Winterfell set being prepared for Game of Thrones season 5 

Though Winterfell was taken by the Ironborn and burned by the Boltons, the former seat of House Stark remains, and the set is now taking shape again in Northern Ireland.

Originally built at Castle Ward, the set being built this year in Moneyglass (as it was season 2) includes the courtyard where much of the Winterfell action has taken place.

A return to Winterfell was implied in the eighth episode of the fourth season, as Theon Greyjoy and the Boltons approached the ruins of the castle. The presence of the castle is not unexpected as it plays a role in the fifth book in the

In the photos below, portions of the set look burnt. A Bolton Flayed Man banner is partially visible in the first photograph, draped over the pole.

This was built at the same location, but studying it, it doesn’t look like it belongs to the Winterfell set and may belong to an entire different storyline from the show.

Well, now we know what they were building in Moneyglass. It was Winterfell all along!

These photos of the Winterfell godswood have surfaced on Reddit as well. It’s unknown how recently they were taken.

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The Northern stuff will be filmed later than the rest, if I remember correctly, so I assume we’ll start hearing about that kind of thing whenever they start shooting there.

I wonder if they’ll have the Bolton flayed man replace the Stark direwolf in the opening credits for Winterfell

Agree – welcome back Winterfell. Now we need casting news about a certain rotund lord from White Harbor.

Now all we need is Wyman the pieman. He is essential to the Northern Plot.

These have turned up too. I don’t know if they’re also from Moneyglass but they were in the comments section for the GoT reddit post for which this article’s pics turned up in.

Maybe the will show Winterfell during the credits again. That would be awesome.

Sweet , I love Winterfell , although the fancy screen doors on the bottom picture don’t seem to fit with Winterfell , surely the doors at Winterfell would be big sturdy things to keep warmth in , not fancy screen doors more fitting for a warm climate .

they have fake snow in the background of the godswood. Nice, winter is coming finally.

I’m really curious to discover new places of Winterfell (I hope we’ll get many scenes there and it should be one of the highlights of the season !)

Also looking forward to the visuals of the castle. We havent seen WF since season 2 and I’m quite sure, the designs and visuals will have evolved for season 5 !

And thanks Greenjones for this pics ! Seing the godswood covered in snow gives me a looooooot of hope for next season ! We need snow in WF !

Aye, indeed. I hope we get Roose’s rationalization about the weather as well as the weather itself.

We saw the castle in ep. 408 IIRC. I think the design was the same it had been in s1 and 2 when we saw it then.

I wonder if they’ll have the Bolton flayed man replace the Stark direwolf in the opening credits for Winterfell

Theon will pay a visit alone and/or we will see a wedding.

Yes Winterfell!! I feel so nostalgic right now, and yeah I really hope they improve the design of the place and show us new locations like wintertown. I know it will hurt but I think it would be a cool idea to at some point replacing the direwolf of Stark with flayed man of Bolton, only because of the politics of it, because thats the whole point the map in the intro, to guide us through the story, the families and the castles/cities. But it will only make sence after the

because only then Winterfell will be under Bolton rule officialy

I’m glad to see snow at the Godswood too-after four seasons of ‘winter coming,’ it will be good to actually see winter COME, south of the Wall.

I’m crossing my fingers there will be some big battle scenes filmed on this set too as well…

Maybe the will show Winterfell during the credits again.That would be awesome.

Winterfell was never left out of the credits IIRC. Even after the Boltons making it a smoking ruin…

Missed the old place! With the Moneyglass set being revealed to be this. I guess there’s now potential for

Deepwood Motte to remain in Ironborn hands so if this series or next Yara has to flee back there after the Kingsmoot then she can do so. Guess it depend on what’s going to go down in the northern storyline this season.

Or maybe Deepwood Mott is not longer held by ironborns… IIRC Ramsay told Theon (4×08) that after they took Moat Cailin the ironborn will flee from the North… But until now, it is still uncertain.

I would like to see the Flayed Man banner used when introducing the Dreadfort stretched over the direwolf “gear” so that you at least can feel that it’s only temporary…

When I saw that photo, my heart just went “we’re going home.”

I assume they were being sarcastic, and criticizing Winterfell being kept in the credits even though it was off screen for 2 seasons.

It looks like they will put a frozen surface on the pond with the all the stabilising wood.

I don’t know what the wooden underconstruction for the pond is used for… unless they finally let winter come and make the pond frozen *fingers crossed*

The building in the last picture before the godswood looks a lot like the inn from episode 401.

In the books they hold it until Stannis takes it back as he moves south from the Wall and takes Asha/Yara captive. Not sure how that will play into the TV series but last season we saw how stubborn Ironborn commanders can be plus Deepwood Motte is quite hard to get too and right on the coast which plays into the Ironborns strengths so it would make sense for it to be the last place the Ironborn hold in the North and the Boltons are probably going to be more concerned with Stannis. I guess we’ll have to wait (and hope in my case!)

That looks amazing! My favorite part of ADWD and perhaps the entire series… I hope they don’t fuck it up

We need some Northern lords as featured extras, Manderly and someone to replace Jeyne Poole (which we hopefully already got with that “Winterfell worker”).

I also love that they redid the Heart Tree’s face, it looked quirky in season 1

It’s a wonderful feeling to see Winterfell again. Also, the fake snow and the wooden structure where the lake was makes me thing winter is truly coming in Season 5, at last. I’m also looking forward to see the place as portrayed with the show’s current budget. We haven’t seen Winterfell for two seasons now, and the production values have changed A LOT since Season 2.

Anyone else get the Winterfell song in their head as they were reading this? just me?

It has the same kind of windows as the building Dinklage was photographed inside (the pic that appeared on Twitter), so might be the exteriors of the brothel we’ve been hearing about.

I really hope to see Deepwood Mott onscreen, but I have to realize the possibility that they could cut the

YarAsha – Stannis issue in order to delay the kingsmoot for S6, and the talk between Ramsay and Theon

It’s implied that Telltale’s tie in game will focus (at least partially) on Deepwood Motte, so hopefully that means the show WILL cover it to a certain extent. There’s also still plenty of time to film it and build a set given that filming ends in mid December.

Do we know if it’s based exclusively on show or book canon, or a mix or both?

I will pray to the old gods and the new, as well as he who dwells beneath the waves.

Also since they’ve been keen to give Yara something to do every year and since they like having characters from different walks of life/storylines meet up, it makes sense that they’ll include Deepwood Motte and what eventually happens there.

I’m feel so sad seeing these photos. Oh, I miss the Starks in Winterfell.

The final scenes of Roose and Ramsay in season 4, including the approach to Winterfell, show a smattering of snow on the ground (which was CGI’d in, according to the VFX reels). Not a lot of snow, but obviously present.

It’s based on show canon and is meant to tie in to the season but it will fill gaps with book stuff and original stuff

I guess Yara could leave Deepwood Motte when she gets a raven or some other word that Balon is dead and there’s a Kingmoot. When she flees back there Stannis’s forces could have already taken it, capture her and then she’s back in position. I guess it depends on whether they’re going to have the Stannis/Bolton confrontation this season or not and it’s outcome. Perhaps Stannis retreats back to Deepwood Motte? I don’t think he’s going to be able to take the North alone and personally I can see Rickon leading another force to smash the Boltons…or maybe again I’m hoping for some Stark vengeance!

Watching the opening credits, I’ve wondered about the face on the tree in WF’s godswood. It looks somewhat like WF’s old maester, does it not?

Yara is the most accurate known face to introduce Euron, so, I don’t see her being captured by Stannis before Euron is crowned. The issue is, there’s no casting call / casting announcement for any Greyjoy. Patchface states that there’s a ironborn reaver (Deepwood Mott subplot? Euron?) and he also said that Quintin Castle was used as a ironborn raid, if this is true then we will have the Greyjoy’s invasion to the Reach or maybe the “ironborn raid” is just the battle against Stannis.

I don’t know if Patchface is a troll (he seems not, but I hope he was because I want LS more than anything in the show), but if his information is accurate, at least we will have some Greyjoy’s adventures the next season.

Summarizing, I think Euron will make the cut, and Yara will introduce him to the show… then she will flee to Deepwood Mott and then Stannis will capture her, but maybe Euron will be delayed to S6, so, Yara won’t be taken captive by Stannis before the Battle of Winterfell. To be honest, the Yara-Stannis issue should happen? Maybe they found another way by which the mountain clans and other northern lords join Stannis without the need to introduce Deepwood Mott.

it both affects Jon’s character development (since he gives Stannis advice), Stannis’s (since he takes the advice) and that of their relationship. On top of that it’s a great midseason fight scene and a good plan for Stannis to gain support of the North be it with mountain clans or Umbers or what have you. And I want more Yara! Not giving Gemma more to do would be a disservice, she managed to handle her scenes very well

I think the show did a pretty poor job of explaining what happened there and who burnT the castle back in season 2. They never really revealed that Boltons did it in S3 or S4 either!

Roose Bolton tells Walder Frey in the season 3 finale that Ramsay burned Winterfell to the ground.

I think those strange lattice doors belong to the brothel we saw early in Season 1, don’t they?

I think those strange lattice doors belong to the brothel we saw early in Season 1, don’t they?

especially because there is no Ros anymore and we haven’t got anything about Jane Poole?

This is pure speculation, but it’s possible Euron will be mentioned by other characters throughout S5, without actually being introduced.

There could a few Small Council scenes, as well as scenes of Yara getting letters from home, informing us and the characters about Balon’s death, Euron, the Kingsmoot, Euron deciding to take all of Westeros, and sending his men to attack The Reach. At this point, Cersei would send Ser Loras to defend The Reach (instead of DragonStone) in hopes that he will be killed, thus freeing herself from her marriage (though she may be free of that already with Tywin’s death), and removing the only chance for the Tyrell name to continue.

But the Godswood and ponds don’t freeze because of underground hot springs, right? Where is AngryGOTFan when you need him? #NOONEUNDERSTAAANDS!!!

Yes, it is important… I like Asha Greyjoy, and I like Gemma as Yara Greyjoy, but D&D have managed to leave out important elements in their adaptation. Anyway, I hope we get

I just remember Stannis and Co. being introduced without help of already known characters. Even for Dorne,

they will use Jaime. You can be right, and Cersei could send Loras to the Reach at some point at the middle of S5 and then he appears at the begining of S6 introducing Euron (although that means no Loras for the rest of the season), but I don’t think that could work, specially because of Cersei’s downfall and Maergery’s imprisonment. So, I will pray for Euron this season, and that the fight Finn talked about some weeks ago is a heavy scene with the Greyjoys at the Reach.

If Euron is not presented by Yara’s POV, I will bet he’s cut.

Winterfell’s music is always depressing :/. Looking forward to Braavos’ music. Wonder if they will use a variation of Jaqen’s theme for it

They have been, I thought, always filled with smoke. Always makes me sad to see.

Looks like they are setting something up by the godwood – maybe a wedding? Oh Theon being spooked by someone calling his name (it would be cool if a certain boy’s face would appear on the tree)

Not sure how they are going to get all of the Ironborn story in two seasons. I’d be surprised if the Kingsmott shows up. But having Yara be there with Stannis would make sense as he makes his way there. I am now rereading DOD, and am just at the point where Stannis is snowbound. I don’t remember what happens next for Winterfell (thats what I like about getting older – old books are new ones all over again!)

Im glad I am rereading this – now that I know more background of the characters and stories, Im having an easier time dealing with all of the characters that were introduced in this book. And Im liking it a lot more then I did on first read.

“I have from a source who works with Elastic and doesn’t want to get in trouble:

This season Winterfell is no longer smoking in the title sequence, and has a Bolton flag flying.

Inferefufi… I’m wondering which new places we’ll see in the title sequence. Sunspear for sure, but Pyke? Deepwood Mott? Volantis? Some castle in The Reach and/or The Vale? Will we see Pentos again?

This “shooting in Belfast” Artisan’s Piece from the Spring shows that they used a barn in Moneyglass as both the Inn that Arya and Sandor stop by in 401 and Mole’s Town in 403 and 408. As I saw someone mention either in this article’s comments, another ones or maybe over at AFOIAF, this picture here is of that very same barn (albeit with some renovations). Given the designs on the window matching those from that Tyrion photo, I’d say they filmed the Selhorys/Volantis brothel here.

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