'Game Of Thrones' Replaces George W. Bush Look-Alike

Severed head resembling former president, once seen skewered on the walls of King's Landing, has been digitally replaced on HBO series.
By Josh Wigler

George W. Bush's likeness on a severed head in "Game of Thrones"
Photo: HBO

Former President George W. Bush has lost his head — again.

"Game of Thrones" made headlines earlier this month when it was revealed that one of the heads lining the walls of King's Landing in the season one finale resembled the former U.S. commander-in-chief. HBO responded by immediately issuing an apology, pulling the episode from their streaming and online services, and even halting home-video shipments of the season.

Now, the episode is back online, and Bush's head has been erased, the Washington Post reports. In his stead is a generic, weak-chinned Westerosi, with a sad frown that pretty much epitomizes the unexpectedly dramatic situation.

George W. Bush's Head and Other 'Game of Thrones' Controversies

When word first hit about the likeness of Bush's severed head appearing on "Thrones," HBO officials were quick to release an apologetic statement: "We were deeply dismayed to see this and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste ... we made this clear to the executive producers of the series who apologized immediately for this inadvertent careless mistake. We are sorry this happened and will have it removed from any future DVD production."

For their part, executive producers and co-showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — who first pointed out the resemblance to Bush in a DVD commentary track, which was then picked up and widely reported by an eagle-eyed Reddit user — followed suit with an apology of their own.

"We use a lot of prosthetic body parts on the show: heads, arms, etc. We can't afford to have these all made from scratch, especially in scenes where we need a lot of them, so we rent them in bulk," the pair said in a joint statement. "After the scene was already shot, someone pointed out that one of the heads looked like George W. Bush."

Well, no one can say the head looks like Bush now, can they? Then again, from the right angle, in the right light ...

Sound off about the "Game of Thrones" Bush controversy in the comments below!

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