Game of Thrones
A map that rebuilds itself each week. The clockwork cities shown change with the locations the episode visits, which makes it the rare title sequence carrying actual information.
Game of Thrones rebuilt its titles: two distinct opening sequences are catalogued here across seasons 1 and 8, running between 108 and 145 seconds.
At 145 seconds at its longest, it opens well above the 50-second median for drama sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on HBO in 2011, when Curb Your Enthusiasm, In Treatment and The Comeback were also on the network.
Only 139 of the 2,618 shows catalogued here changed their titles at all; Game of Thrones did so once.
All 2 opening title sequences
Season 1
108sThe original: King's Landing, Winterfell, the Wall and Pentos, with the Baratheon stag over the sun.
Season 8
145sRebuilt for the final season — the camera drops inside the Red Keep and Winterfell rather than staying above them, and the Wall's breach is shown.
More drama opening titles from the 2010s
2 sequences
Euphoria
No opening sequence as such. Each episode runs a cold open, often one character's history told in narration, and only then cuts to the title card.
- Season 1
- Season 2
1 sequence
The Boys
Superhero iconography rendered as corporate branding and then defaced — the show's whole argument, done in graphics.
- Season 1
1 sequence
The Night Manager
Le Carré's arms dealer and the hotelier sent in after him, opened by weapons assembling out of luxury.
- Season 2
1 sequence
Yellowstone
Montana filmed as a land claim — cattle, mountains and fence line, with the ranch's brand doing the title card.
- Season 1
3 sequences
The Witcher
No sequence in the usual sense. Each episode opens on its own sigil, drawn together out of liquid silver and shards over black, with the theme beneath it.
- Season 1
- Season 2
- Season 3
1 sequence
The Handmaid's Tale
Almost no titles at all — twelve seconds of black, two production cards, and the name in tall condensed capitals with HANDMAID'S picked out in red.
- Season 1