| Season Number: | 3 |
| Bgcolour: |
|
| Num Episodes: | 10 |
| Network: | HBO |
| Episode List: | List of Game of Thrones episodes |
The third season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones premiered in the United States on HBO on March 31, 2013, and concluded on June 9, 2013. It was broadcast on Sunday at 9:00 pm in the United States, consisting of 10 episodes, each running approximately 50–60 minutes.[1] The season is based roughly on the first half of A Storm of Swords (the third of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin, of which the series is an adaptation).[2] The series is adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. HBO renewed the series for a third season on April 10, 2012, nine days after the second season's premiere. Production began in July 2012. The show was filmed primarily in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Croatia, Iceland and Morocco.
The story takes place in a fictional world, primarily upon a continent called Westeros, with one storyline occurring on another continent to the east, Essos. Like the novel, the season continues the storyline of The War of the Five Kings: after the death of Renly Baratheon, all four kings in Westeros believe they have a claim to the Iron Throne, besides Robb Stark, who seeks vengeance for the death of his father, Ned Stark, and independence for the North. The season also features other storylines: Daenerys Targaryen begins her rise in power in Essos; Ned's illegitimate son, Jon Snow, goes undercover beyond the Wall; the other Stark children struggle to survive up and down Westeros, but Robb is killed; Jaime Lannister returns to the capital; and all of Westeros is informed of the reawakened threat of the Army of the Dead.
Game of Thrones features a large ensemble cast, including Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington. The season introduced a number of new cast members, including Diana Rigg, Ciarán Hinds, Nathalie Emmanuel and Iwan Rheon.
Critics praised the show's production values and cast. Viewership yet again rose compared to the previous season. It won 2 of the 16 Emmy Awards for which it was nominated; nominations included Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Dinklage), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Clarke) and Outstanding Drama Series. It also won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Series.
See also: List of Game of Thrones episodes.
See also: List of Game of Thrones characters.
The recurring actors listed here are those who appeared in season 3. They are listed by the region in which they first appear:
The musicians Will Champion of Coldplay and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol made cameo appearances,[4] and Bart the Bear 2 (a.k.a. "Little Bart") was the bear that fought in the pit at Harrenhal.[5]
Game of Thrones rapidly became a critical and commercial success after it started airing in April 2011. A few days after ratings for the second season's premiere, "The North Remembers", hit a series high of 8.3 million viewers,[6] HBO announced the show's renewal for a third season. Prior to that announcement, there had been rumors and reports[7] that showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss planned to shoot seasons three and four simultaneously. Benioff said that this would be very efficient, but impossible to write.[8]
The ten episodes of the third season are longer than the previous seasons', about 54 or 57 minutes as opposed to about 52.[9] The season's budget was reported to be around 50 million U.S. dollars.[10]
The third season is based on the first half of the novel A Storm of Swords. Benioff had previously said that A Storm of Swords would need to be adapted in two seasons on account of its length.[11] Benioff and Weiss also noted that they thought of Game of Thrones as an adaptation of the series as a whole, rather than of individual novels, which gave them the liberty to move scenes back and forth across novels according to the requirements of the screen adaptation. According to Benioff, the third season contains a particularly memorable scene from A Storm of Swords, the prospect of filming which was part of their motivation to adapt the novels for television in the first place. The writing credits for the third season now state "Written for television by", instead of the usual "Written by" credit.
Season 3 saw the first significant use of the Valyrian languages, spoken in doomed Valyria and its former colonies in Essos. The constructed languages were developed by linguist David J. Peterson based on the few words Martin invented for the novels.[12] Peterson had previously developed the Dothraki language, used principally in season 1.
The third season adds previously recurring actors Oona Chaplin (Talisa Maegyr), Joe Dempsie (Gendry) and Rose Leslie (Ygritte) to the series' main cast.
After an absence of one season David Bradley returns as Walder Frey, Ian McElhinney as Barristan Selmy, Peter Vaughan as Maester Aemon, Josef Altin as Pypar and Luke McEwan as Rast.
David Benioff and D. B. Weiss serve as main writers and showrunners for the third season. They co-wrote seven out of ten episodes. The remaining three episodes were written by Bryan Cogman, Vanessa Taylor, and the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin.
Daniel Minahan, Alex Graves, Michelle MacLaren, and David Nutter each directed two episodes. One further episode was directed by previous series cinematographer, Alik Sakharov, whereas another was co-directed by Benioff and Weiss, both making their directorial debuts, although only Benioff is credited for directing the episode.
The filming of the third season began in early July 2012,[13] and concluded with the wrap of the unit filming in Iceland on November 24, 2012.[14] Filming in Iceland, for scenes in five of the season's ten episodes, took place near Akureyri and Lake Mývatn. Dimmuborgir was used as the location for Mance Rayder's wildling army camp, and the Grjótagjá cave was used as establishing shot of Jon Snow and Ygritte in the cave although most of this scene was filmed in the studio.[15] The filming in Iceland lasted eight days, as opposed to nearly a month for season 2.[16] Kit Harington (Jon Snow) broke an ankle in an accident in July, which required the Iceland shoots to be pushed back to give him time to heal, as well as the occasional use of a body double.[17]
The production was again based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and continued to receive support from the Northern Ireland Screen fund.[18] The production used various locations in Northern Ireland to film scenes in the North and the Riverlands. Gosford Castle in Armagh, was used as the base for Riverrun Castle, home of House Tully.[19]
The production also returned to Dubrovnik in Croatia for scenes in King's Landing. Morocco, a new location, was used to film Daenerys' scenes in Essos such as the city of Astapor, for which locations in Essaouira were used, and Yunkai, which was filmed in Aït Benhaddou.[20] A scene involving a live bear was filmed in Los Angeles.[21]
See main article: Game of Thrones: Season 3 (soundtrack). The U.S. indie rock band The Hold Steady recorded "The Bear and the Maiden Fair", a ribald folk song from Martin's novels. The recording is played over the end credits of episode three, and the song is sung by Brienne and Jaime's captors in the same episode. Set to music by series composer Ramin Djawadi, the recording was released on a seven-inch record on Record Store Day, April 20, 2013.[22]
The soundtrack for the season was released digitally on June 4, 2013, and on CD on July 2, 2013.[23]
Review aggregator Metacritic has a score of 91 for season 3, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 25 reviews.[24] On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season has a 96% approval rating from 419 critics with an average rating of 8.6 out of 10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Game of Thrones continues to deliver top quality drama for adults, raising the stakes even higher and leaving viewers hungry for more."
Variety compared it to a "theatrical blockbuster",[25] while The Denver Post praised its "horrors of war", "danger of shifting alliances", "anguish of intra-family rivalries", and "glorious visuals".[26] The New York Times gave the season a positive review and stated, "They're [The actors] all fun to watch, even when their characters don't have anything in particular to do besides relay information that we need to keep up with the story or keep straight the seven (so we're told) warring families."[27] Hank Stuever of The Washington Post gave the season a positive review and stated, "Game of Thrones succeeds because it accommodates both the casual viewer and the rabid fanatic, which is a nearly impossible trick in an age in which we ingest television and other media in the manner of a chicken who has outsmarted the Skinner box."[28]
Slant Magazine gave the season 3 out of 4 and found it an improvement over the previous season for its "firm footing" and the "newfound sense of certain direction",[29] while The Philadelphia Inquirer highlighted its "rousing start".[30] The New York Post stated, "Not as much sex as you may be used to, but plenty of action, and enough complexities to keep geeks, geniuses and fans glued to the strange and wonderful world of the Seven Kingdoms all spring."[31] Newsday gave the season a positive review and stated, "Game of Thrones is an exploration of the human heart -- don't blame the series if what it finds there is often so ugly."[32] The Guardian gave the season a positive review and stated, "For all the pleasures - storylines so satisfyingly complicated you need spreadsheets to make sense of them, CGI dragons that dive into the sea and then toast the caught fish with their fiery breath - Game of Thrones asks bracing questions of its audience."[33]
Maureen Ryan of HuffPost praised its themes of compassion, betrayal and confusion,[34] while Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture praised its confidence and ambition.[35] The Hollywood Reporter gave the season a positive review and stated, "Proving again that a genre series can be as serious and challenging as traditional dramas, Game of Thrones kicks off what should be its most ambitious season -- which is really saying something for this dense, layered epic."[36] James Poniewozik of Time praised the premiere episode for its "flying dragons, family turmoil and, holy crap, giants!-it promises", although criticized its "jet-lagged hours of a return trip".[37] On the other hand, Andy Greenwald of Grantland stated that the premiere episode was "outstanding, a globe-spinning, breast-baring, bug-stabbing blast".[38]
The Independent gave the season 3 out of 5 and stated, "The show takes itself very seriously indeed -- any thing less, you suspect, and it would collapse under its own absurdity. But there is wit here, too, amid the sweat and chunky knitwear."[39] Slate gave the season a positive review and stated, "Game of Thrones gives us much to ruminate on regarding power, honor, and family. But it also reminds us that whether one is rich or poor, man or woman, honorable or evil, in Westeros life ain't fair."[40] Slant Magazine gave the season a positive review and stated, "Game of Thrones's best season yet comes with a typically great transfer and enough extras to please devotees for days."[41] Empire gave the season 5 out of 5 and stated, "Every time Game Of Thrones threatens to become a 'guilty pleasure', it pulls off something awesome."[42]
See main article: List of awards and nominations received by Game of Thrones. For the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, the third season received 16 nominations, including for Outstanding Drama Series, Peter Dinklage for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Emilia Clarke for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Diana Rigg for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, and David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the episode "The Rains of Castamere".[43] That episode also won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.[44] Game of Thrones won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama for the 29th TCA Awards, and also received a nomination for Program of the Year.[45] For the 20th Screen Actors Guild Awards, the cast was nominated for Best Drama Ensemble, Peter Dinklage was nominated for Best Drama Actor, and the series won for Best Stunt Team.[46]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | AFI TV Award | Game of Thrones | [47] | ||
| ASCAP Awards | Top Television Series | Ramin Djawadi | [48] | ||
| EWwy Award | Best Supporting Actress, Drama | Natalie Dormer | [49] | ||
| Artios Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Series Drama | Nina Gold | [50] | ||
| Young Hollywood Awards | Actor of the Year | Kit Harington | [51] | ||
| 3rd Critics' Choice Television Awards | Best Drama Series | Game of Thrones | [52] | ||
| Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Emilia Clarke | ||||
| Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series | Diana Rigg | ||||
| 65th Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Game of Thrones | |||
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Peter Dinklage | ||||
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Emilia Clarke | ||||
| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series | David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for "The Rains of Castamere" | ||||
| 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series | Gemma Jackson, Frank Walsh, and Tina Jones for "Valar Dohaeris" | |||
| Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series | Nina Gold and Robert Sterne | ||||
| Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-camera Series | Rob McLachlan for "Mhysa" | ||||
| Outstanding Costumes for a Series | Michele Clapton, Alexander Fordham, and Chloe Aubry for "Walk of Punishment" | ||||
| Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | Diana Rigg for "And Now His Watch Is Ended" | ||||
| Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series | Kevin Alexander, Candice Banks, Rosalia Culora, and Gary Machin for "Second Sons" | ||||
| Outstanding Interactive Program | Game of Thrones Season Three Enhanced Digital Experience | ||||
| Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) | Paul Engelen and Melissa Lackersteen for "Kissed by Fire" | ||||
| Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special | Paul Engelen, Conor O'Sullivan, and Rob Trenton for "Valar Dohaeris" | ||||
| Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series | Oral Ottey for "The Rains of Castamere" | ||||
| Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series | Peter Brown, Kira Roessler, Tim Hands, Paul Aulicino, Stephen P. Robinson, Vanessa Lapato, Brett Voss, James Moriana, Jeffrey Wilhoit, and David Klotz for "And Now His Watch Is Ended" | ||||
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (1 hour) | Matthew Waters, Onnalee Blank, Ronan Hill, and Mervyn Moore for "And Now His Watch Is Ended" | ||||
| Outstanding Special Visual Effects | Doug Campbell, Rainer Gombos, Juri Stanossek, Sven Martin, Steve Kullback, Jan Fiedler, Chris Stenner, Tobias Mannewitz, Thilo Ewers, and Adam Chazen for "Valar Dohaeris" | ||||
| Hollywood Post Alliance Awards | Outstanding Color Grading – Television | Joe Finley for "Kissed by Fire" | [53] | ||
| Outstanding Sound – Television | Paula Fairfield, Brad Katona, Jed Dodge, Onnalee Blank and Mathew Waters for "The Climb" | ||||
| Outstanding Visual Effects – Television | Joe Bauer and Jabbar Raisani, Jörn Grosshans and Sven Martin, and Doug Campbell for "Valar Dohaeris" | ||||
| International Film Music Critics Association | Best Original Score for a Television Series | Ramin Djawadi | [54] | ||
| 29th TCA Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Drama | Game of Thrones | |||
| Program of the Year | Game of Thrones | ||||
| Gold Derby TV Awards 2013 | Best Drama Series | Game of Thrones | [55] | ||
| Best Drama Supporting Actor | Peter Dinklage | ||||
| Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | |||||
| Best Drama Supporting Actress | Emilia Clarke | ||||
| Michelle Fairley | |||||
| Best Drama Guest Actress | Diana Rigg | ||||
| Best Drama Episode | "The Rains of Castamere" | ||||
| Ensemble of the Year | The cast of Game of Thrones | ||||
| IGN Awards | Best TV Episode | The Rains of Castamere | [56] | ||
| Best TV Series | Game of Thrones | ||||
| Best TV Drama Series | Game of Thrones | ||||
| Best TV Villain | David Bradley as Walder Frey | ||||
| Best TV Villain | Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon | ||||
| IGN People's Choice Awards | Best TV Episode | The Rains of Castamere | |||
| Best TV Series | Game of Thrones | ||||
| Best TV Drama Series | Game of Thrones | ||||
| Best TV Villain | David Bradley as Walder Frey | ||||
| Best TV Villain | Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon | ||||
| 18th Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | [57] | ||
| Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Emilia Clarke | ||||
| Best Television Series – Genre | Game of Thrones | ||||
| 2014 | People's Choice Awards | Favorite Premium Cable TV Show | Game of Thrones | [58] | |
| Favorite TV Anti-Hero | Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister | ||||
| Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress | Emilia Clarke | ||||
| Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards | Best Period and/or Character Makeup – Television | Paul Engelen, Melissa Lackersteen | [59] | ||
| American Cinema Editors | Best Edited One-Hour Series For Non-Commercial Television | Oral Norrie Ottey for "The Rains of Castamere" | [60] | ||
| ADG Excellence in Production Design Award | One-Hour Single Camera Television Series | Gemma Jackson for "Valar Dohaeris" | [61] | ||
| American Society of Cinematographers | One-Hour Episodic Television Series | Jonathan Freeman for "Valar Dohaeris" | [62] | ||
| Anette Haellmigk "Kissed by Fire" | |||||
| Costume Designers Guild Awards | Outstanding Period/Fantasy Television Series | Game of Thrones | [63] | ||
| Cinema Audio Society Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing – Television Series – One Hour | Ronan Hill, Onnalee Blank, Mathew Waters, and Brett Voss for "The Rains of Castamere" | [64] | ||
| 11th Irish Film & Television Awards | Best Television Drama | Game of Thrones | [65] | ||
| Actor in a Supporting Role – Television | Liam Cunningham | ||||
| Aidan Gillen | |||||
| Actress in a Supporting Role – Television | Michelle Fairley | ||||
| Best Sound | Ronan Hill | ||||
| Astra Awards | Favourite Program – International Drama | Game of Thrones | [66] | ||
| Directors Guild of America Award | Dramatic Series | David Nutter for "The Rains of Castamere" | [67] | ||
| Golden Reel Awards | Best Sound Editing – Short Form Dialogue and ADR in Television | Jed Dodge and Tim Hands for "The Rains of Castamere" | [68] | ||
| Best Sound Editing – Short Form Music | David Klotz for "The Rains of Castamere" | ||||
| Best Sound Editing – Short Form Sound Effects and Foley | Tim Kimmel for "The Rains of Castamere" | ||||
| Hugo Awards | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | David Benioff, David Nutter, and D. B. Weiss for "The Rains of Castamere" | |||
| Best TV Show | Game of Thrones | [69] | |||
| Location Managers Guild Awards | Outstanding Location Television Program | Game of Thrones | [70] | ||
| Outstanding Achievement by a Location Professional – TV Program | Robert Boake | ||||
| Producers Guild Awards | "The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama" | David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Christopher Newman, Greg Spence, Carolyn Strauss, and D. B. Weiss | [71] | ||
| Royal Television Society | International Program | Game of Thrones | [72] | ||
| Saturn Award | Best Television Presentation | Game of Thrones | [73] | ||
| Best Performance by a Younger Actor on Television | Jack Gleeson | ||||
| Best Supporting Actor on Television | Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress on Television | Gwendoline Christie | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress on Television | Michelle Fairley | ||||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Peter Dinklage | |||
| Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Alfie Allen, John Bradley, Oona Chaplin, Gwendoline Christie, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Mackenzie Crook, Charles Dance, Joe Dempsie, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Nathali Emmanuel, Michelle Fairley, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Kristofer Hivju, Paul Kaye, Sibel Kekilli, Rose Leslie, Richard Madden, Rory McCann, Michael McElhatton, Ian McElhinney, Philip McGinley, Hannah Murray, Iwan Rheon, Sophie Turner, Carice Van Houten, Maisie Williams | ||||
| Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series | Rachelle Beinart, Richard Bradshaw, Ben Dimmock, Levan Doran, Jamie Edgell, Bradley Farmer, Jozsef Fodor, Dave Forman, Paul Herbert, Paul Howell, Daniel Naprous, Florian Robin, CC Smiff, Roy Taylor | ||||
| Visual Effects Society | Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast | Philip Meyer, Ingo Schachner, Travis Nobles, Florian Friedmann for "Raising the Dragons" | [74] | ||
| Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program | Kirk Brillon, Steve Gordon, Geoff Sayer, Winston Lee for "The Climb" | ||||
| Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program | Patrick Zentis, Mayur Patel, Nitin Singh, Tim Alexander for "The Climb" | ||||
| Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program | Steve Kullback, Joe Bauer, Jörn Großhans, Sven Martin for "Valar Dohaeris" | ||||
The day after the third season premiered in the U.S., it premiered in the United Kingdom on Sky Atlantic,[75] in Australia on Foxtel,[76] and in New Zealand on SoHo.[77]
The third season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on,[78] in region 2 on [79] and in region 4 on .[80]
It was made available for purchase as a digital download on the iTunes store, in Australia only, in parallel to the U.S. premiere.[81] However, on May 14, 2013, Foxtel blocked the Australian iTunes store from making the episodes available soon after they screened in the U.S.[82] Season 3 was reported to be the most infringed TV show via torrents during spring 2013, estimated to be 5.2 million downloads via BitTorrent.[83]
The third season of Game of Thrones was the most-pirated TV series in 2013.[84]