How George R.R. Martin inspired Westworld's Game of Thrones crossover

Variety

Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan are not only friends with Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but "we’re also friendly with George R.R. Martin, and George had consistently since the first season said, 'We’ve got to do a tie-in with Game of Thrones,'" says Nolan. "People forget that George was originally a TV writer and he came up in the TV world in which you’d occasionally have these crossover shows, which the fans would f*cking freak out over. So George had always been pitching the crossover show." Nolan and Joy add that they Benioff and Weiss' cameo on Sunday's episode was a response to the way the Game of Thrones showrunners treated them. "Those guys are the f*cking nicest guys in the world," said Nolan. "Usually when you come into a network where there’s a big dog show — and we’ve been in that position before — without naming names, there’s been (a vibe of), 'We’re not inclined to be friendly to you if you’re the new kid on the block.' We came to HBO with a big ambitious show at a point in which their show was and is the biggest f*cking thing that’s ever been on TV. And they were so welcoming and so kind to us at a moment in which we were struggling through a first season and trying to figure out how it will work. We’ve remained friends." Nolan and Joy say the cameos were also a way to pay homage "to the show that created the opportunity for us to do this show."

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• David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' Westworld cameo really was special, despite being a throwaway gag: "I love this scene so much. I think I’ve watched it 30 times," says Darren Franich. "It’s my favorite thing to happen on Westworld since season 1. It's my favorite Game of Thrones thing to air on HBO since King Tommen jumped out his window. The cameo is destructively meta, winking across a few universes, breaking the fourth wall’s neck. And there's a rich vein of meaning here, full of revelations about the weird state of big-budget television."
• Westworld director/executive producer Richard J. Lewis says the show has greater meaning amid coronavirus pandemic: "For me the greater scenes of Westworld have always had to do with what makes us human, and by juxtaposing the hosts or robot persona against that, we have to look at ourselves," he says. "This is a time where we have to look at ourselves obviously. I think that if this coronavirus situation were not here, eventually we’d have to do the same self searching that we’re always heading toward. This is the big existential question: What does it mean to be human? And now I think with this global pandemic happening, we are looking at ourselves as one and not being divisive. We try not to over-factionalize and make these divisions, and we’re thinking of ourselves from a very humanist point of view and I think the show is very relevant on that front."