Fanspot
Birth of the dragons
Rather than filming Khal Drogo’s (Jason Momoa) final walk, his funeral pyre and Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) rebirth in multiple locations, showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff preferred to centralize production and stay in Malta where footage had already been filmed, such as Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo’s wedding. It is at the level of the Mtahleb Cliffs that the shooting started. The actors having gone along the cliffs on horseback before setting up their camp not far from the edge.
The sequence of Daenerys Targaryen’s awakening from the ashes of her husband’s pyre, and her three newborn dragons, seems to have been produced from a desert. However, the landscape is indeed the Mtahleb Cliffs. The special effects specialists having digitally pasted a desert scenery to erase the nearby sea. A detail that is hardly noticeable because the dragons are the focus of attention here. Interviewed creatures, which will become more and more important in the following seasons, designed by the company Pixomondo.
The first season of Game of Thrones required 17 weeks of post-production. Afterwards, this number only increased to 42 weeks for the eighth and final season.
Mtahleb Church
Consisting of a colony of a few farms located near the cliff, this site is one of the most picturesque in Malta.
Accessible after about an hour’s walk from Rabat, Mtahleb therefore includes several buildings including a small church firmly hung on the cliff but above all astonishes by the grandiosity of its nature. The green meadows dominate the sea here and offer beautiful hiking prospects. A natural sanctuary, Mtahleb was the location for filming the conclusion of the first season of Game of Thrones.
The Fantrippers Buying Board
Discover all the places Game of Thrones on our map
By Gilles Rolland
Passionné de cinéma, de rock and roll, de séries TV et de littérature. Rédacteur de presse et auteur des livres Le Heavy Metal au cinéma, Paroles de fans Guns N' Roses, Paroles de fans Rammstein et Welcome to my Jungle : 100 albums rock et autres anecdotes dépareillées. Adore également voyager à la recherche des lieux les plus emblématiques de la pop culture.