Game of Thrones exhibition launches in Belfast

Video report by Barbara McCann

Fans of fantasy TV series Game Of Thrones will have the chance to see the show's famous throne as part of a new exhibition in Belfast.

A number of stars from the popular HBO series returned to Northern Ireland on Wednesday to launch the attraction.

Since the show's premiere in 2011, fans from all over the world have travelled to the province - where much of the filming has taken place.

The exhibtion will give visitors a look behind the scenes, as well as the opportunity to see the Iron Throne up close.

Visitors can visit the crypt of Winterfell to pay their respects to six of the Stark ancestors

The launch saw some of the series' lead characters reunite almost a year after filming wrapped in 2018.

Isaac Hempstead Wright, Ian Beattie and Liam Cunningham - who play Bran Stark, Meryn Trant and Davos Seaworth, respectively - launched the exhibition in Belfast's Titanic Quarter on Wednesday 10 April.

The area boasts the Painthall Studios where most of the show's indoor scenes were filmed, and now also sites the touring exhibition.

Liam Cunningham described Belfast as as having been home to him and the rest of the cast for over 10 years and said he had an emotional moment when he hung up his costume as filming on the final series came to an end last year.

The actor, who plays Davos Seaworth, said, "Who would have said ten years ago that Belfast was a honeymoon location, but it is."

Ian Beattie described the day he was cast in the series as the "luckiest of his life", as he got to take part in a major show in his home city.

Sites across Northern Ireland have been used as filming locations for places in the seven kingdoms of Westeros, the main setting for the series.

While much of the indoor filming took place in the Painthall Studios, other locations included Carrickfergus Castle, Tullaghoge Fort, Dundrum Castle, Bonamargy Friary, Dungannon Castle (Hill of the O'Neill) and Enniskillen Castle.

The exbhibition, which launches on Thursday, comes just ahead of the premiere of the series' eighth and final season.

It will run at Titanic Exhibition Centre from April 11 until September 1.