'Game Of Thrones' Opening Credits Almost Looked Very Different

"Game of Thrones" has one of the most memorable opening credit sequences on TV, but it almost looked and sounded very different.

The HBO drama's unaired pilot script reportedly surfaced online this week, and io9 listed the main differences between the original pilot and what the cable network ended up airing after the first episode was rewritten and reshot.

In addition to adding more time with the Stark family and recasting the roles of Daenerys and Catelyn, producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff altered the credits into the sprawling orrery apparatus that first introduced us to the vast geography of Westeros (accompanied here by the show's younger actors beatboxing the theme song).

According to io9, the original pilot's credits were envisioned thusly:

... there's a sequence where an old man, whose face we don't see, writes a message on a parchment scroll, which he ties to the leg of a raven. The raven flies away from Castle Black and the Wall and across the landscape of Westeros, which becomes a map. The major destinations are labeled, including Winterfell, the Kingsroad, Moat Cailin, the Riverlands and the Vale of Arryn. A few times, the bird dips down enough that the map "resolves into reality" to show us the towers of Winterfell or the Eyrie atop the Vale. At last, the bird reaches King's Landing and flies through the open gates of the Red Keep, landing on the Iron Throne itself.

The striking "Game of Thrones" theme song would have been entirely different too, were it not for composer Ramin Djawadi, who was hired just 10 weeks before the series was set to premiere after Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck left the project.

For more on the differences between the unaired "Game of Thrones" pilot and the final version, click over to io9.

What do you think of the original idea for the "Game of Thrones" credits? Weigh in below!