The cast of Game of Thrones from the first episode to today

Somehow, it's been ten whole years since the first episode of Game of Thrones was released, and what a whirlwind it's been. We, the viewers, spent the best part of a decade enduring the emotional ups and downs of a show that was never afraid to kill off it's stars and whip out some the weirdest (incest) and most dramatic (The Red Wedding) storylines.

The show ran for nine years with many of the cast growing up with their characters while others broke out in to the mainstream with their roles. Here's a look at the cast, from episode one to today.

Back in series 1 Arya was the cute and scrappy third child of Ned and Catelyn. You knew she was going to be a legend right from episode one, when she skived off her needlework class and muscled her way into Bran's archery practice (she hit a perfect bullseye, of course).

These days Maisie is still acting, starring in Sky's Two Weeks to Live back in 2020. Plus she recently launched a business - a platform called Daisie which helps connect people in creative industries.

Series 1 sansa was a very different person to season 8 Sansa. You'd even be forgiven for finding early Sansa slightly annoying, but that changed pretty quickly and soon she was the Sansa that locked Ramsay Bolton in the dungeons with his own hounds. That Sansa.

Luckily for us Sophie and husband Joe Jonas keep us pretty up to date with their lives on Instagram. Plus, they just welcomed their first child together: a baby girl called Willa.

Who could have imagined that the Daenerys of episode one, for whom we felt endless sympathy, would end up being, well, a bit of a tyrant actually.

Emilia's career went from strength to strength after GOT ended when she starred in Netflix's much-loved film Last Christmas in 2019. She's also an active philanthropist and campaigner.

Baby-faced idealist Jon Snow spends most of the first episode practicing his sword fighting and preparing to travel to join the Night's Watch. The only slight hint that he might turn out to be someone comes when he names his rescued wolf Ghost. A sign of things to come...

Kit is a bit of a household name these days, although aside from a part in the second series of Netflix's Criminal he has mainly been busy getting married to co-star Rose Leslie and bringing up their first child together.

Robb was introduced to us as the next Lord of Winterfell with a bright future ahead of him. Sadly, we all know how that turned out...

Since his breakout role in GOT Madden it the big time, starring in Elton John biopic Rocketman as well as war epic 1917. And, obviously, as us Line of Duty fans know (of course we're all LOD fans), he played the all-important David in Jed Mercurio's Bodyguard.

Sean Bean aka Lord Eddard 'Ned' Stark was in just nine of the 73 episodes of Game of Thrones, and yet somehow he managed to have a huge and unending impact on the entire show. Ned Stark, Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones, Ned Stark - the two are inherently linked.

Although his role as Ned Stark didn't help his reputation for playing characters who die early on, Sean Bean was a big deal before GOT and he carried on being one after the fact. He even starred in Medici along with none other Richard Madden. A little Stark reunion.

Episode one wasn't kind to Bran. Not only did all his siblings mug him off in his archery lesson, but the pilot ended with Jamie Lannister pushing him out of a window.

Isaac Hemptead Wright was just 12 when he starred in his breakout role as Bran, and of course he became a crucial part of the show. After GOT ended Isaac headed to University to study neuroscience.

We all loved Catelyn and her glorious hair, but episode one revealed some tensions between her and Jon Snow that we did not love. Can't we all just get along?

Michelle Fairley is a huge acting success. She recently starred in Sky's crime drama Gangs of London a along with Fortitude and the Philippa Gregory TV adaptation The White Princess.

After people got over the fact that Theon was played by Lily Allen's brother Alfie Allen they realised that actually he's a pretty great actor, who took his character on a whirlwind journey.

Allen has since starred in the TV adaptation of Caitlin Moran's How to Build a Girl, Harlots and The Murders at White House Farm.

Robert Baratheon was the classic overindulgent king with the heart of gold always carrying a goblet full of wine. He was best friends with Ned Stark and was totally resigned to the fact that his wife was shagging her own brother. Ew.

Mark Addy is a pretty recognisable face in British cinema, thanks to his role in the iconic The Full Monty. Recently you'll have seen him in The Murders at White House Farm along with The Salisbury Poisonings.

We all had no idea just how wild Cersei's story would get. It wouldn't take long before the incest seemed like a very minor part of her history.

Headey received a whole load of awards and nominations for her role as Cersei Lannister, and rightly so, but the fans weren't too pleased with the conclusion to her story (the less said about the final episode the better). Headey is still a huge deal in the acting world, as well as being a an activist and campaigner.

HOW exactly this man managed to win viewers round despite the fact episode one saw him cracking on with his sister and trying to kill a ten-year old is beyond me. And yet, here we are.

Coster-Waldau has taken on a number of acting projects and humanitarian causes since GOT ended. He's also continued being very, very suave.

Despite being truly and excellently evil even from episode one, Joffrey managed to make it all the way to season 2 before somebody slapped him (shout out to Tyrion). He will forever go down as one of the best baddies on TV, and a great source of memes.

After leaving GOT at the age of 21 Gleeson decided to take a break from acting, telling EW, "I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to." Since then, he starred in two episodes of BBC comedy Out of Her Mind.

Tyrion was a legend from the off. With some of the best lines in all eight seasons of the show, he quickly became every viewers favourite character.

Recently you'll have seen Dinklage in I Care a Lot, the dark comedy starring Rosamund Pike. According to IMDb he's also got a million projects coming up in 2022.

A man of few words, Khal Drogo did not get off to the best start. We first met him when (nobody's favourite) Viserys arranged for Drogo to marry his sister Daenerys in exchange for Dothraki armies.

Jason Momoa has starred in a number of big roles over the years, from Aquaman to Frontier. He's also married to stunning legend (official title, I think?) Lisa Bonet.

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