Many of the actors on Game of Thrones — your Emilia Clarkes, your Kit Haringtons, etc — have become household names thanks to the show’s huge success, as have creators George R.R. Martin, David Benioff and Dan Weiss. But make no mistake, Game of Thrones was a HUGE show, and it took a village — more like a city, really — of people to make it as good as it was. One of the most important was Carolyn Strauss, the former HBO president of entertainment who championed the show way back when Benioff and Weiss pitched it in 2006, and then served as an executive producer throughout its run.
Speaking to Deadline, Strauss remembered the early days when HBO was not known for fantasy drama. “I’m not a fantasy drama person and I figured if I could like this kind of show, then the chances were that a lot more people could like it because you would get the people who are not fantasy drama people like me, along with all those people who are,” she said. “So I thought, oh, maybe there’s a chance. I said, I’m going to enjoy this show, but I never said, oh, this is going to be a hit.”
And that calculated risk led to a worldwide phenomenon that transformed the network. HBO may not have been a place for fantasy drama before, but with Watchmen, His Dark Materials and the Game of Thrones prequel on the way, it is now.
Not that it was always smooth sailing. The pilot for the show was infamously patchy, and received extensive reshoots. “I think the first run of the pilot wasn’t perfect, but I think you could see where the show lived in it,” Strauss remembered. “I think that all of us involved with making the pilot learned a lot from that experience and felt confident that we could go back, change it up and be on the road to something really special.”
And indeed it was. Along the way, Strauss got to be involved in some groundbreaking television, and had a hand in casting some of actors who have since become beloved by fans. “I think one audition that really stands out for me is Tormund Giantsbane, Kristofer ,” she remembered. “We were watching it on tape, and he had this enormous carrot and he just chomped on that carrot with a ferocity I’ve never seen before. So that one, this red-haired guy chomping on a carrot for me is one I won’t forget any time soon.”
Which brings us to the end of the show, which may have been as controversial as the beginning. Many fans accused of showrunners of rushing things, but Strauss wasn’t among those who was going to lobby for more seasons, although as an executive you can imagine she would have liked to keep the ride going. “My reaction was really mixed because obviously you don’t want the show to end and it was ending, but I was really pleased with how they ended it. I thought they did a great job.”
"I think David and Dan all along had a very clear idea of how they wanted to land the plane. I know some people were unhappy with it, but a lot of people were (happy). Personally I thought they did a superb job."
And then came the fan backlash. That couldn’t have been fun for anyone who worked on the show, but the record-breaking pile of Emmy nominations probably helped. “I think certainly after some of the stuff that I read in the press it was really nice to feel that support from the Academy,” Strauss said. “Everybody on every show works really hard. This show is a really, really difficult show to produce and for the whole team I think it meant so much to be recognized with the nominations we got.”
HBO isn’t done with Game of Thrones — they’re editing a pilot for a prequel series right now — but Strauss is leaving Westeros behind, at least for now. “I think, for me, if I’m not doing it with Dan and David and the crew that did the series, it’s not the same thing for me. I don’t want to do it again with a different group, I like the team. I like the team that’s there, but we all have different things we want to do.”
Throughout her long relationship with HBO, Strauss has worked on a lot more than just Game of Thrones; she was also instrumental in bringing Deadwood to the screen — both the show and the recent movie — and was the driving executive force behind Chernobyl, which was brought to her attention by writer Craig Mazin, whom she met because he’s friends with Benioff and Weiss. Head here to read more about her many projects!
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