Editing Winter Is Coming (section)

===The original pilot===
The series began development in January 2007.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957532?refCatId=14|title=HBO turns Fire into fantasy series|work=[[w:Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|last=Fleming|first=Michael|accessdate=May 26, 2011}}</ref> HBO, after acquiring the rights to the novels with the intent of turning them into an international cable television series, hired David Benioff and D. B. Weiss to write and executive produce the series, which would cover one novel's worth of material per season. The first and second drafts of the [[w:pilot episode|pilot]] script, written by Benioff and Weiss, were submitted in August 2007 and June 2008<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://grrm.livejournal.com/2008/06/13/|title=Ice & Fire on HBO|work=Not a Blog|last=Martin|first=George R. R.|accessdate=May 26, 2011}}</ref> respectively. While HBO found both drafts to their liking, a pilot was not ordered until November 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/hbo-orders-fantasy-pilot-thrones-50937|title=HBO orders fantasy pilot 'Thrones'|work=The Hollywood Reporter|last=Hibberd|first=James|accessdate=May 26, 2011}}</ref> Director Tom McCarthy was chosen to direct the pilot episode, that was shot between 24 October and 19 November 2009 on location in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Morocco.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://winter-is-coming.net/features/faq/|title=FAQ|work=Winter is Coming.net|accessdate=May 26, 2011}}</ref> On September 2010 it was announced HBO's decision to greenlight the series.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-greenlights-game-thrones-21228|title=HBO greenlights 'Game of Thrones'|work=The Hollywood Reporter|last=Hibberd|first=James|accessdate=May 26, 2011}}</ref> However, due to artistic and casting reasons, it was decided that the pilot would not serve as the first episode and a reshoot was in order. The actors appearing in the original pilot that did not return for the series were:
*[[w:Tamzin Merchant|Tamzin Merchant]] was recast as [[Daenerys Targaryen]] by [[w:Emilia Clarke|Emilia Clarke]].
*[[w:Jennifer Ehle|Jennifer Ehle]] was recast as [[Catelyn Stark]] by [[w:Michelle Fairley|Michelle Fairley]].
*[[w:Ian McNeice|Ian McNeice]] was recast as Magister [[Illyrio Mopatis|Illyrio]] by [[w:Roger Allam|Roger Allam]].
*[[w:Richard Ridings|Richard Ridings]] was recast as [[Gared]] by Dermot Keaney.
*[[w:Jamie Campbell Bower|Jamie Campbell Bower]] was recast as Ser [[Waymar Royce]] by Rob Ostlere.

Another difference is that the pilot featured scenes shot in Scotland (where Doune Castle was used to recreate Winterfell) and Morocco (reusing the sets of Kingdom of Heaven to stand in for [[Pentos]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://grrm.livejournal.com/118848.html|title=Magic in Morocco|work=Not a Blog|last=Martin|first=George R. R.|accessdate=May 26, 2011}}</ref> In the series, Winterfell was created combining different locations in Northern Ireland and all the scenes from Pentos were relocated to [[w:Malta|Malta]]. The pilot remained unaired and the first episode was filmed by new director Tim Van Patten, although some scenes from the original pilot were used in the final cut.