Game of Thrones prepares for filming in Šibenik at the Fortress of St. John 

Šibenik, Croatia, is one of the new cities added to the impressively long list of

locations this year, and crews have arrived in town to prepare for filming.

and several new photos (posted below), sets are under construction at the Fortress of St. John, readying the area for shooting September 15th through the 21st. The site reports that a dress rehearsal will take place in Šibenik on September 8th.

Built in 1646, the star-shaped fortress is located high above the old town center. Currently sets are being built on the inner portion of the fort. The purpose of the set is unknown, though it resembles a courtyard in progress or a minor fighting pit, from the looks of the photos below.

Spoiler buttons are functional using shortcode [spoiler] Insert spoiler here [/spoiler] to blur comments. If you do NOT want to be spoiled, click the "Hide" Button before proceeding!

Might it be Meereen somehow, a scene with fighters training for the Daznak fighting pit? I… I’ve got nothing. Does anyone have any idea of what it could be?

Bran is going to appear in season 5,stop bitching !

Don’t worry, someone somwhere will find a reason to start that argumnet here as well.

Deepwood Motte was my first reaction (it’s my first reaction for almost everything these days) but I don’t know what that circle would be for. Does look like a place where two would go at it.

Do we know anything about what Sibenik will be used for? My guess/hope was Volantis and Braavos but this looks like neither.

Could it just be training grounds in Deepwood Motte?

Looks like they are building some torture devices… oO

Maybe this a place (something is terribly wrong with spoiler tags)

Props look very Northern. I could see it as an interior courtyard to Deepwood if they gave it a quick blasting with a snow machine.

Then again, why would they go to Croatia for that instead of just finding a suitable castle in Ireland? And the vegetation between the rocks like that is similar to the outer walls of Meereen.

I don’t see any snow, so I hope not. Give me some damn snow for all of the Northern scenes, D&D! I’m re-reading ‘A Game Of Thrones’ right now and the North is already below freezing and covered in snow. Had I not read the books, I would think the Starks were full of shit. #WinterIsNotComing

With the raised stage I’d guess maybe something for Brienne’s story line perhaps meeting two certain character from the book, sorry can’t do spoilers. As Brienne is going to need something to do.

Deepwood was my first thought but i doubt thats it. A village on the rhoyne ?

As the Boltons approached Winterfell in S4, there was nary a snowflake to be found either….and that was corresponding to a scene in Book 5! Like you pointed out, I can see how the Starks would be viewed as

It’s sort of like the current debate over global warming….is it or isn’t it coming? Is “winter” simply associated with the southward march of the White Walkers in the show and not associated with an abnormal, possibly supernatural, seasonal issue (and WW arrival) as in the books?

Filming in Croatia leads me to suspect that this set is meant to represent a location in Essos, most likely in Braavos or somewhere in Slaver’s Bay. I suppose that it’s not out of the question that they could film scenes from the Northern storyline in Croatia. But given that those have been shot almost entirely in Northern Ireland for the past few seasons, I’m not sure why they would feel the need to start filming those scenes in Croatia now.

I’m not sure if that raised platform along the side of the courtyard is meant to be part of the set or is just something that the production team is working around. If it is meant to be part of the set, however …

then maybe this set is for the auction where Tyrion and Jorah are sold into slavery? It’s a bit small, but that could be to keep costs down. There’s no real need for that scene to have several hundred extras.

More likely, this is some kind of training ground. My guess is that it’ll be something in Meereen.

Maybe Hizdhar is showing Daenerys his fighters in order to convince her to re-open the fighting pits.

The thing that gets me is the area just south of the Wall. In season 1 it was covered in snow, but in seasons 3 and 4 it wasn’t. Is fake snow that hard to come by? Is a CG shot showing the landscape covered in snow too expensive?

Stannis isn’t going to have a very tough time marching to Winterfell on the show if the lack of snow continues.

Stannis may have been dressed appropriately after all!

That cage … = Reek = Ramsey = Ramesy´s “girls”

Or maybe its the cage where the Martell´s keep Myrcella

Looks like either Winterfell or Deepwood Motte.

Edit: Oh, and like it’s posted above – the cage. So, that’s got to be Winterfell.

I doubt this is for any Northern location. I bet for Meereen too and since they are filming there for 6 days I also bet this is for

Sorry, but that argument was always bullshit to me. I just reread ACOK and after Autumn arrives Jon and the Night’s Watch are beyond the Wall with not a speck of snow to be found. The forests are green, the Frostfangs only have snowy crowns rather than the white wilderness that they were in the show… Basically, just because there was some summer snow in AGOT doesn’t mean that the North has to be all white all the time. The show is slowly inching towards Winter (just like the books) and I’m sure that it will have a much more sudden impact. Yes, it technically should be trickling in slowly and there should be more snow in the North (though there was a bit in the last Ramsay scene in the background), but that’s just hard to portray. I think that in the progress of the upcoming season, and throughout the seasons to come, we’ll definitely see Winter come.

An auction demo ring. It has a nice cattle/stockyard feel to me…

Maybe Iron Islands? Or is that already confirmed to be out?

I doubt they’re filming scenes for the Norhern storyline in sunny Croatia.

It isn’t confirmed to be cut, but based on information about what is included there doesn’t seem to be room for it.

Personally I think there is a chance that Euron will make it. And we shoukd get Balon’s death, and more of Yara, but apart from that I can’t see them going into much depth at all for it.

It’s a shame in a way, but they only have time to adapt a certain amount. I trust them to make the right decisions. I’mm really looking forward to Dorne, so if they don’t screw that up, I will let them off excluding the Iron Islands.

As for the sets, my bet is somewhere in Essos. As others have stated I don’t really understand why they would film the Northern scenes in Croatia, so Essos seems the better bet. But you never know…

Kristian Nairn not to appear in Game of Thrones season 5, Toome on lockdown for filming, and more ( 258 )

New pics of Maisie Williams, Mark Gatiss and more in Game of Thrones filming ( 241 )

Game of Thrones season 5 filming moves to Duilovo pillars with Maisie Williams, Klis fortress closed to visitors in preparation ( 171 )

Game of Thrones at the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards ( 170 )

Season 5 sets in Split and Klis appear ready, while there may be trouble for production in Dubrovnik ( 142 )

Game of Thrones prepares for filming in Šibenik at the Fortress of St. John

Game of Thrones Attrition: Five I Wish Were Still Alive

WotW Awards: Best All-Around Quote Preliminary Round

Game of Thrones season 5 filming moves to Duilovo pillars with Maisie Williams, Klis fortress closed to visitors in preparation

Game of Thrones enters Guinness World Records 2015 book

Jeb on Game of Thrones prepares for filming in Šibenik at the Fortress of St. John

Carne on Game of Thrones prepares for filming in Šibenik at the Fortress of St. John

Ashara D on Game of Thrones Attrition: Five I Wish Were Still Alive

WeirwoodTreeHugger on Game of Thrones Attrition: Five I Wish Were Still Alive

dtones520 on Game of Thrones prepares for filming in Šibenik at the Fortress of St. John