After more than 60 hours of fantasy television, for those not watching Game of Thrones, the concept of catching up might well seem daunting. Six seasons and 60 episodes of violence and dragons and incest and nudity makes for a difficult entry point. Luckily, HBO has teamed up with actor Samuel L Jackson, who provides a new beginners’ guide to watching the show across an expletive-strewn eight minutes.
Jackson brings his trademark wit and mastery of foul language to the first five seasons of the show, breaking down for the uninitiated just who the warring families are, why everyone wants to sit on what looks like a very uncomfortable chair, and just what is lurking north of the wall.
“These motherfuckers are cold, which is why everybody should be worried about this long ass winter coming. But instead, they’re too busy fighting,” Jackson says.
Some anoraks and purists might well take umbrage at Jackson’s cavalier introduction of some characters as “this dickhead” or his boiling down of season-long story arcs to “mo’ money, mo’ problems,” but it’ll only take a fraction of the time it’ll take you to plough through the books or show. And you’ll more than get the gist.
“After all that, you’re still stuck on these dragons?” Jackson laments. “You wanna see a dragon, motherfucker? Here you go, here you fucking go.”
Take a look at the video below, it can at least keep you entertained until the delayed seventh season finally gets here. And maybe wear headphones...
