Written by on Aug 25, 2015. Posted in On Location

Game of Thrones to focus on Spain filming rather than Croatia for new season

Game of Thrones will not return to Croatia to film its new season, meaning Spain is likely to become the setting for all the story’s warm-weather locations. Croatia has been a mainstay for the show over the past few seasons, standing in for Westeros capital King’s Landing.

“The question of whether the production will return to Croatia in the future will be decided once additional seasons are officially set by HBO,” the cable network said in a statement.

“At that time, the production, along with HBO, will assess their location needs based on the scripts and storylines. HBO remains grateful to the HAVC (Croatian Audiovisual Centre) and the Croatian crew for all of their continued support.”

Game of Thrones used Spain as a location for the first time last year, despite a lack of formal filming incentives at the time for international TV productions. Shooting focussed on Seville and the nearby medieval town of Osuna, and had an immediate impact on film tourism in the area.

The new season recently started shooting and expands the list of Spanish filming locations to Girona in Catalonia, in the east of the country. Spain’s boosted filming incentive programme was made law last year, but is yet to become fully active.

Game of Thrones is one of the world’s biggest TV productions and has had a massive impact in Northern Ireland, which has been its base from the beginning.

The show has spent more than GBP 100 million in Northern Ireland over the course of five years, according to Northern Ireland Screen. Iceland has been the show’s location of choice for snow and ice scenes, and parts of the drama’s first few seasons were also shot in Malta and Morocco.

(Image: Željko Tutnjević/Croatian Audiovisual Centre - HAVC)