The Game of Thrones season 8 premiere, “Winterfell,” broke viewership records for HBO. But as high as those numbers are, they don’t tell the whole story. Game of Thrones is beloved around the world, including in China, where media giant Tencent owns the exclusive rights to broadcast the show. Only the version of “Winterfell” Chinese fans got isn’t exactly the same as the one I watched in the U.S.
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How are they different? According to CNN, the episode that aired in China was six minutes shorter. It removed some sex (the bit where Bronn visits a brothel), some violence (the part where Theon and his crew board the Silence and kill some of Euron’s Ironborn soldiers) and one instance of a character cursing (the scene where the Hound gives Arya his version of a warm greeting, I’m guessing).
This is far from the first time Game of Thrones, a show famous for its sex and violence, has gone under the censors’ knife. Look at how different Cersei’s Walk of Shame was on Indian TV:
It almost makes you wonder why they bother.
It’s not known exactly who cut “Winterfell” up. It could have been Tencent; it could have the Chinese government, which has far more control over media than countries like the U.S.; or it could have been HBO itself, trying to get ahead of censorship that’s going to happen anyway. Might as well be in control of what goes, y’know?
Tencent is the only way to watch Game of Thrones legally in China, so if Chinese fans want to see the full episode, Chinese fans may have to look…elsewhere. Still waiting on those numbers.
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