The failed pilot for Game of Thrones featured a notable change to the White Walkers, which would have made them even more terrifying. Although the majority of Game of Thrones’ seasons 1-8 conflicts involve power struggles and the errors of humanity, the underlying villain of the series is the Night King, who leads the undead White Walkers. The White Walkers were still featured similarly in the prologue of Game of Thrones’ real pilot as they were in the failed venture, but showrunners Benioff & Weiss removed a detail that would have made the creatures even better.

Game of Thrones’ original failed pilot is fairly different from what audiences received in the HBO series’ actual first episode. The first attempt featured a flashback to the deaths of Rickard and Brandon Stark, the death of Jon Arryn, a cameo by George R.R. Martin, another actress portraying Daenerys Targaryen, and a detail about the White Walkers that is now only featured in the A Song of Ice and Fire books. The majority of changes made to Game of Thrones’ failed pilot were necessary and made the series stronger, but one cut detail could have made the most mysterious villains even more menacing.

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In the original pilot for Game of Thrones, the White Walkers spoke with an eerie language called Skroth, but showrunners decided to cut this from not only the pilot, but also the entire series. Skroth would have stood alongside Dothraki and Ashai’i as the most prominent made-up languages in Game of Thrones season 1, and would have been the most terrifying. According to the books, Benioff and Weiss, and Game of Thrones language creator David J. Peterson, the White Walkers’ Skroth would have sounded like ice-cracking chatter. The prologue for Game of Thrones episode 1 would have seen the White Walkers descending on two members of the Night’s Watch, with the only warning being their bone-chilling language.

The White Walkers have often been criticized after Game of Thrones season 8 for being wasted, which makes the theories of the creatures or non-canon show details an improvement on the eerie aspects that the show cut out. While Skroth isn’t canon in Game of Thrones, the White Walkers and Wights’ language is still pervasive in the franchise’s lore as it’s referred to in the books and by those who wrote about the series often. In an interview with Huffington Post, Peterson shared a clip of what Skroth would have sounded like in real life, which resembled a far more sinister, colder version of the The Walking Dead‘s walkers.

A different language for the White Walkers would have once again proven that these creatures in no way reflect the species that once inhabited their bodies. Similar to zombie shows in which characters see loved ones turn into screeching walkers, Game of Thrones lost an opportunity to make the baby-sacrificing White Walkers deviate from their human counterparts in a more jarring manner. It also would have proven that the Night King wasn’t simply controlling every White Walker, as Skroth would have indicated communicative agency amongst the creatures.

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Game of Thrones’ sound designer kept the chances for Skroth to appear in the series open, but it never happened. The Children of the Forest, the ancient species who created the White Walkers, were also supposed to have a made-up language in Game of Thrones season 6, but a variety of reasons led to it being cut or reduced and ultimately translated into English. For how iconic Game of Thrones’ fake languages have become in pop culture, a terrifying ice-cracking Skroth language for the White Walkers could have made them even better fear-inducing figures.

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Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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