HBO's first mixed reality experience, brought into the real world

The Dead Must Die is a location-based mixed reality experience created in partnership with HBO and AT&T, produced by Framestore, and creative directed from within the Magic Leap Experience Team. It was HBO's first collaboration with Magic Leap — and one of the most ambitious spatial computing activations of its time. Installed across AT&T flagship stores in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas, the experience placed members of the public inside the world of Game of Thrones for the first time, face-to-face with a White Walker in a fully realized physical and digital environment. Winner of the AEAF Award for Augmented Reality, 2019.

02 — The Installation

A retail environment transformed into King's Landing

Each AT&T flagship store was transformed into a dedicated pop-up installation — a physical set built from faux stone walls, wooden crates, stacked logs, and practical animatronic elements including a partially dismembered figure adding atmosphere before the headset was even on. The set was designed to establish presence and narrative context the moment a participant walked in, priming them for the mixed reality encounter ahead. The experience was open to the public, requiring no prior knowledge of Magic Leap, and introduced thousands of first-time AR users to spatial computing through the lens of one of the world's most recognized cultural properties.

AT&T flagship store installation — dedicated pop-up booth with full physical set dressing

Three-walled enclosure with practical animatronic elements visible within the set

03 — Physical Meets Digital

Synchronized scenic elements that blur the line between real and mixed reality

Once in the headset, the experience used spatial mapping to anchor digital content precisely to the physical environment. Participants were prompted to look at a set of golden rings around their play space, staring until they froze with ice — a spatial calibration mechanic that doubled as a narrative ritual. They then chose which wall the portal to the North would open on, before watching it freeze over, crack, and give way. An AR torch appeared in midair. A wooden crate began to rock. A White Walker burst through. The interplay between practical set elements and digital content was tightly choreographed — the physical crates, the animatronic, and the AR characters operating as a single synchronized environment rather than separate layers.

Magic Leap One headset, Dragonglass dagger prop, and the encounter crate — physical elements integrated into the mixed reality experience

04 — Recognition

AEAF Award — Augmented Reality, 2019

The Dead Must Die received the AEAF Award for Augmented Reality in 2019. Its release coincided with the final season of Game of Thrones — one of the most watched cultural events in television history — and the public launch of Magic Leap One. Installed in AT&T flagship stores nationwide, it offered many people their first glimpse of what spatial computing could be.