<P> Game of Thrones was highly anticipated by fans before its premiere, and has become a critical and commercial success . According to The Guardian, by 2014 it was "the biggest drama" and "the most talked about show" on television . </P> <P> Although Game of Thrones was dismissed by some critics before it began, its success has been credited with an increase in the popularity of fantasy themes . On the eve of the second season's premiere, a CNN.com blog post by Joel Williams read, "After this weekend, you may be hard pressed to find someone who isn't a fan of some form of epic fantasy" and cited Ian Bogost as saying that the series continues a trend of successful screen adaptations beginning with Peter Jackson's 2001 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the Harry Potter films establishing fantasy as a mass - market genre; they are "gateway drugs to fantasy fan culture". Its success in the face of its genre was attributed by writers to a longing for escapism in popular culture, frequent female nudity and a skill in balancing lighthearted and serious topics (dragons and politics, for example) which provided it with a prestige enjoyed by conventional, top - tier drama series . </P> <P> The series' popularity increased sales of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels (republished in tie - in editions), which remained at the top of bestseller lists for months . According to The Daily Beast, Game of Thrones was a favorite of sitcom writers and the series has been referred to in other TV series . With other fantasy series, it has been cited for an increase in the purchase (and abandonment) of huskies and other wolf - like dogs . </P> <P> Game of Thrones has added to the popular vocabulary . The first season's scene in which Petyr Baelish explains his motives (or background) while prostitutes had sex in the background gave rise to the word "sexposition" for providing exposition with sex and nudity . "Dothraki", the series' nomadic horsemen, was ranked fourth in a September 2012 Global Language Monitor list of words from television most used on the Internet . In 2012, the media used "Game of Thrones" as a figure of speech or comparison for situations of intense conflict and deceit, such as the 2012 United States Supreme Court decision regarding healthcare reform legislation, the Syrian Civil War and the ousting of Bo Xilai from the Chinese government . </P>

Where is most of game of thrones filmed