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Forget About Winter – Brexit Is Coming for Game of Thrones

  • Danaerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke, left), 'The Mother of Dragons,

    Danaerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke, left), 'The Mother of Dragons," and Jon Snow (Kit Harington, right) | Photo: Reuters

Published 24 June 2016
Opinion

Westeros may leave the EU as well, resulting in the hit HBO show facing likely higher costs due to a loss in support from EU-based organizations.

"Game of Thrones’" seven kingdoms have a new threat to worry about other than winter from beyond the wall: Brexit is coming.

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HBO's hit TV series Game of Thrones is headed toward a costly two last seasons as the U.K. is expected to leave the European Union because it is funded in part, by the European Regional Development Fund, a group that seeks to increase economic growth in the EU.

"It might be up in the air for U.S. studios who want to film in the U.K.," Peter Chase, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States' Brussels office, told Foreign Policy. "There are EU programs to help fund all of this. If the U.K. is no longer part of the EU, that has the potential to go away."

London’s departure from the EU, now imminent after Friday’s results in the Brexit referendum in favor of leaving the EU, means that the U.S.-based HBO will most likely lose one of its primary filming locations in Northern Ireland.

As a result the giant production company will have to find new funding to keep filming in Ireland or could be forced to find a new location that is less expensive.

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Ahead of the vote, more than 280 English celebrities and artists wrote a letter published in the Telegraph newspaper in which they came out in favor of remaining in the EU.

“Leaving Europe would be a leap into the unknown for millions of people across the U.K. who work in the creative industries, and for the millions more at home and abroad who benefit from the growth and vibrancy of Britain's cultural sector," according to the letter.

Notable signatories include Keira Knightley, Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch and Helena Bonham Carter.

According to CNBC News, Game of Thrones is not the only production that could be affected by Brexit.

The European Regional Development Fund, Creative Europe and other similar EU organizations have given U.K.-based TV and film projects a total of US$32 million in the last seven years. Such projects now face the same dilemma as HBO and future projects are most likely to never happen.

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