya’s storyline.

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

70 Comments

  3. Cat of the Canals! I wonder how much of Arya’s Braavos story they’re gonna keep intact. I got a feeling they’re going to change a lot, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Jaqen again.

    (Wonder what the fire will be for…?)

  4. Bott,

    “The incineration will serve as clean-up to prepare the coast for Game of Thrones.”

    The fire won’t be used in filming.

  5. Interesting!

    My first thought looking at the center tower entry was House of Black and White maybe. It has no windows, made of stone etc, but the rest of the castle does not fit really. VFX could fix that easily enough though I guess…

    Maybe the Arsenal?

  9. I would really be bummed if Braavos ends up all sunny and summery… for me it always had a foggy vibe, with pale lanterns piercing the fog of the decks. Very Northern-like actually… so well…

  15. Bott,

    I have a feeling a lot of her plot will remain as is. It is fairly straightforward in the books and seems like one of the easier plot lines to adapt. There was speculation in another thread (cred to whomever brought it up) that

    the finance savvy merchant that was cast a while back will be Arya’s first target!

  16. At first I thought it would be Oldtown, but then I came back to reality and realised it’s probably for Braavos, it fits well with the description of Arya’s chapters. But I wonder wouldn’t be harder, from a logistic perspective, two different cities to be the same one?

  20. TheTouchOfFrost,

    Yeah! If I remember correctly, they

    bothered to mention the leeches in S4, so they’re not gonna forget about it. For a while I’ve thought that from a logical standpoint they might have to combine Ash(y)ara with Vicatarion, but who knows. I also happen to subscribe to the Euron/Daario theory, after spending hours of digging through the books…alas I guess we’ll just have to wait it out for news.

    I feel so spoiled from knowing so much about the Dorne plot line haha.

  24. Watchers on the Wall

    It works, both clicking to reveal the hidden text in individual posts, and when you click “show spoilers” at the top. When I clicked “hide spoilers,” it hid them all, again. 🙂

  26. Nymeria Warrior Queen,

    Thank you for helping us test it. Next order of business is to get a button to automatically pull up the short code in the comment area. Right now, you can copy and paste it from the spoiler box above so you do not have to type it out. We are always trying to make improvements!

  28. Is it bad that my first thought was

    ‘OMFG WATER GREYJOY HYPE’

    until I realized the town will most likely stand in for Braavos? 😛
    But I’m wondering why they are using Croatia for Braavos. I believe it’s on the same length as the Vale in Westeros, and that’s being filmed in Iceland. I guess it’s easier to film?

    Spoiler tags don’t seem to be working with me? What am I doing wrong? Just doing the [ spoiler] blabla [ /spoiler] thing, without spaces.

  30. The site would suit the Arya story-line.

    Off-topic, I had a look at the other place though I did not post there. They seem to have stopped the irritating pop-ups (well at least there weren’t any when I visited). Maybe they have learned the lesson too late.

  31. Lion of Night,

    As much as I’d love to see both Greyjoy uncles, at this point I’d take one of them although I think there’s certainly room for both as they wouldn’t hog much screen time and

    it would make the Kingmoot much better plus would leave Yara to do what she needs to do up north. I’m not a subscriber to the Euron/Daario theory but we shall see. I think it would be a real shame if we didn’t get both the Greyjoy uncles in their full form and I’m pretty sure one Greyjoy needs to head over to Mereen!

  32. TheTouchOfFrost,

    I’m not sure what the Ironborn story line becomes without a Greyjoy uncle (or two).

    Balon is going to die; why else include him in the leeches? With Theon “dead”, Yara can’t just sail home and assume the Seastone Chair is hers without opposition. That’s not the way it works. I am inclined to think that we will get Euron. Now that Darrio (who isn’t Euron) found ships for Dany, we may not get Vic. Perhaps Euron heads to Meereen solely to claim Dany and, with her, the Iron Throne.
  34. Balon has got to die really. I agree with your theories as I think that would make a lot of sense. Euron taking Victarion’s roles would make sense ( as much as I’d prefer to have them both feature) at this point but I guess it depends on what GRRM has planned for both of them. Yara/Asha will retreat to Deepwood Motte after losing the Kingsmoot in fear of Euron having her killed so she’ll be in the right position for future storylines with Stannis. It’s the fact the Greyjoy brothers will be opposite ends of the map so if Euron has business in Westeros then it’s not going to work if he’s fulfilling Vic’s role in Mereen. Ships or not I think the Ironborn ‘saving the day’ at the siege of Mereen is a key part of the story and would also make great television. Love the thought of Ironborn storming the beaches and hacking through confused and terrified Yunkish! Finally showing why they have such a fearsome repuation! Think we may have to wait until Season 6 for the Siege of Mereen though

  35. TheTouchOfFrost:

    I don’t see any way they get to the siege of Meereen – an event that comes in TWoW – until Season 6. The Daznak’s Pit stuff is so obvious as a season-ender that Barristan’s coup, et al, is more easily reserved for the 6th season. What all that means is that if we get any Greyjoy uncles at all (and to me they’re not cut until events occur that need them, namely, the Siege), they’re going to come in Season 6. They have a lot of set-up to get through to make us care about such a battle. They’ve started to do it, but we need more build-up of Hizdhar zo Loraq and any retainers of his they add in (I think they cut almost all of them). Balon can get it near the end of this year, and a Kingsmoot can be in 6.1 and battle in 6.3 or 6.4 or something. I can see why the producers would elect to introduce just one large group this year (Dorne) and the Iron Islands folk next year, with the remaining new ones this year the scattered characters who affect other storylines, like Septa Unella, High Sparrow and the Waif.

  36. mariamb,

    We probably don’t need a Greyjoy in Meereen. I don’t think Vic is going back home with a dragon, and if he just dies or joins Dany’s posse he can easily be cut. It would have been great to see Ray Stevenson as a badass Vic, though.

    I think Euron has a much bigger chance at making the show. Balon has to die and according to Bryan Cogman Yara will have to deal with escaping the Dreadfort. IMO that implies that she won’t just become Queen of the Iron Islands and continue merrily, she has to be sent away and she has to end up with Stannis. So she needs opposition at the Iron Islands.

    I also think that Euron, given that he is one of the new kings fighting for the Iron Throne, has a much bigger chance of being important and irreplaceable than his brother. He’s also a great, interesting character with a lot of gravitas. It would be cool to see him (and his dong) on screen.

  37. TheTouchOfFrost,

    It’s also an unbelievably expensive sequence, especially considering it’s going to be in episode 2 or 3 of season 6. Better to cut the naval battle entirely and gain more dragon action.

  38. Dame of Mercia,

    For me at least it does not matter what the other site is doing at this point. Sometimes is still go there, just to see how they are doing, but I will never post there again or give them anything I find. Not because I didn’t like their new content very much or of the ads, it’s because they let there core writing team go, the people who (along with Winter) made the site what it is today, don’t even said a proper goodbye to them and do seem try to hide the fact that WotW even exist.

  40. jentario,

    Agree – no need for a Greyjoy in Meereen. There are too many characters over there. My guess is that Vic will die…so yes, no need for him. I’d prefer to see them get out of Meereen rather than send more people there.

    I missed Cogman’s comment about Yara having to “deal with escaping the Dreadfort.” With that in mind, I can see her getting sent away, as you say. Poor Yara.

    And yes, Euron will make for great TV. He can show up at the start of S6 causing problems for the Reach.

  41. Sunfyre,

    They did moderate/delete my last post there, which stated that WotW was up. Apparently they still do that, but I can’t account first hand for it, because as I said, I don’t post there any more.

  43. Sunfyre,

    Most of the good ones have found there way here by now. Let them play their childish games.

    It just proves how they care more about clicks and less about fans. Before the evil empire took over, Phil always allowed links to other fan sites as long as we didn’t repeatedly spam a thread with them.

  45. Hey everyone… we just posted a forum suggestion box in the forums here.

    If you have used the forums and have some ideas on improvements that could be made, please let us know in the suggestion box.

    If you have not tried them, please do so and give us some feedback. Thank you Ladies and Sers!

  47. Nice!
    Thanks..

    Although currently my only suggestion is for the main site. XD
    Will you eventually have category tabs like the original site? It is so convenient if one wants to look up all the casting posts at once or all the episode reviews at once etc…

    Obviously Seasons 1-4 would likely not be on this site…

  49. Greenjones,

    I think this may be their House of White and Black entrance. Though they’d wanted to shoot at St. James Cathedral in Sibenik, they said at SDCC that they’d been denied a location for religious reasons, implying that that Bishop was successful in his lobbying against the show. It makes sense that they’d build the House of White and Black themselves then.

  50. Greenjones,

    I’m sure they’ll make it look great but gotta admit I’ll be a little bummed if they couldn’t get permission to use the Cathedral as HOBAW. It was perfect.

  51. I think that once the set is fully build we’ll now for sure what it’s for. The architecture doesn’t look like anything from Westeros, so its either Braavos, Meereen or maybe Dorne (but I doubt it, since they have Spain for exterior shots).

  52. mariamb:
    TheTouchOfFrost,

    I’m not sure what the Ironborn story line becomes without a Greyjoy uncle (or two).

    Regarding balon’s death I’m not sure we will even learn about it. Yes they set it up with the leeches, but they set up some other important stuff in the past that they ended up cutting. Lady Stoneheart had an incredible amount of setup through season 3 and 4 and it didnt happen. Maybe i’m just being pessimistic about the show since last season’s ending. To be honest, I think D&D have a problem with creating good cliffhangers since the Battle at the Fist fiasco. They’re afraid of dropping the ball again (let’s be honest here, the way they handled the battle in the first few seconds of season 3 are a low point for the show, even more so than the Halfhand or the House of the undying). Anyway, back on topic. I think they should show the whole greyjoy plot, minus the damphair. Vic and euron are needed. Vic more so than euron by the way, dont know why most people say that if they only show one of them it should be Euron. Vic has done so much more so far in the story.

  53. The other guy,

    I don’t consider the Battle at the Fist a fiasco honestly.
    I never expected to see a full on battle… especially not at the start of a season.

  54. Greenjones,

    Nice find!

    My first thought was HoBW as well, but until it’s finished it is really too hard to tell. Could be anything at this point.

    Now if we could get an update photo on the Moneyglass castle that was being built a week or two ago!

  55. Watchers on the Wall:
    Nymeria Warrior Queen,

    Thank you for helping us test it.Next order of business is to get a button to automatically pull up the short code in the comment area.Right now, you can copy and paste it from the spoiler box above so you do not have to type it out.We are always trying to make improvements!

    You’re welcome. I figured it had already been tested, but I know that sometimes settings for admins. can be different than for regular posters, so what may work for you may work differently for others.

    This image may have already made the rounds, but speaking of Braavos, I just found this, and I thought it was funny.

    http://d2tq98mqfjyz2l.cloudfront.net/image_cache/1401320671939827.jpg

  59. Regarding balon’s death I’m not sure we will even learn about it. Yes they set it up with the leeches, but they set up some other important stuff in the past that they ended up cutting. Lady Stoneheart had an incredible amount of setup through season 3 and 4 and it didnt happen. Maybe i’m just being pessimistic about the show since last season’s ending. To be honest, I think D&D have a problem with creating good cliffhangers since the Battle at the Fist fiasco. They’re afraid of dropping the ball again (let’s be honest here, the way they handled the battle in the first few seconds of season 3 are a low point for the show, even more so than the Halfhand or the House of the undying). Anyway, back on topic. I think they should show the whole greyjoy plot, minus the damphair. Vic and euron are needed. Vic more so than euron by the way, dont know why most people say that if they only show one of them it should be Euron. Vic has done so much more so far in the story.

  61. jentario:
    The other guy,

    The other guy,

    Spoiler tags, please
    [ spoiler ] text [ / spoiler ]

    Without spaces

    sorry about that, cant edit it now 🙁 oh and Sorry about the double post folks !

    Darquemode:
    The other guy,

    I don’t consider the Battle at the Fist a fiasco honestly.
    I never expected to see a full on battle

    First time I see someone being fine with the way it was handed. A 7 seconds black screen with screams in the background, is the result of an epic battle with wights, undead bears, fire arrows and much more.. I get that some people don’t expect much of the show as an adaptation, but this is commonly accepted as a low point for the show. Go see the comment section of Wic and winterphil’s review at the time if you don’t believe me… I understand that the show doesnt have an unlimited budget, but still. It was lame. D&D understood that, and that’s why we didnt get LS in my opinion. Because they thought they couldn’t follow up with her reveal in early s5, and be criticized for it. If only the average viewer could be expected to wait a little before getting the resolution to a season-ending cliffhanger. Oh well.

  62. Tried to edit my previous comment, and commented again by accident 🙁 sry about that ! Please delete this .

  64. I think Balon needs to die at some point this season. Maybe near the end and the final scene could be Euron’s ship on the horizon. That or actually show his death and perhaps a hooded assailant pushing him off if he was indeed murdered. They could easily set him the assassain up to be Euron to introduce him with a bang.

    . I don’t think the Iron Islands will be as hard to work in as Dorne as Yara and Balon are already established and they could have either of the Greyjoy boys fight Loras at the Shield Islands if need be. Three was no one that people knew in Dorne hence Jaime having to go down there.

    With regards to the siege of Mereen, I think it deserves one of those full length episodes to do it justice. The overall fighting between Barristans forces and the Yunkish, the arrival of the Ironborn, Quentyne (probably soon to be Trystane ) getting roasted alive and the dragons escaping and running wild about the place makes for one truly epic episode and I hope they do it justice by putting it all in there

  65. The other guy,

    I was a little disappointed in how it was handled as well, but I can be disappointed in not seeing something from the books without thinking it was a fiasco. I thought we may have seen the tail end of the battle, a few minutes at the very tail end at most – Much more likely to see no battle than seeing the full battle. Regardless, I did not consider it anything near a fiasco. The House of the Undying was far more of a fiasco to me, as was Dany’s or Jon’s entire Season 2 arcs, Talisa in Season 3, or the skeletons and fireballs this year.

    Likewise, I was skeptical we would see LS in the first place and have mentioned she could be cut (and arguably should be) since Season 3.

    I did not see the logic to bring Michelle back for the part, and if that is the case that reason alone was enough to make me skeptical of the role being in the TV series. The BWOB were a necessity in Arya’s arc – not just set up for LS (maybe more important in setting up Jon Snow’s arc honestly)…. So no loss in their story to me. Add in the fact the loss of the character means very little to anyone’s arc (other than Brienne and maybe Jaime). If the “sword or noose” scene is important it can be handled by some other role with little or no loss to the narrative.

    I think some fans need “Stark Justice” more than the story itself does!

  66. The other guy,

    I don’t see how was there any setup to LS considering she was never even talked of appearing in any season this being confirmed by a director on the show , i think it’s a case of book readers seeing things where they aren’t there like Sansa talking about Sansa talking about Cat’s death in the pemiere defginitely means something even though they talked about Robb,Ned and other caracters after their deaths too, does this means they are going to bring them back too ?

  67. I spent 11 hours on a bus to get to Dubrovnik for casting of extras and if Im chosen I promise to update you on what I see….

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