House Stark returns to Game of Thrones with new look & sigil in prequel filming!

Sansa Stark 806 Season 8 Queen in the North

After rehearsals, filming for Jane Goldman’s Game of Thrones prequel finally took place this afternoon at Gaeta, Italy. Though no new actors or characters were recognized, we did get to see Stark men thousands of years before we first met them in Game of Thrones, with a surprising new (or rather, old) look. That includes the iconic House Stark sigil, which has been redesigned to match the legendary era of the Age of Heroes and the Long Night during which the story is set. Take a look below the cut!

Soon after reporting on this morning’s reheasals, the ever-helpful GoTlikeLocation got a glimpse at actual filming this afternoon, in which we finally see the boat in all its glory, crewed by viking-looking ancient Starks, as evidenced by their direwolf banner:

Though George R.R. Martin recently revealed House Stark would “definitely” appear in this new series, some differences are to be expected, considering it’s set thousands of years before Game of Thrones: we’ll see the Starks as kings again, but only of one petty kingdom among a hundred, so not quite as a Great House that rules the entire North.

This appears to be reflected on their appearance as well, as these Stark sailors and their ship look basically like Vikings. As for the Stark sigil on the banner (also seen on the boat’s relief carving), it’s evocative of the design to which we’re accostumed, but with a less sleek design, probably to highlight the ancientness of this pre-historic era:

To the left, the prequel's ancient Stark sigil; to the right, the well-known Game of Thrones design.
To the left, the prequel’s ancient Stark sigil; to the right, the well-known Game of Thrones design.

So, what do you think the Starks are up to here? Will they be as crucial to Blood Moon’s story as they were for the original show’s, or will they just be one faction among many? What do you think of their Viking-like appearance and the “new” (ancient) Stark sigil?

28 Comments

  1. Interesting stuff.

    Makes sense, if you look at the evolution of heraldry from Medieval times through Middle Ages etc you can see how it changed

    The Show set in a Medieval environment though really used modern imagery it’s worth noting, reading ASOIF books at the back shows Medieval style heraldry

    My impression is GOT is Medieval and this new show would be Dark Ages/Viking like?

    Has the potential to be quite interesting, maybe they are attempting to make a “Vikings” style show set in GOT Universe?

    I think it will be hard to get the bitter taste of Season 8 out of peoples mouths (though for mine it was a S5 or 6 onwards culminating in S8 but anyway…)

    Brans vision through the Weir Tree going through the ages shows the potential, especially if NK was revealed to be a Stark who could only be undone via a female Stark ala Witch King of Angmar wraith and Eowyn in Lotr but anyway

  2. I’m good with it. Looking forward to the show.

    Please keep the info coming 👍🏻

  3. Hey! Maybe that’s Arya’s direwolf ship! She sailed into a wormhole and got transported back in time thousands of years!

  4. Ten Bears:
    Hey! Maybe that’s Arya’s direwolf ship! She sailed into a wormhole and got transported back in time thousands of years!

    I am NOT joking… I was going to post something very similar! 😆 Wishful, hopeful thinking I reckon. 😉

  5. Ghost’s Lunch,

    Could as easily be a stylised lion. Everything seen thus far looks more Greco/Roman and overt sigils weren’t really a thing. I’m calling misdirection on this particular avenue. Probably wrong but hey… (one thing I am standing by is that the armour photos weren’t rusted, they were BRONZE!)

  6. I noticed in the second twitter sets of photos that the first shot of the ship has 7 males whilst the second shot of the same ship has only 6 men. Just wondering…

  7. Interesting, I had no idea the Starks would be in the prequel (I’ve not been reading all articles since S8 finished) so this comes as encouraging news to me – along with Lann the Cleaver potentially appearing. I’m actually fairly excited about the prequel now after some initial reservations about the casting.

  8. Oooo very cool. I would have associated Viking-like ships and heraldry with the Ironborn rather than Starks but I like this. Also, GRRM did discuss (among other things) heraldry with Neil deGrasse Tyson on his podcast, StarTalk, although it’s mostly about medieval heraldry.

    https://www.startalkradio.net/show/playing-the-game-of-thrones-with-george-rr-martin/

    I also wonder if this is supposed to be White Harbour (before the Manderlys of course)? I believe in TWoIAF it was said to be ruled by various Starks and other families?

    Valryian Steel,

    I personally think this is just the production name and not the actual title of the show. On all the papers and scripts in the background in the Last Watch documentary, GoT was actually “The Faith of Angels.”

  9. Ten Bears:
    Hey! Maybe that’s Arya’s direwolf ship! She sailed into a wormhole and got transported back in time thousands of years!

    Maybe she ended up back on Dr. Who again!

    Seriously though, from the photos and costumes, this looks intriguing!
    I hope they spot someone in Children of the Forest makeup. I really love Leaf’s makeup. I hope they take the time and delve into living in the COTF society. I’m hoping they have a COTF priestess or someone who is the leader of their religious life.
    Do they currently live in peace with the Starks? or are they already at war over the cutting down of the weirwoods and the clearing of the forest. Whoops, now I’m delving into the plot of Avatar, but I really liked Avatar, so that wouldn’t be that bad if it had some similar messages.

  10. Ghost’s Lunch: My impression is GOT is Medieval and this new show would be Dark Ages/Viking like?

    You’re making a distinction without a difference. The Dark Ages and the Medieval period / Middle Ages are one in the same.

    The Dark Ages is a term that is used when people want to portray the Middle Ages as a time of backwardness. For this reason, many academics suggest we limit the usage of the term, or restrict it to the Early Middle Ages.

    But the Dark Ages do not predate the Medieval era.

  11. Nick20,

    No, the Dark Ages is usually named like that because the historical sources related to that period are very scarce hence we are kept in the “dark” about a lot of things that happened in that period . There is also the Dark Ages of Ancient Greece, same reason, not a lot of sources hence just a lot of speculation and legends .

  12. The spikes on the sigil remind me of the Crown of Winter. Not Sansa’s crap crown, the one that is made of an Iron and Bronze circlet of standing swords

  13. Congrats to GOT and allowed involved! Of course I want my personal favs (Maisie and Kit ) to win but I will be cheering for any GOT winners. The entire team has worked so damned hard on this series and it remains, at least for me, at the top of my list of must-see/rewatch TV.

    Good call on thespearheads on the Stark banner Nikki. I did like Sansa’s crown due to it’s representing Robb’s armour and I think if her crown was spiked ,she may have looked like the American Statue of Liberty.

  14. Jack Nabble,

    I agree. The ‘Dark Ages’ (in Britain) roughly corresponding to the end of the Roman Empire around ~500AD to the Norman conquest in 1066. i.e. The time of Anglo-Saxons and later the Vikings. Very little is known about this period and what there is mainly from the writings of the monk, the “Venerable Bede” (672 AD to 735 AD) .

    In Europe, the so called dark ages lasted somewhat longer from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Italian Renaissance ~1500AD. The ‘Early Middle Ages’ would be a more accurate definition.

  15. Personally, I’d love if the prequel captured a similar look like HBO’s “ROME”! I loved the aesthetic of that show and the fantastic production values. “ROME” really paved the way for and in a way made a show like GOT possible.

  16. What on earth? There’s a wealth of sources on Continental Europe in the first half of the last millennium.

    Black Raven:
    Jack Nabble

    In Europe, the so called dark ages lasted somewhat longer from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Italian Renaissance ~1500AD. The ‘Early Middle Ages’ would be a more accurate definition.

  17. I’m thinking that the coast looks a bit like the area around Casterly Rock. Perhaps we’ll see the discovery of Tyrion’s secret entrance, what with AquaFilms there.

  18. Clob,

    Just to continue the ot extension, the first trailer for The Witcher is on Netflix and their YouTube channel. A little ‘higher fantasy’ but looking pretty solid, imo.

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