With tens of millions of viewers each week, HBO’s award-winning series “Game of Thrones” features characters and themes that have become cultural touchstones.

Alyssa Beall at West Virginia University’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is available to comment on how the show, which will end this weekend, intersects her fields of study. Beall is a teaching assistant professor of religious studies and philosophy and a faculty associate in women's and gender studies.

“‘Game of Thrones’ allows us to explore the implications of different religious, cultural and moral systems, and how those systems are actually practiced within the ‘world’ of the show," Beall says. "Two people can say they believe in the same religious system, yet we see quite different outcomes in terms of how those people practice their beliefs and how they act on a daily basis. We don’t have to match up the show’s religions with religions that are practiced around our world today. Instead, we can look more broadly at how religion impacts people’s ethical ideas, and how the show’s different religious and ethical systems—the Faith of the Seven, the Old Gods, the Drowned God, the Lord of Light—interact with each other.”

Alyssa Beall can be reached at [email protected] or 304.293.3641.

Note: Additional WVU scholars are available for comment on "Game of Thrones."