Massive New Towers at Titanic Studios Set!

707 - King's Landing - Jaime, Bronn, Unsullied 1

Since a curious Game of Thrones set began construction on the Titanic Studios parking lot, we have slowly but surely seen it turn into an entire neighborhood of King’s Landing. The massive set appears to be nearly complete at last, but there’s still work to be done: most recently, two giant towers appeared over the set’s walls, guarding the city gate.

Belfastian A Red Priestess shared these photos on Twitter, showing the new structures:

A Red Priestess

These twin towers were built on the ground first and then craned onto either side of the city gate. As was the case with the gate towers at the Winterfell set, the fact that these massive structures were actually constructed (instead of added later with visual effects, in post-production) must mean that actors are meant to interact with them extensively, which jives perfectly with what we know (major spoilers!) we can expect from this set.

Compare the city wall as it looked before and now, with the two gate towers
Compare the city wall as it looked before and now, with the two gate towers
An overview of the set, from the gate towers to the watchtower
An overview of the set, from the gate towers on the left to the watchtower on the right

Though it’s difficult to gauge the size of these towers, according to our sources they are “about 50% taller” than the watchtower at the other end of the set, which looks about the same size only because of the photo’s perspective. The set begins at the gated wall, which opens to a main street with buildings at either side, ending at the watchtower.

Feel free to speculate about the sequence that will be filmed around these new towers, or generally in the massive set. However, since there are no spoilers in this article, please make sure you properly tag any and all spoilers before posting your comments!

41 Comments

  1. Maybe its the Twins and the Riverrun castle filmed there.Will be see Edmure and Jaime there talking for to go in the North to help in the War

  2. RonP:
    Hodor!

    If you build it. burn it down.

    That’s the idea!

    H.Stark,

    We don’t know when they start shooting (or else we would’ve reported it, obviously), but going by the building progress, and certain comments made by production, my best guess (and it is just a guess) would be March or April.

  3. Artemisia,

    They wouldn’t build such a massive set for months just to film one scene on it and not even from the main plot. Don’t they already have The Twins set somewhere? And the towers of the castle aren’t so close together like they’re here. It’s King’s Landing.

  4. I’m curious how they will shoot this. Its outdoors and surrounded by a giant ship building site. Lots of green screen Id imagine.

  5. Tiny direwolf:
    The Night King must go south. Cersei has to look into his blue eyes and know she done f*cked up.

    Thats wonderful idea..Cercei meets face to face NK on the Red Keep..Her reaction to him ..would be priceless and fun to see it

  6. I’m baffled by the style of the gate towers.. at this stage, they don’t seem to be typical for Kings Landing. In fact, I’d say the wooden framed battlements look pretty similar to those on the towers of the new Winterfell set.

    Wonder what gate this is meant to be, and I hope this time they get the surrounding terrain right 🙈

  7. I hope they don’t burn the whole thing at the end. I’d really like them to turn this into an attraction to visit after the series end. (plus they can make use of it in spin offs)

  8. Luka Nieto,

    IMO it should be March (if not postponed). Someone from the crew said that Miguel Sapochnik was going to make them very busy in March, so it’s a legit guess that it will be related to this set.

  9. Apollo,

    I don’t think it’s battlements – looks more like scaffolding to me or some unfinished structure. Anyway, they have at least 20 more days to finish it, if the rumors about Miguel Sapochnik making everyone very busy in March are true.

  10. MMJ,

    Yeah, I always thought that referred to the Broken Tower at WF though. The Broken Tower was struck by lightening once. A “great stone beast”. I wonder who/what it refers to.

  11. Rob,
    My guess is,

    great=some kind of royalty
    stone=wolves, castles
    beast=a dragon and/or a wolf

    Janos tells Jon the “mark of the beast is on him.” Kind of odd phrasing, don’t you think?.

    The phrase “winged wolf” is mentioned in Bran and Arya’s chapters but a “dragon wolf” is a new thing, and very much like a chimera. Which GRRM loves – fitting in with his sphinxes, harpies, and griffins.

  12. MMJ,

    So what lie would Dany be slaying here? The first two seem fairly easy to decipher but there’s no consensus on the third

    Quote for context

    Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. . . . mother of dragons, slayer of lies
    ~ ACOK Daenerys IV

  13. Jay Targ,
    I believe that second stanza is referring to the false hero, the false Targaryen, and the false lover. Controversial, I know, but Dany has been warned repeatedly not to trust strange men and be more wary about bringing them into her service, and this is an example of that Chekhov’s gun being fired. I think the slayer of lies paragraph is meant to illustrate the 3 fires.

    a fire for life = birthing dragons–>Stannis tries to do the same –>accidentally resurrects Jon because Dany has increased Valyrian fire magic and caused fire wights to exist
    a fire for death = fAegon
    a fire TO love = not a person. She thinks of the fire in Drogo’s pyre as a wedding. She loves the fire itself (bride of fire), so I’m thinking vengeance against someone who has lied to her. Signs point to Jon as the great stone beast who breathes shadowfire, i.e. a fire that opposes hers.

    “Only lies offend me, never honest counsel.” – Dany, ASOS

  14. Haven’t read prior comments yet, but my immmediate reaction is: “Holy s*it, they’re really pulling out all the stops.” It seems they’re actually building structures that they previously created or embellished with CGI.

    And if they’re spending all that time and money to build structures that they’re only going to blow up or burn down? That’s dedication.

    My second reaction when I saw the words “A Red Priestess” was: “Yay! Kinvara’s coming back in S8!” Then I read it more carefully and realized Belfastian “A Red Priestess” was the person who shared the photos. 🤢

  15. MMJ,

    Well that’s an interesting interpretation and not one I’ve heard before. My issue with it, however, is that the other two lies can be contrasted with the fact that Dany is the “truth” (True Hero/AA and True Dragon/Targaryen). Whereas, IMO, it stops working if the third lie has to do with a “False Lover” because that would make Dany the “True Lover” and that doesn’t make much sense.

  16. Jay Targ,
    Well, I would argue that you can have true lovers and false lovers, which is pretty much the entire theme of the series. Almost every character encounters this situation. Moreover, I think those lines about Stannis and fAegon could just as easily relate to Jon. fAegon doesn’t claim to be Dany, he claims to be “Rhaegar’s son returned from exile/the dead,” but that’s actually Jon. Stannis claims to be the true hero, but at this point it’s unclear if that’s Dany or Jon. The fact that “shadowfire” contrasts with “casting no shadow” suggests that a “truth” is revealed whenever Dany slays the lie. Melisandre hints at this:

    “Most of these powers and potions, are lies, deceptions to make men think they witnessed our Lord’s powers. Once they step into his light, they will see the lie for what it was: a trick, that led them to the truth.
    -Melisandre, S04E07 “Mockingbird”

    Also, since the last line of the 1st and 3rd stanza relates back to Jon (Rhaegar/Lyanna, the blue flower), it’s pretty logical that the last line of the 2nd stanza (the great stone beast) also relates to Jon somehow. These towers could just be a random set for action sequences, or something very important could go down there between Dany and Jon, relating back to this prophecy?

    These prophecies are treacherous and can bite you in the ass, so I don’t claim to have THE interpretation. But it’s important to consider that Dany errs if she interprets the visions in a completely positive way for her, or if she tries to avoid them somehow, which only causes them to come true. GRRM has talked about this irony of prophecies, in interviews.

  17. The King in the North but which North? The Lands of always Winter? Winterfell? There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. The North Remembers.

  18. i dont understand why people dont want to read sppoilers after you great writers post pictures of spoilers so we can guess. dont look at the pictures. anyway i dont have a fucking clue what these towers are. and the internet is starting to agree with me them pics of jon n cersei with d n d were plants. filming in the same location thats all. fuck with us and the paps on break.

  19. Firannion: Fetchez la vache!

    *boiiiiinnnnngggggg!!!!*

    I mean, they’ve had little Monty Python references in the past, surely they could do another? 😊

  20. :
    Artemisia,

    The article says that it’s KL

    says KL..but could misleading us..The Tower looks like Northern building..Similar to the twins

    joojenbro:
    Artemisia,

    They wouldn’t build such a massive set for months just to film one scene on it and not even from the main plot. Don’t they already have The Twins set somewhere? And the towers of the castle aren’t so close together like they’re here. It’s King’s Landing.

    ofcourse they had..but Kings Landing hasnt this color on its buildings…grey-black..They are red or yellow there

    Apollo:
    Artemisia,

    Actually based on what? They already had a set for RR at Banbridge.

    we dont know still for what this building is supposed to be

    Alfie:
    Winterfell burns down, I really don’t want Sansa to die. Especially as a casualty.

    I hope there be a casualty..Will be fascinating to see that..

    Luka Nieto: No it isn’t. Don’t make stuff up.

    it isnt..but it could be

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