Entertainment Weekly has cataloged a number of epic pranks that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have pulled on the cast members over the years. Apparently, there’s a lot of laughter on this set. Let’s go through them chronilogically.
Jon Snow, burn victim
You’ll remember that, in Season 1, Jon Snow saved Lord Commander Mormont from an attack by a wight by lighting it on fire. He hurts his hand in the process, but is otherwise unharmed. Benioff and Weiss decided to have fun with Kit Harington, who plays Jon, by adding something extra in the script. Here’s how the fake script read:
"Jon plunges his hand into the fire, seizes the burning drapes, and FLINGS them at the dead man, engulfing them both in flames….When the fire is finally out, we see by torchlight that all of Jon’s hair has burnt down to the scalp. The skin on the top half of his face has been melted in the extreme heat, blistered and pustulant. Despite what must be the extreme agony of permanent disfigurement, Jon stands stoically by his master’s side."
Yes, the producers dared to threaten the one thing about Jon Snow you’re never supposed to mess with: his hair. Harington was prepared to play the scene, though, and didn’t catch on until Benioff and Weiss started laughing when talking to him about it.
Bran Stark, murderer
In Season 2, Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) takes control of Winterfell and takes Bran hostage, but Bran escapes and hides right under Theon’s nose. As we now know, Bran eventually makes his way north and Theon is taken prisoner by Ramsay Bolton, but in a version of the script Benioff and Weiss originally gave to Allen, it went a little differently: Bran confronts Theon in the season finale, and says, “This is my Winterfell, not yours” before stabbing him in the heart.
According to Allen, the producers were hoping to shock him into panic, but this one didn’t quite work. “I thought it was cool,” Allen said. “I went on a holiday, and David and Dan were all thinking I was going to call up going, ‘Hold on a minute whoa-whoa-whoa!’ But I just got on with it. Then they had to make it clear to me later on it was all a joke.” Well, a couple pranks are bound to backfire.
Ygritte, songstress
Book-readers may remember a scene from A Storm of Swords where Ygritte, Jon Snow’s wildling lover, sings a song called “The Last of the Giants.” That song didn’t make it into the show, but Benioff and Weiss decided to take advantage of actress Rose Leslie’s fear of public singing and wrote it into a script they sent her. I’d have watched it.
Jaime Lannister, haircut victim
At some point in the show’s history, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau learned that his character, Jaime Lannister, was going to have a “slight hairstyle change.” (I’m guessing this doesn’t refer to the short haircut he debuted in Season 4, since that wasn’t slight.) Coster-Waldau, who we can assume had heard of Benioff and Weiss’ fondness for pranks by this point, decided to turn the tables on the producers. According to Weiss, Coster-Waldau an “Angry Actor Email” about he was upset by the hairstyle change.
"He said he felt the need to own his hair because his hair was part of his character, and he was going to take it upon himself to get his own haircut that he felt best reflected Jaime Lannister as he saw him. He said he hoped we’d understand and he’d send us a picture shortly."
A couple days later, Coster-Waldau sent the producers a picture of himself…with a buzzcut. HBO started to freak out, lawyers made phone calls, and then the actor revealed that the picture was from years ago. How’s that taste, Benioff and Weiss?
Samwell Tarly, court jester
The newest (and in my opinion, best) prank detailed by EW involves John Bradley, who plays Sam. Before Season 6 began filming, Kit Harington and Hannah Murray (Gilly) asked the producers to pull one over on Bradley. Murray was thrilled that she finally getting a new costume, and wanted Bradley to think that he was getting one, too. The producers complied, and set up a fake costume fitting for Bradley. The results were, well…
Bradley doesn’t look happy, does he? “I looked so bad and ridiculous, it was unbelievable,” he told EW. “There was a huge vulgar codpiece – though flattering, to be sure. The reason I bought it is because we’d never seen Sam at home before, and he’s an idiot. Sam dressed like an idiot before he came to Castle Black.”
For more on these pranks, head to Entertainment Weekly.
And now, in the spirit of funny stuff, let Mace Tyrell sing you out on the steps of the Sept of Baelor.