Game of Thrones, American fantasy television series created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, based on the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R.R. Martin. The HBO series ran for eight seasons between 2011 and 2019 and became one of the most acclaimed programs of all time. A critical darling and cultural phenomenon, the series had a profound effect on American television and the fantasy genre because of its complex characters, its focus on political intrigue, and its dark, even bleak, approach.
The series focuses on several noble houses of Westeros and a complicated, multiparty war for the Iron Throne that features shifting conflicts, alliances, and betrayals. Key houses include the Starks, who rule in the North; the Lannisters, a wealthy family from the West who have married into the royal line; the Baratheons, who at the outset hold the Iron Throne; and the Targaryens, who once controlled the Iron Throne using dragons but who have been nearly wiped out by the time the story begins.
This war develops after the death of King Robert Baratheon (played by Mark Addy) and the resulting feud between his friend and ally Lord Eddard (“Ned”) Stark (Sean Bean) and Robert’s widow, Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), and her children. The conflict draws in two of the Stark children, Robb (Richard Madden) and Sansa (Sophie Turner), while the younger children Arya (Maisie Williams) and Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) find themselves on their own terrifying adventures. Jon Snow (Kit Harington), raised as a bastard member of the Stark family, serves in the Night’s Watch, a military organization that defends the Seven Kingdoms from forces beyond the Wall. Cersei’s brothers Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) also play key roles. Exiled on the continent of Essos, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) seeks to return to Westeros with dragons and an army in order to reclaim the Iron Throne for House Targaryen.
