{"id":1928435,"date":"2026-05-10T20:15:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1928435"},"modified":"2026-05-10T20:15:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:15:55","slug":"a-game-of-thrones-writer-reveals-the-shows-early-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1928435","title":{"rendered":"A Game of Thrones Writer Reveals the Show\u2019s Early Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/game-of-thrones-tyrian-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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HBO\u2019s\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0<\/em>turned 15 years old last month, and it\u2019s understandably got folks feeling nostalgic, including those who worked on it.<\/p>\n

On Bluesky, writer Bryan Cogman looked back on his experience writing for the show when it was in its infancy. His first episode was season one\u2019s fourth, \u201cCripples, Bastards, and Broken Things,\u201d which itself is now 15 as of this weekend. Back when Thrones\u00a0<\/em>was first shot in 2009, he\u2019d served as the \u201cin-house \u2018expert’\u201d who created accessible documents for family trees, characters, and the like. That work led to him helping showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss break the season, and later landed him writing duties on that episode, which he thought at the time was just a simple training exercise.<\/p>\n

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I wasn\u2019t going to participate in the whole #GoT15 thing, cuz\u2026 well, I don\u2019t work for HBO anymore (haha) but I owe the show and its fans so much, I thought I\u2019d post a bit about the first episode I wrote \u2013 104: \u2018Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things\u2019\u2026 which premiered 15 years ago today\u2026 (cont)<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bryan Cogman (@bryancogman.bsky.social) May 8, 2026 at 11:20 AM<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

In the lengthy thread, Cogman discusses the episode\u2019s shooting process and one of his favorite moments in getting to visualize Bran Stark\u2019s dreams. Some may remember\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0<\/em>as HBO\u2019s first foray into genre television, and as such, the team and network were skittish about going all in on those fantasy elements. (He even called Thrones <\/em>\u201cscrappy\u201d compared to other then-running shows on the network like Boardwalk Empire<\/em>.) Despite \u201ca lot of pressure\u201d to tamp that down, he said \u201cfuck it, I\u2019ll write it anyway\u201d and came up with a version of the dream that was \u201cnot too\u00a0<\/em>fantastical, but enough to see where we were going.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point in his career, Cogman had no writing experience and hoped to become a staff writer for the show in later seasons. But because Benioff and Weiss had been told by HBO to bring on freelancers, they picked him among that season one staff, a team that also included George R.R. Martin and longtime Buffy\u00a0<\/em>writer Jane Espenson. While extremely grateful to Benioff and Weiss for taking a chance on him, Cogman also credited HBO\u2019s environment back then, when \u201ccreatives and execs truly felt like collaborators.\u201d The episode\u2019s shooting was also his unofficial first go as an on-set producer. It was a role Weiss and Benioff wanted for Cogman, and one he later officially graduated to while still writing for future seasons.<\/p>\n

Cogman\u2019s now a consulting producer on Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, <\/em>and considers Thrones <\/em>his \u201cfilm school [that] spoiled me for life. I learned everything I know about writing and production from being in its trenches. GoT was very close to not happening in the early days for multiple reasons. Ultimately, it was a case of the right people being there to do it, the network taking a chance on us and the material, and the world wanting it. [\u2026] So, Happy Birthday, Game of Thrones<\/em>! What is Dead May Never Die.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

HBO\u2019s\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0<\/em>turned 15 years old last month, and it\u2019s understandably got folks feeling nostalgic, including those who worked on it.<\/p>\n

On Bluesky, writer Bryan Cogman looked back on his experience writing for the show when it was in its infancy. His first episode was season one\u2019s fourth, \u201cCripples, Bastards, and Broken Things,\u201d which itself is now 15 as of this weekend. Back when Thrones\u00a0<\/em>was first shot in 2009, he\u2019d served as the \u201cin-house \u2018expert’\u201d who created accessible documents for family trees, characters, and the like. That work led to him helping showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss break the season, and later landed him writing duties on that episode, which he thought at the time was just a simple training exercise.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

I wasn\u2019t going to participate in the whole #GoT15 thing, cuz\u2026 well, I don\u2019t work for HBO anymore (haha) but I owe the show and its fans so much, I thought I\u2019d post a bit about the first episode I wrote \u2013 104: \u2018Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things\u2019\u2026 which premiered 15 years ago today\u2026 (cont)<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bryan Cogman (@bryancogman.bsky.social) May 8, 2026 at 11:20 AM<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

In the lengthy thread, Cogman discusses the episode\u2019s shooting process and one of his favorite moments in getting to visualize Bran Stark\u2019s dreams. Some may remember\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0<\/em>as HBO\u2019s first foray into genre television, and as such, the team and network were skittish about going all in on those fantasy elements. (He even called Thrones <\/em>\u201cscrappy\u201d compared to other then-running shows on the network like Boardwalk Empire<\/em>.) Despite \u201ca lot of pressure\u201d to tamp that down, he said \u201cfuck it, I\u2019ll write it anyway\u201d and came up with a version of the dream that was \u201cnot too\u00a0<\/em>fantastical, but enough to see where we were going.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point in his career, Cogman had no writing experience and hoped to become a staff writer for the show in later seasons. But because Benioff and Weiss had been told by HBO to bring on freelancers, they picked him among that season one staff, a team that also included George R.R. Martin and longtime Buffy\u00a0<\/em>writer Jane Espenson. While extremely grateful to Benioff and Weiss for taking a chance on him, Cogman also credited HBO\u2019s environment back then, when \u201ccreatives and execs truly felt like collaborators.\u201d The episode\u2019s shooting was also his unofficial first go as an on-set producer. It was a role Weiss and Benioff wanted for Cogman, and one he later officially graduated to while still writing for future seasons.<\/p>\n

Cogman\u2019s now a consulting producer on Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, <\/em>and considers Thrones <\/em>his \u201cfilm school [that] spoiled me for life. I learned everything I know about writing and production from being in its trenches. GoT was very close to not happening in the early days for multiple reasons. Ultimately, it was a case of the right people being there to do it, the network taking a chance on us and the material, and the world wanting it. [\u2026] So, Happy Birthday, Game of Thrones<\/em>! What is Dead May Never Die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/game-of-thrones-tyrian-1200×675.jpg”] HBO\u2019s\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0turned 15 years old last month, and it\u2019s understandably got folks feeling nostalgic, including those who worked on it. On Bluesky, writer Bryan Cogman looked back on his experience writing for the show when it was in its infancy. His first episode was season one\u2019s fourth, \u201cCripples, Bastards, and Broken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-1928435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1928435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1928435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1928435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1928435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}