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One of the important characters in Game of Thrones is Tyrion Lannister acted by Peter Dinklage. He turned into a crucial role in the series. In the season 1 of the show, his name appears last after all the other characters like Ned Stark, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister but from season 2 to season 7, his name appears first even before Emilia Clarke (Daenerys) or Kit Harrington (Jon Snow) who have bigger roles i.e., competitors to the throne.

Following videos are opening credits of Game of Thrones . They contain spoilers for new locations and plot.

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

Generally, most important character names are given first in the titles in movies and TV shows. So, is this a hint that Tyrion is an important character than Cersei, Jaime, Jon Snow?

Why is his place in the order of characters changed to first even though there are other important characters than him? Is this a hint that his role has increased importance of his role from season 2? Or is there an out of universe reason for this? Is there a word from the directors or the producers regarding this?

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    He's likeable, he's a "bigger" actor than most of the others, GRRM really likes the character even dressing as him and saying Tyrion is part him. Nothing certain but they are potential reasons.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 9:11
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    ...or he has a better agent? ;)
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 9:13
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    Dinklage is first since Season 2 and his Golden Globe Award.
    – J M
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 9:46
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    Possible duplicate of What rules govern how TV show opening credits are structured?
    – Paulie_D
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 9:51
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    These same negotiations are the reason we have movie posters that show each character but the names at the top are in a totally different order. If I was a big star, my only negotiating point would be that the names line up...
    – JPhi1618
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 15:02

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From forbes by Carol Pinchefsky,

Note: I had wondered if Dinklage’s Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy award had anything to do with the position of his name on the credits. However, Elizabeth Moseley, the director of Theatrical & Television Contracts at SAG-AFTRA, told me that an award doesn’t guarantee top billing. Moseley said the credits are “negotiated between the performer or performer's representative and the producing company.”

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    That's kinda hilarious actually, that the credits screen is a monetary pissing-match between the cast members.
    – ViggyNash
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 16:14
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    This is why many movie posters have pictures of actors that seem to be misaligned with the printed names - the order of the names is determined by contracts with the actors, but the positions of the actors in the poster is chosen for artistic reasons. It still bugs me that, if you have 5 actors on a poster, left to right, and 5 names, left to right, they don't line up.
    – Gregor Thomas
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 20:34
  • @Gregor: For posters with 2 actors, I always though that the names were reversed so that you get all the casting information in one glimpse, either vertically or horizontally.
    – Eric Duminil
    Commented Jan 19, 2018 at 9:26
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    Also note that the most prominent spot for a name at the top of the poster is to the left, while the most prominent spot for an actor on the poster is in the middle. So if an actor (or their manager / attorney) has negotiated to be most prominent on promotion material, that means that by contract they must be in the middle of the poster with their name to the left.
    – Arthur
    Commented Jan 19, 2018 at 9:34
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    ...although his Emmy certainly gave Dinklage more leverage in any subsequent contract negotiations.
    – Deacon
    Commented Jan 19, 2018 at 13:43

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