Skip to main content

languages - Why does everyone in Game Of Thrones have a British accent?


What is the reason for the British accents in Game Of Thrones?


Specifically in the North and South, not in what is considered foreign lands like Qarth and Meereen. Although George R. R. Martin is American and the show is directed towards American audiences, everyone in Game of Thrones speaks in some sort of British accent.


Going through some of the characters with accents:



  • Ned Stark has a northern accent (actually Sheffield).


  • Robb Stark has a northern accent (actually Scottish).

  • Jon Snow and Theon Greyjoy are non-northern actors with northern accents.

  • Arya Stark has a slight West Country accent.

  • Catelyn Stark speaks with a slight southern English accent.

  • King Robert Baratheon has a northern accent.

  • Some of the knights in the Vale speak with Welsh accents

  • Jorah Mormont has a Northern accent (actually Scottish in real life)

  • Davos Seaworth has a Northern accent (actually Irish)

  • Tyrion Lannister umm, not the best accent.



Anyway, you get the point that the English accent is the theme here. Obviously there are many more characters that speak with British accents, so what was the reason for the British accent?






Answer



David Benioff & DB Weiss thought that the show suited dialog with English, Scottish and Irish accents.


Even though Game Of Thrones is written by an American author and is intended for American audiences, the show specifically uses British accented dialog. As many people know, Game of Thrones is filmed in Belfast and the majority of on-location shooting occurs in Northern Ireland as is the case with Castle Black which is set in an abandoned quarry a few minutes drive north of Belfast. Several of the more exotic locations are filmed elsewhere, but most is in Northern Ireland.


But, speaking as to why the acting was to be done in British accents, an interview David Benioff & DB Weiss. They go on to say that Northern Ireland was the feel they were looking for show but, it was the fact that they had always had in their minds that they would use British accents. The location also played a part as that was the general feel they were going for, old English history type feel.


Taken from the interview below,




"And for whatever reason in our minds, we had always heard, English accents, English, Scottish, Irish accents. I think having this dialog being spoken by someone with a kind of Malibu surfer, it would not have seemed right."






HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’: Further Proof That America Loves British Accents



"It's such an ingrained part of fantasy and science fiction that I'm a little surprised when those kind of characters don't speak in British accents," Matt Zoller Seitz, the TV critic for New York magazine told BBC News. "In the fantasy realm they could have any kind of accent but British does seem to be the default."



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...
1 comment
Read more

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...
Post a Comment
Read more

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...
Post a Comment
Read more