What did really happen to the Mad King, Daenerys …
Podcast: SFB 1472 Transformationen des Populären
Erschienen: 20.09.2026
Dauer: 00:57:27
What did really happen to the Mad King, Daenerys Targaryen’s father, how are the Rebellion of Robert Baratheon and his big love for Lyanna Stark intertwined, and who is the Knight of the Laughing Tree? “The Mad King”, a theatre performance which premiered in early August in Stratford-upon-Avon, is the latest contribution to the globally popular “Game of Thrones” franchise and provides answers to these and much more questions about the recent past of the storyworld we know from HBO’s “Game of Thrones”. Carolyne Larrington and Theresa Specht couldn’t help but to rush to Stratford to see the prequel. In this ‘SFB on tour’ podcast episode, they share their impressions and major plot revelations. They also discuss how “The Mad King” expands the neomedieval storyworld of GOT in a reasonable way and how its aesthetics are realized on stage – where you can’t have CGI animations. Finally, they talk about the possible frictions between the global popularity of the franchise and this new – geographically and temporally limited – theatre performance (aka high culture) – and Carolyne reveals what part Shakespeare plays in all of this. (00:00) Introducing the Guest (01:11) First impressions: “The Mad King” without any idea about “Game of Thrones”? (06:30) Getting everyone onto the same page: Worldbuilding (13:22) Diversity: The Cast (14:16) Amazing Puppetry instead of CGI dragons: visual aesthetics (19:38) ‘I like not what he says’: Accents and archaisms (22:21) The prequel’s neomedieval storyworld (26:49) What happens? Major plot twists (32:25) From ‘sexposition’ to strong women: Elia Martell, Lyanna Stark, Ashara Dayne and Rhaella Targaryen (46:37) Global popularity v Shakespearian Stratford-upon-Avon? See also Carloyne’s review of The Mad King in The Times Literary Supplement: “A Destiny Already Written: The Royal Shakespeare Company Takes on George R. R. Martin”, in: TLS, August 21, 2026, p. 24. Schnitt: Anna Greiving und Susanna Mengel
Weitere Informationen und umfangreichere Shownotes gibt es ggf. auf der Podcast-Website.
Podcast-Website: Episode "#19 Carolyne Larrington: News from Westeros: “The Mad King”"
