The ‘Game of Thrones’ Easter Egg in ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Featured Drogon and Fans Are Still in Shock
[Spoiler alert: Westworld Season 3, Episode 2.] HBO fandoms collided when a Game of Thrones Easter egg unexpectedly popped up in Westworld Season 3, Episode 2 on Sunday, March 22. The episode titled “The Winter Line” highlighted cameos from Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) beloved dragon, Drogon, and the now-infamous GoT showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. But seeing as how their eighth season ended, the mini Game of Thrones and Westworld crossover had fans feeling a mix of emotions.
The ‘Game of Thrones’ Easter egg on ‘Westworld’ Season 3
Deep into Westworld Season 3, Episode 2, Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) search for Maeve (Thandie Newton). The pair step into a Delos facility, and despite the parks being shut down, there are still plenty of employees.
“What are we doing in Park Four?” Benard says. “I thought the parks were shut down.” Then Stubbs replies, “They are. These techs are just waiting to see if they get laid off.”
Meanwhile, Stubbs and Bernard walk past two lab technicians, Dave and Dan, played by Benioff and Weiss respectively. Then Dave reveals there’s a potential buyer from a startup in Costa Rica.
“How the f*ck are you going to get that to Costa Rica?” Dan says.
“In pieces, man,” Dave says. He revs up a chainsaw and walks toward a massive robotic dragon who looks an awful lot like Drogon, the only one of Daenerys’ children to survive Game of Thrones Season 8.
Fans react to the ‘Game of Thrones’ cameos in ‘Westworld’
Following the March 22 episode of Westworld, Game of Thrones fans were floored by the unexpected Drogon cameo and took their shock to social media.
“Tell me y’all just saw DROGON from Game of Thrones too #Westworld,” a fan wrote on Twitter.
“Not drogon being in westworld I’M SCREAMING,” another fan tweeted.
Meanwhile, other fans couldn’t help but reference the downfall of Game of Thrones Season 8, which was a massive letdown to many viewers. “So season 8 of GoT was just a sh*tty simulation of what actually happened,” a fan wrote. “It’s makes sense now!”
Then others expressed their frustration with the scene. “This just show you how confident they were that the last season of GOT would be a success, they thought this little easter egg would be funny, well it wasn’t,” a fan wrote on Reddit. “Seeing their faces literally took me out the universe and made me remember how much I dislike this guys when I was just trying to enjoy another show.”
In response, another fan suggested an alternative meaning behind the Game of Thrones cameo on Westworld. “I actually interpreted this as a reference to how awful season 8 was,” the fan wrote. “The fact that they are discussing a new project and are about to mutilate the dragon with a buzz seemed more like an ‘F*ck you haha.’”
Showrunners explain the ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Westworld’ crossover
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Westworld showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan explained how the Game of Thrones Easter egg came together. And the criticisms made against the crossover aside, it appears the scene was simply meant to celebrate Benioff and Weiss as creators and what their overarching accomplishments on Game of Thrones meant for Westworld.
“We’re friends with both Dan and David, who are lovely human beings,” Nolan said. “They have been incredibly supportive and friendly with us as we were getting our show up and running.”
Later, Nolan noted that Park Four is a reference to “Medieval World” in Michael Crichton’s Westworld film from 1973. But Game of Thrones was “the show that created the opportunity for us to do this show.”
“It reinvented television in terms of its ambition. Its production values, the sweep of the stories they were telling,” Nolan said. “We wanted to pay homage to them. Dan and David very kindly obliged and agreed to come hang out with us on set for a night. And they brought one of their big fire-breathing friends with them.”
Meanwhile, Nolan revealed George R.R. Martin has always been on board with a Game of Thrones crossover. He told Variety:
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.” 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.
In all honesty, we’re still bummed about the final season of Game of Thrones. And quite frankly, it’s a bit difficult not to tie the cameo on Westworld with how the D&D show ended. Nevertheless, the Westworld showrunners reminded us of the massive influence behind Game of Thrones. So with that, we’ll just say it’s OK to have mixed feelings about this one and move on.
Read more: Emilia Clarke Was Annoyed by Daenerys Targaryen’s Death in the ‘Game of Thrones’ Finale
