Game of Thrones Season 7 Filming Could Be Upset By Brexit

The big Brexit vote in underway today in the United Kingdom, as residents of that country are voting on whether to stay in the European Union. (Brexit=”British Exit.”) What does that have to do with the price of dragonglass knives in Westeros? Quite a bit, it turns out. If the UK leaves, Game of Thrones‘ filming for the coming season could run into trouble.

According to Foreign Policy Magazine:

"…if the U.K. votes to leave the EU, it would take Northern Ireland with it, potentially robbing HBO of one of the show’s primary filming locations. It takes a lot of cash to depict Jon Snow and thousands of Stark loyalists defeating Ramsay Bolton’s forces to take back Winterfell, a scene shot there and aired this past Sunday.That leaves HBO looking for partners to help pay for the show, and some of that money for it comes from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund, created to spur economic growth across the European Union. If the U.K. leaves, filmmakers might not be eligible to draw from that fund. This means that some of the cash used to bring big-budget productions to Northern Ireland could disappear."

And Game of Thrones isn’t the only show who would suddenly find that their subsidies are drying up. As many crossover fans know, Star Wars VIII is also filming partly in Northern Ireland. The Brexit could mess with that as well.

HBO declined to comment on the article, but if the Brexit goes through, Westeros might start looking very different in last couple of seasons.