Game of Thrones is one of those shows that uses the concept of a severed head very liberally. You see them often, so when a scene calls for multiple heads on spikes it might be difficult for the production crew to whip out a new head. So sometimes they redress one that they have lying around the offices.

Normally that just becomes a fun little anecdote that gets shared on a DVD commentary, but in this case it becomes an overblown semi-crisis when one of those heads happens to strongly resemble that of a recent US President.

Deadline has been following this bizarre story, which now includes an official HBO apology:

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.

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, creators of the hit series, say the head was not meant as a political statement, but rather the product of a production crew scrapping the bottom of the severed head barrel towards the end of production. Considering this story only found the light of day due to their own words in the DVD commentary of the episode, it’s probably a true origin.

So there you have it, better go out and pick up the first printing of those Game of Thrones season one DVDs and Blu-Rays before they re-release the sets sans Dubbya’s severed noggin. The long, slow wait for season three continues.

This summer may have 90% of fantasy audiences salivating at a brand new theatrical blockbuster every weekend, but there is one epic story that we can’t wait to happen, and it’s on HBO. We’re talking, of course, about this April’s upcoming serialized adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Son of Fire and Ice fantasy novels, now simply called Game of Thrones.

The adaptation looks to borrow some visuals from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, while bringing new lift to Martin’s world of magic and Medieval politics. David Benioff, who helped bring the books to the screen, jokingly referred the adaptation to “The Sopranos in Middle-Earth.”

Needless to say, it’s already drawing some pretty big attention.

The series begins on April 17th, only a few weeks away, but HBO has graciously brought us the first 15 minutes of the pilot, in which we get fully inundated in Martin and Benioff’s world of kings and magic. Take a look at the sneak preview after the jump.