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  ===Original pilot===
  The original pilot from 2009 was poorly received in a private viewing with friends, one of whom, Craig Mazin, said to Benioff and Weiss, "You guys have a massive problem", and said "change everything" when asked for ideas. It was so disliked that Kit Harington joked that when he annoys Benioff and Weiss, they threaten to release the episode on YouTube. Weiss said of the viewing: "Watching them watch the pilot was a deeply humiliating, painful experience, because these are very smart individuals, and it just clearly wasn’t working for any of them on a very basic level." For example, it was never established that the two major characters, Jaime and Cersei Lannister were in fact brother and sister, a major plot point.
  HBO did not make a decision for four months after the pilot was delivered. In March 2010, HBO's decision to greenlight the series including the pilot was announced, with the production of the series scheduled to start June 2010. HBO however demanded extensive reshoot of the pilot, and wanted all the scenes from Morocco scrapped. A cameo appearance by George RR Martin as a Pentoshi nobleman at Daenerys's wedding filmed in Morocco was therefore also cut. In all 90 percent of the pilot was re-shot in 2010, with some cast changes and a different director.