Game of Thrones films at Trujillo Castle; The Lannisters take it and plant their flag! 

is understandably fond of filming in castles, but this week might have broken a new record. After a one-day shoot at Almodóvar del Río Castle in Córdoba, filming began today this morning Trujillo Castle in Cáceres. Meanwhile, everything is being readied for the

-level setpiece to be filmed in Malpartida, as the cast members coalesce in Cáceres and the crew take over the city.

Keep reading after the spoiler warning if you want to know more about today’s filming. We also clarify what Almodóvar del Río and Trujillo are being used for exactly.

gives us a look at Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and James Faulkner in the entrance to the

, the Cáceres hotel in which they’ll be staying, along with most other cast members, for the duration of the shoots at Trujillo (today at least), Las Breñas (November 16-18), El Barrueco de Arriba (November 16 to December 10) and, in the city’s Old Town, the Plaza de las Veletas (December 12-14) and the Plaza Mayor (likely somewhere between December 16 and 20.) No single hotel is big enough for the whole crew, however —the HBO show will fill 500 local hotel rooms and flats.

would only film for three days with 100 extras, yet later there were suggestions the scene might have been extended. Indeed, at least according to

, they will shoot at Trujillo with many more soldiers involved than there were originally expected, 250 extras, and for the whole week, until November 19. However, these dates are conflicted —They may pack up and leave as soon as tomorrow.

Of course, all these preparations, locations and dates are just appetizers.

is the juicy part, but we have to wait about half a year for that, so we make do with what we have. And what we have, again courtesy of

, is the following look at yesterday’s final preparations before the shoot began:

We are increasingly certain that, along with Almodóvar del Río, Trujillo is being used to depict Highgarden during a Lannister sack and after their takeover. Since we know Casterly Rock is appearing this coming season, we speculated Trujillo could be it, but all the evidence so far points to it being used for Higharden, along with Almodóvar del Río.

Where will Casterly Rock be filmed, then? Aside from the obvious CGI exterior castle and interior sets, there is still a chance for some locations shooting: If they are filming more than one scene at Trujillo, which is likely, they may use it for Casterly Rock too; and our sources claim Grey Worm won’t go to Highgarden, so Jacob Anderson being spotted at Almodóvar del Río could mean the site doubled as Casterly Rock as well.

There has always been a fog of confusion over these two locations, but it’s slowly fading. As things start to clear up, what are your thoughts on Almodóvar and Trujillo and what may end up happening inside them? Share your thoughts in the comment section!

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It looks like JonWasPromised answered Andersen’s pressing question. All is well. Hodor is the answer to all our Hodor questions 🙂

The sack of Highgarden involving Jaime, Bronn and Lady Olenna, plus the Great Ambush involving two armies, sound to me like huge sequences! Perhaps they will take up an entire episode? 🙂

Good to know that Greyworm is nowhere near Highgarden.

Kay: The sack of Highgarden involving Jaime, Bronn and Lady Olenna, plus the Great Ambush involving two armies, sound to me like huge sequences! Perhaps they will take up an entire episode?

I don’t expect the sack will be a major setpiece, unlike the ambush, which promises to be almost as large in terms of production as the Battle of the Bastards. It’s difficult to know if the finished product will be as long as elaborate, but they’re using about as many extras and horses, more or less (fewer extras yet more horses, I’d say.) The sack, in turn, may be a brief scene.

“The Lannisters take a castle” is a tease, not a spoiler.

I think i saw a picture from Almodovar de Rio with a Tyrell flag, before raising the Lannister so i think it stands for Highgarden for sure. Trujillo has only Lannister flags since the beginning. I don’t know which castle is Casterly Rock but so far only Lannister flags has been in both castles. Trujillo makes more sense for me as Casterly Rock (with CGI of course).

Since i believe Grey Worm will not take the castle, i think it’s reasonable we didn’t see any Targ banner yet…. but i will wait.

A lot to look forward to no doubt, I’m sure both scenes will be unforgettable in there own way, big or small. All the news is getting exciting. Along with all the nominations the show will be getting over the month, the wait is getting easy ^^

I just want to know if Jacob and Nikolaj indeed filmed together at Almodóvar last saturday. We just know they were there. Because if they did film together,

I can’t see the assault on CR being successful. Seems like a lot of places for Jaime to visit in just a few episodes though.

How the hell does a house as notoriously vain as the Tyrells reside in a plain and homely fort like that? Especially when Horn Hill is pimped af.

Honestly, they’ll have to go well beyond just working miracles with the cgi if they want to sell this.

If Garlan Tyrell existed in the show, this would never happen.

Anyone else actually happy with how much the show and books diverged from each other? Loras is dead in the show, but a member of the Kingsguard with a face like the Hound in the books. And Garlan Tyrell is a legit bad ass.

Cool set though, when did we get a teaser last year? Around Christmas?

Maybe there won’t be a sack. I think it is possible that Randyll will betray Olenna and open the gates of HG for Jaime.

That will make sense for the story. And for the budget. Lol

The first time we saw the show version of Horn Hill in a preview I said that had to be Highgarden, but of course it didn’t end up being. Looking at pictures of Almodóvar del Río Castle it appears to be a perfect Horn Hill. If they intend to make it look like the more grand Highgarden then they have to do a lot of cgi work to surpass the massive Horn Hill they created last season.

Maybe the Lannisters will take HG in the books as well, just harder.

Maybe not. We will never know becasuse GRRM will never finish his books.

Maybe they wanted Horn Hill to be that big, so Randyll’s betrayal and ambition would make more sense.

Its still crazy how the lannisters with half an army can defeat both armies of dorne and the reach…there is no way unless we see treachery. It just doesnt make sense. How can the lannisters hold the stormlands, the riverlands the reach and dorne with such a small army compared to house tyrell and the bastard ruler of sunspear and dorne.

And where it was said that the Tyrell’s army is bigger than the Lannister’s?

I think it’s possible, this can go as another Riverrun, or Jaime can convince Tarly after that if he join their side and help them, his son will become Lord of Reach. There will be some fight, because of the photos of Tyrell extras with blood we saw last week.

The scene where Jaime allows Olenna to drink poison is the only scene i liked from the leaks. Olenna will get a dignified death and Jaime despite Olenna being his enemy, killed his son e.t.c will allow her to leave the way she wants. It fits both characters and Diana Rigg is an amazing actress so her last scene will rock

They show has established that Lannister army is the largest one in Westeros and Tyrell’s the second one. We don’t know if the Riverlands,Stormlands army is still faithfull to the crown…maybe they are.

If the Reach army joins Lannisters under Randyll after the siege of Highgarden then Jaime will command the biggest army ever in Westeros history and that can give a little logic to the ridiculous dragonpit scene…maybe they need that huge army for the Great War.

Maybe they wanted Horn Hill to be that big, so Randyll’s betrayal and ambition would make more sense.

TV Randyll probably considers his family far better and worthier than the Tyrells. In his mind they are glorified upstarts, after all. (Weren’t the Tyrell ancestors gardeners elevated to Great House status?) So Randyll makes sure the Tarly estate has to be far grander than Highgarden.

The Tyrells have the second largest army with Randyll’s.

They never mentioned numbers in the show. Randyll could have 30% or 40% of their army if they want.

Yeah. Randyll was in only one scene. They could make him whatever they want.

The Gardeners were the Kings of the Reach for thousands of years before Aegon’s conquest. Highgarden was their seat. So logically Highgarden needs to be the biggest and grandest castle in the Reach. The Tyrells were stewards to the Gardeners, after the last king was defeated by Aegon, he made the Tyrells the Lords of Highgarden. So while it is true that the Tyrells are looked down upon by some of the older houses, Highgarden itself predates the rise of the Tyrells by thousands of years.

I do hope they are able to enhance the castle through cgi and make it look suitably impressive.

HBO had a teaser on Friday, a minor one. An in production promo showing the hall of weapons and sigils. Yeah, thanks, we know.

They could also make not everyone in Dorne loyal to Ellaria after what she has done to Doran and his son.

Theon and Yara have maybe 10% of forces from the Iron Islands.

And with Randyll’s betrayal, Dany’s allies could face many problems. That would create status quo that Jon will try to solve before WW’s invasion.

I really wouldn’t worry about Highgarden. Although the interior of Almodovar is cramped, the exteriors are stunning and very much in keeping with HG. And I’m guessing that’s why they’re using Trujillo for the shots that require more space. That, combined with CGI and internal sets will look fantastic.

After all- the Moneyglass WF set is actually really small, but they mask that with clever camera angles, lightning, CGI and interior sets.

I think what will happen is that the Lannisters will defeat the Tyrells with the help of the Tarly’s but they then will be defeated themselves when Dany ambushes them and kills the Tarly’s for betraying their Liege Lady.

In the meantime Grey Worm and the Unsullied will sneak into Casterly Rock and take over the castle (this might happen in episode 4 ). Then Team Dragonstone will decide that instead of continuing to fight whatever is left of the Lannister army and Euron’s fleet they’ll negotiate so as not to loose more good soldiers that will be needed for the big war.

Tyrion goes to King’s Landing and chat’s it up with Jaime and arranges for the parlay. As Tyrion is leaving Bronn tells him about his observation last season of Jaime’s relationship with Brienne. So, that’s how Brienne ends up at the Dragonpit because she’ll be there to help and convince Jaime to abandon Cersei and join their cause. Which I think might be the real intention of the parlay, to get Jaime on their side.

Jaime tells Cersei about the parlay and she refuses but then they get word that Casterly Rock has been taken over and as their resources are quickly dwindling. she agree to the parlay. I don’t see Cersei agreeing to the paraly if she’s in a position of power. She’s not the kind to be reasonable and negotiate, she has to be forced into it.

Regarding Dorne, not everyone might be loyal to Elaria but I can’t see them being loyal to Cersei either. They might just decide to stay neutral until the matter has been settled.

Thank you for the background info. I’ve read the first book and know only the basics of the histories. 🙂

There was a lot of the discussion after the S6 finale about how Cersei stood a chance with just the Lannister army and maybe some minor supporters IF all of The Reach and Dorne follow their Lord and fight for Daenerys. The answer would be that Cersei had no realistic chance, even if Euron joined her. That is if they came in as one army and swept across the land like a broom. That of course would make for a very short story though wouldn’t it.

To ‘make it interesting’ it appears they all split up and head for home right away while Daenerys makes her claim and seeks out supporters. I did expect her to do that but not in such a divided manner and from a stationary location. I think it’s a better plan in a step to “inspire devotion” as opposed to fire-bombing the hell out of everything from the start and just taking the crown, but it also opens up the opportunity for Cersei and Euron to weaken her foothold because they’re divided. We believe that indeed happens with the Yara/Theon fleet and Sand Snakes being attacked by Euron and Highgarden by the Lannisters and friends. I do/did suspect that House Tarly would swear fealty to Cersei mainly because of his current book position on the small council — and because they made him such a bad guy ass on the show. From the sounds of it now it seems like the number of troops could be a lot closer than expected with the dragons being the tipping factor. Of course they can’t be everywhere at once…

It’s a nice scenario but it’s not supported by the photo spoiler or the leaks. Grey Worm isn’t in the Jon greeting scene so that means he already left before the ambush, and there aren’t any Targ banners so far.

Tyrion goes to parlay with Jaime, and Jaime rejects him, because he doesn’t trust him. If Jaime had lost his castle and all his army he wouldn’t have the power to reject him. Plus the leaks are really clear that after and ill-advised attack on KL, Jon decides to go North to convince the Lannisters to work with him. Which army do they want to work with if Dany has everything?

Dany will kill Tarly because he doesn’t kneel to her. If he knelt she would be fine he betrayed Olenna. Her team consists by someone who killed his father and former slave trader who abandoned his house. It’s not royalty to the family an issue for her. Tarly isn’t even family with Tyrells.

Season 2 Ranley had army 100.000 strong and Stormlands have nowhere near 50.000 soldier, Lanisters had 40.000 and Rob Stark destroyed more then half of it. Easy.

And then a French knight appears from atop the castle walls…..

This portion of the leak is wrong, the leaker admitted it was wrong and corrected himself.

Jon doesn’t do an ill-advised attack on King’s Landing. The leaker corrected himself and gave the details of Dnay’s ambush.

It makes no sense for Dany to burn the Tarly’s for not bending the knee, it’s totally against her character. In fact she never asked either Tyrion nor the Greyjoy’s to bend the knee. With Tyrion is was even worse and their families were true enemies. When Tyrion bend the knee to her it was out of his own volition. We also don’t know the circumstances of the Tarly’s betrayal. And Dany actually owns Oleanna for the ships she sent and her support.

The main reason (other than getting Jaime on their side) for the parlay is also to avoid any more civilian deaths. Tyrion is very much aware that their is Wildfire underneath King’s Landing and after hearing about the explosion of the Sept of Baelor they’ll be weary of engaging Cersei while she’s in King’s Landing.

Dany could win with her army and her dragons, but at what cost?

As for Grey Worm, if he leaves in episode 2, it would make perfect sense for him to reach Casterly Rock by episode 4 as it is on the other side of Westeros and quite far from Dragonstone. Dany’s ambush could take place closer to King’s Landing which is close to Dragonstone. The travel time between the ambush and the take over of Casterly Rock is very difference. Additionally, while they are using physical flags for the Lannisters they could very easily use digital flags for the Targaryen, that’s what they did in Meereen.

As for Jaime, he could very well refuse Tyrion because he won’t know at the moment that Casterly Rock has been taken over. This news can come to him right after the meeting. Tyrion might not say anything because he has yet to receive word from Grey Worm.

The general rule is that the attacking force has to be at least three times as big than the one in defense within any type of fortifications to make the odds equal and the ratio may be bigger depending on the type of fortifications. In other words, the Queen of Thorns should be able to promote defense of her castle, and therefore, if the showrunners want to make the fall of Highgarden reasonable, it has to involve some treason. And based on the fact that Randyl Tarly is the only established non-Tyrell character in the Reach (and there’s too little time to establish anyone other) it’s legit to assume that the traitor will be him (I have been saying that since September).

Dorne is more complicated, because there are no established characters other than Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, and moreover they have been presented as the ones having the public support. Therefore, I don’t see potential for an external treason in Dorne. However, the Sand Snakes were shown continuously quarreling between themselves, so IMO their downfall should be caused by some internal disagreements as well as overconfidence and immaturity. Basically, they are bastard girls who want to play at war (opposite to Jon Snow who managed to get through this stage in S1 and grew into a responsible adult pretty early). The only disappointment for me is that the showrunners seem to be intending to wrap the Dornish plot ASAP, and whatever happens will mostly happen off-screen.

That was long ago. It was said in S6 that the Lannister army is the biggest.

Yeah. There are no established characters in Dorne, but they can say that half of their army abandoned them. Just like with Stannis in S5.

How is out of character when she have done it before? She fed her Dragons with nobles of Meereen

She burns them because they don’t bent the knee and that makes Tyrion and Varys worry. That’s what the leaker claimed.

If Jaime is in CR when Grey Worm attacks how he doesn’t know? They filmed together, and still we have to see the Targaryan banners to claim that Dany took the castle so far i have seen only Lannister and Tyrell banners.

It’s hard to keep track of the army numbers, though people have been trying all along with the books. During the War of the Five Kings the Lannisters had three armies and some estimate it was up to 60k+. The numbers aren’t exact when speaking of The Reach either after bunches were killed following Renly while others joined Stannis after the fact, which are now pretty much gone.

It doesn’t really make a difference though as the show can pretty much throw any numbers out they want to fit the plot, just as George could/can do while writing. I mean, look at Euron and his force. He shouldn’t have the ability or resources to build a great fleet without years and definitely not be able to man them adequately, but they can go ahead and show him doing just that if they feel like it.

She burned the Meereenese noble after Barristan and some of her Unsullied were murdered by the Harpies. This includes the near death of Grey Worm. She was obviously quite angry and in pain because her people were being hurt and she lost a closed adviser and almost lost the commander of her army.

The leaker was quite inarticulate about the dialogue and nuances of the plot. I’m looking at the descriptions of these scenes and trying to make sense of them based on the characters we’ve been shown for the last six seasons.

As I’m sure you are very well aware of WotW has reported that the locations/castle being used will most like be representing both Highgarden and Casterly Rock. We don’t know that Nic and Jacob were filming a scene together. They were at the same location but that location is being used for completely different scenes. So, they could have very well been filming different scenes.

We saw the same thing in Belfast were Maisie was filming in the same lot as Kit on the same day but apparently their character’s don’t meet this season.

We haven’t hear that Jaime would be at Casterly Rock and that would be difficult given that the ambush happens in episode 3 and Jaime is back at King’s Landing by episode 5.

And like I said, the castle is being used for both Highgarden and Casterly Rock, they might have decided to use the exterior for part of Highgarden and part of the interior for Casterly Rock. They can CGI the Targaryen banner onto a faux castle.

Dany will burn the Tarlys not just for refusing to bend the knee, but also because they betray their leige Lord, who are her allies. She will want to avenge the Tyrells’ defeat.

Who controls Casterly Rock is the biggest question right now and the answer might tell us who gets the upper hand, Dany or the Lannisters.

I think Jaime might just have the best arc in S7.

He turns out to be a super commander who even Tyrion underestimates, more than gives a good fight against Dany, gives Olenna a dignified death, confrontation with Tyrion, more scenes with Brienne ( these are always great) and finally abandoning Cersei to join Jon and Dany.

Based on what I have read so far, I like his arc the best and frankly after S5 and 6, he deserves a good season.

Who knows what forces have Braavos? I think they will be very upset about no credit refund from Cersei and could do a lot of changes in force balance even if they will send faceless men to secretly kill Lannisters soldiers and make a general mess.

Looks like Lannister soldiers holding off an enemy to me, archers on the battlements.

Why they have to CGI the Targ banner when they can just hang it in there like they did with the Tyrell and the Lannister?If i see the Targaryan banner i will change my prediction, i just try to combine the facts with the leaks.

So she did burned people again, it’s not out of character. If Tarly hurt her by not kneeling she will just burn him.

Obviously you are much of Danny fan, but being hurt or angry is not an excuse for burning people alive. Cersei was hurt and angry as well, that doesn’t maker her right.

I am very neutral when it comes to Dany i don’t dislike her or like her. I think she is important for the story.

We don’t know, but it’s the most likely the filmed together since Nikolaj filmed in both castles and they left the castle at the same time

Kosten: How the hell does a house as notoriously vain as the Tyrells reside in a plain and homely fort like that? Especially when Horn Hill is pimped af.

The Horn Hill vista you saw in season six was completely CGI, just as Highgarden will be. They use castles for specific things, such as walls and rooms and towers, but whenever we see the whole thing, it’s CGI. And we should expect it to be much more impressive than Horn Hill, obviously.

Apollo: Although the interior of Almodovar is cramped, the exteriors are stunning and very much in keeping with HG.

They won’t use the exteriors much, except perhaps as reference for a much grander CG model of Highgarden. I can’t think of any castle panorama we have ever seen in the show that has NOT been a matte painting or a 3D model.

mau: Maybe there won’t be a sack. I think it is possible that Randyll will betray Olenna and open the gates of HG for Jaime.

Randyll opening the gates for the Lannisters would mean there won’t be a

You have a tendency to ask questions directly addressed in the article 😛

The answer is: We don’t know. Almodóvar is definitely Highgarden. Trujillo most likely, almost as confirmed. Almodóvar may also be Casterly Rock, per Grey Worm’s appearance there, and Trujillo could be too.

It doesn’t make much sense to use the same castle for outward shots, does it? Would it not look silly if the same castle that is flying Lannister flags is also flying Targaryen flags? It makes more sense to use whatever inner shots they need for Casterly Rock and then create a partly CGI castle for CR.

Once again with a feeling. The nobles of Meereen were supporting an insurgency against Dany and she knew this. This insurgency cost her the lives of some of her Unsullied, the life of her close adviser and almost cost her the life of her commander. While she should have handled things differently, the circumstances are NO WHERE NEAR the circumstances described in the leaks.

Comparing Dany’s circumstances with Cersei is ridiculous. While Dany was trying to rule a city so that hundreds of thousands of people wouldn’t be forced into slavery again, Cersei was avenging those who punished her for actions of her own doing which benefited her. You might not approve of Dany’s action but she’s reacting to the senseless murders of innocent people as well as her own people just because the Meereenese nobles want a return to slavery. Cersei’s actions were wholly selfish retribution.

We have two instances in the last two season where other nobles have not bend the knee to Dany and she has not asked them nor force them to do so. Why would she start now? It’s out of character.

Regarding Nic and Jacob, you are right we don’t know. Did they live the castle at the same time or were the picture posted at the same time? Where they together when they left? They could have arrange to meet after shooting and hang out. But that doesn’t mean that they were filming together. Especially because there were Lannister and Tarly soldiers also filming that day. I don’t think we’ll see Tarly soldiers in Casterly Rock.

As for Grey Worm, I do agree that he should be sent to CR in Ep 2 or even 3 right before Dany leaves Dragonstone for the ambush. But IMO CK will be sacked rather later, than sooner: we may see in Ep 5, potentially even after Tyrion’s meeting with Jaime, and the news may arrive to KL and Dragonstone in Ep 6 or early in Ep 7 (my bet is on the later) paving the way for the Dragonpit meeting. My main question is how the Unsullied are going to reach CR: most probably they will sail all around Westeros, but a march through the Riverlands is also possible, if Edmure Tully retakes Riverrun early in the season and decides to declare to Dany instead of Jon (though such scenario is less probable IMO).

As for Dany burning the Tarlys “not bending the knee”. IMO, we should take into account the difference of the situations. When Dany interacted with Tyrion (both before and after her voyage to the Dothraki Sea), she was in power and therefore she could afford not asking him to bend the knee immediately (there was a bit of trolling and intimidation, but more like a test to Tyrion which he passed winning her respect). Same with Yara: the meeting happened right after Dany’s victory against the slave-masters, so she was happy and ready to offer a semi-equal alliance instead of demanding to bend a knee. However, in Westeros Dany will be encountering one problem after another. She will be losing allies and even if she wins the ambush battle, it will be nothing a rather Pyrrhic victory, because she will be returning to Dragonstone afterwards. Hence, it’s legit to assume that Dany will feel angry and insecure and that may indeed result in excessive violence and straightforward incineration of her enemies (Tarlies), as well as intimidation of her potential allies (Jon). In short, Dany may return to her S2 stance, when she was acting more like a female version of Viseirys, than a kind and reasonable women we had known from S1, and which reappeared in later seasons, when Dany’s situation began to improve.

And final note regarding the Dragonpit parlay: it’s hard to tell but what if the Iron Bank also plays a role in it. After all, if the Iron Throne is seized by the Night King, the Iron Bank won’t get its due and therefore it might use its leverages to force the living into uniting against the common enemy.

Almodovar and today’s castle are different castles. They cant use two different castle’s exteriors for the same castle. Almodovar had both Tyrell banners and then Lannister..because Lannisters took the castle.

If Dany takes a castle,they have to replace a Lannister banner with a Targaryan one..outside.

I dont make the spoilers,you can ask D&D why Dany burns nobles next season and this make Tyrion and Varys worry for her being like her dad

Yes they left the same set with cars which followed each other,the same time. This make it more likely to have shot together than the opposite

Anyway even if she takes it back she will have to give it back next episode. She cant keep her allies castle…

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