Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) received a letter from author George R.R. Martin after the show aired, stating: "Congratulations on your marvelous performance. Everyone hates you!"
According to Kit Harington (Jon Snow), his performance in the rejected pilot episode was so bad that the creators often jokingly threaten to release scenes of it on the internet if he complains too much.
According to author George R.R. Martin, Peter Dinklage was the one and only choice to play Tyrion, and no other actors were auditioned. Dinklage has been nominated eight consecutive times (once for each season) for the outstanding supporting actor in a drama series at the Emmys. He won for the first, fifth, seventh and eighth season, setting a new record for most wins in the outstanding supporting actor category for the same role.
George R.R. Martin stated that the infamous "Red Wedding" was the hardest chapter for him to write in "A Storm of Swords." He was so emotionally attached to the characters that he wrote the rest of the book first, then that chapter last. Executive Producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, upon reading it, declared it was one of the major reasons they decided to option the books for a television series. Their dramatization differs from the book in a few details, most notably that Robb's wife is not present at the wedding, nor is she killed. Whether she is pregnant is unknown.