HBO may have teamed up with Tourism Ireland to promote Northern Ireland as a tourism destination but recent comments from one Game Of Thrones executive don’t exactly paint Belfast in the most flattering light.
The drama, based on a series of novels by George R.R Martin, is filmed across Northern Ireland but when questioned by New York Magazine on the possible release of an eighth book, HBO President of Programming Michael Lombardo revealed that showrunners had found shooting in Belfast “challenging”.
“I just hope Dan [B. Weiss] and David [Benioff] are still game. It’s a little bit of a personal challenge I don’t think they contemplated when we initially found our location in Belfast, what that meant for them personally… Belfast is not the most cosmopolitan of cities to spend half of the year,” he said.
When pressed on whether the pair were having a “hard time” in the city, he added “the good news is work keeps them busy, let’s just say that”.
