Winter took its sweet time getting here. We’re well used to hearing delays when it comes to Westeros, the Seven Kingdoms, the Night’s Watch and all the rest, so when it emerged that the latest project from the world of Game of Thrones was at risk, we weren’t surprised.
Just five days ago, it was reported that George R.R. Martin’s latest journey into Westeros had suffered a major setback, with the first four preview performances of Game of Thrones: The Mad King canceled shortly before audiences were due to take their seats. At that point, it felt like crisis time even though the Royal Shakespeare Company insisted the enormously ambitious production would still move forward, but then another performance got pulled.
But after all that uncertainty, the Mad King took his throne after all, as George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King officially began previews at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Tuesday, July 28, and the first complete performance reportedly ended with a standing ovation. According to Deadline, director Dominic Cooke even came out before the performance to address the rather large dragon in the room: what exactly had been going on behind the scenes.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
‘The Mad King’ Finally Made It Through Its Four-Hour Runtime
Cooke reportedly told the audience that the company had been working “extremely hard” to get the production ready and asked those in attendance to “bear with us” if actors needed to be fed lines from offstage. In another indication of just how close to the wire things had been, Cooke said this would also be the first time he had seen the entire production performed from beginning to end.
The audience ultimately got the whole thing. The Mad King currently runs for approximately four hours, including a 20-minute interval, and those in attendance responded with a standing ovation.
The scale probably explains at least some of the difficulty. The Mad King uses an entirely new theatre configuration designed to put audiences “at the heart of the action,” alongside large-scale sets and puppetry bringing Westeros to life.
Set decades before Game of Thrones, the prequel explores the final years of King Aerys II Targaryen and the events that send Westeros hurtling towards Robert’s Rebellion. The cast includes Michael Shaeffer (The Crown) as Aerys, Noah Ritter (Masters of the Air) as Rhaegar Targaryen, Michael Abubakar (The Book of Clarence) as Eddard Stark, Callum Woodhouse (Masters of the Air) as Robert Baratheon, Maxim Ays (Bridgerton) as Jaime Lannister, Daisy Franks (The Crown) as Cersei Lannister, Jamie Ballard (The Last Kingdom) as Barristan Selmy, and James Phoon (Bridgerton) as Varys.
Game of Thrones: The Mad King is now performing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre ahead of its official opening on August 8, with the run scheduled to continue through September 5.
