'Westworld's Jonathan Nolan talks the meta 'Game of Thrones' cameo in the show's latest episode

Westworld went full HBO brand meta-synergy in the latest episode of the sci-fi series' third season.

Some spoilers lie ahead for those who have not yet seen season three, episode two The Winter Line...

Airing last night in the US, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, creators of HBO's Game of Thrones, made a surprise cameo in the show.

And it was pretty weird.

In a scene set at the central hub of Delos, the company behind Westworld and its other animatronic parks, we see the pair dressed as technicians.

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They're discussing something off-screen - we presume is one of the park's robots - which Weiss says they have 'a buyer' for, 'some start-up in Costa Rica', he adds.

“How the f**k are you gonna get that to Costa Rica?” asks Benioff, feet on a table.

“In pieces, man,” Weiss replies, as he advances towards an actual robot version of Drogon, one of the dragons from Game of Thrones, with a large cutting device.

Speaking to Insider, Nolan said: “We are both fans of and friends with Dan and David We had this goofy idea that we would pay homage to their staggeringly beautiful and ambitious show - the show that paved the way for us to be making Westworld with the same kind of ambition and production value. They kind of invented this genre of TV. And they're lovely guys.

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“So we pitched them this goofy idea, and they were kind enough to come and hang out on our set for one night and bring their oversized, fire-breathing friend with them.”

Nolan also added that ‘George R.R. Martin — who we also know, and is a lovely person — frequently pitched the crossover of a 'Westeros World' episode’, so here it is. Kind of.

Mind you, there were some mixed feelings about it...

And of course, some folks took the reference to the natural next level...

Erm... no, not really.

Prior to the pair's cameo, Westworld characters Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) are discussing the Westworld's 'park four', which is thought could be a fantasy-based world.

The reference runs deeper still, with the mention of Costa Rica.

Nolan also goes on to tell Insider that they've long discussed a potential reference to Jurassic Park in the show, due to its connection to JP author Michael Crichton.

Crichton also wrote and directed the 1973 movie Westworld, on which the HBO series is based, and as we know, Isla Nublar, the site of Jurassic Park, is off the coast of Costa Rica.

“I was of the theory that the lovely people at NBC Universal probably had a lawyer sitting and watching every episode, waiting for the dinosaur, so they could make a friendly phone call to tell us to cease and desist,” Nolan added.

“So we found a way to blend those two pitches into one ridiculous moment in our series.”

Westworld continues on Sky Atlantic.