In its four seasons, Game of Thrones has allowed viewers visual access to all sorts of deadly acts, from eye-gougings to poisonings to beheadings. But considering Westeros isn’t the kind of place where people use flammable weapons with frequency, bombings aren’t an attack of choice. But a film studio in Ireland where Game of Thrones was filming parts of Season 5 was the center of a terrorist plot. And no, it wasn’t just someone wanting to make Jon Snow’s head explode, but that’s something we understand.
According to The Telegraph, a group of Republican dissidents were planning on setting up a Semtex-and-fertilizer explosive to take out several Irish ex-security force members working at the Paint Hall Titanic Studios where filming was happening. Here’s what their police source told them.
The dissidents initially got word that a number of ex-RUC and army personnel worked at the studios. They were even told the exact job in which most of them were employed and the catering unit where they took their lunch and tea at the same time every day.
The bomb was reportedly going to be placed in a trashcan near the catering spot, and it all would have happened if not for those meddling kids a longtime agent within the republican group contacting an ex-Royal Ulster Constabulary (police force) member and warning him of the deadly plot.
At this point, security was heavily increased in the area, with all ex-cops and soldiers around going on high alert. The uptick in awareness inevitably got back to the dissidents, who decided not to go ahead with their plan after all. Rejoice!
Perhaps the most amazing part of all this is that it actually happened several months ago, but was largely kept away from public records. Police and other security forces were alerted through reports, of course, but news of the foiled plot was only discovered through The Telegraph sorting through those reports. So if you happen to see any Semtex being used in George R.R. Martin’s long-awaited next novel The Winds of Winter, now you know where it came from.
Fans can expect the death-filled next season of Game of Thrones hitting HBO and HBO Now on April 12. Check out the excellent full-length trailer here and get your Sand Snake whips ready for battle.
