In the interview with Dr. Theresa Specht (project B04) Professor Carolyne Larrington (St. John’s College, Oxford University) talks about Game of Thrones (GoT) as popular neomedieval fantasy fiction, the reception of Norse Myths and their fusion with popular discourses in nowadays popular culture. Besides the adaption and transformation of the Middle Ages in the series, Prof. Larrington explains what influence popularity has on the production of the series as well as on the search for ‘the next Game of Thrones’. Referring to the film The Northman (2022) and the TV series Vikings () the talk enlarges on the pressure that academia faces to engage with the popular and the involvement of its expertise in the production of popular artefacts, such as films or series.