As Game of Thrones production shifts focus to Spain, local economies get a boost

For Season 5, the Game of Thrones production staff filmed in two areas in Spain: Seville (Dorne) and Osuna (Daznak’s Pit). It was the first time the production had been to Spain, and it seems that it’s taken a liking to the place. For Season 6, it will film in at least four Spanish locations: Navarre, Girona, Peñíscola, and Almería.

Some of the local Spanish economies are already reaping the benefits. Deutsche Welle reports that there’s been a 25 percent increase in tourists visiting the Alcázar of Seville, the Moorish palace that stood in for the Water Gardens in Season 5. Because so much more of the show will be shot in Spain for Season 6, the country can expect more influxes of tourist dollars in the years to come.

The Castillo de Zafra, one of the many Spanish locations that will factor into Game of Thrones Season 6.

Why has the production decided to increase its presence in Spain? It may have something to do with the enthusiasm of the Spanish fanbase. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was mobbed by fans when he visited to film his Season 5 scenes (“[Fans have] become more intense in Belfast for the first time too, but it’s nothing like Spain,” he said at the time) and hopeful extras turned out by the thousands in Spanish cities in hopes of getting on the show.

Also, the Spanish appear to have taken the intermixing of Game of Thrones and politics to a new level, as when the leader of a populist political movement presented a Game of Thrones DVD boxset to King Felipe VI, the country’s reigning monarch, as a political statement. Another time, according to Welle, activists dressed up as rival Game of Thrones characters during a left-wing political rally in Madrid. To put it plainly, it seems like Game of Thrones has taken root in Spanish culture in a way it hasn’t elsewhere.

The other question is where all this increased interest in Spain leaves Croatia, which has long been a kind of home base for Game of Thrones filming. Recently, Spanish fan site Los Sietos Reinos noted the conspicuous lack of casting calls for extras in the area and speculated that the production may have a reduced presence in the region for Season 6. If so, Croatia’s loss will be Spain’s gain.

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