The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Actors Have Divulged What It Was Like To Film The Episode-Length Battle & It Sounds Intense AF
We’re all waiting desperately for the final season of Game of Thrones and there’s one thing we know for sure: the episode dedicated to the battle is going to be extremely intense.
We already know that there’s going to be one full-length episode dedicated to the battle against the White Walkers and the actors have now spoken out about what it was like to film the gruelling scenes. EW went behind the scenes of the show and delivered all the inside details for us.
Here’s what’s been said about the GoT Season 8 battle:
1. The episode required 11 weeks of filming “gruelling” night scenes.
Up to 750 people worked all night long in freezing conditions to create the brutal battle.
2. Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) said there were moments they were all left feeling broken.
“It’s night after night, and again and again, and it just doesn’t stop. You can’t get sick, and you have to look out for yourself because there’s so much to do that nobody else can do… there are moments you’re just broken as a human and just want to cry.”
3. Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont) and Rory McCann (The Hound) backed these claims up.
“You have no life outside it. You have an absolute fucked bunch of actors,” Glen said, while McCann stated, “everybody prays they never have to do this again.”
4. An actress collapsed on set during filming.
While it wasn’t during a fight scene, the unnamed actress fainted and was sent home early but returned to work the next day.
5. Filming wasn’t always meant to be so gruelling but director Miguel Sapochnik realised they’d lose what made the show so special if they didn’t push themselves that extra step.
“We built this massive new part of Winterfell and basically broke it down into so many pieces it would be shot like a Marvel movie, with never any flow or improvisation,” he said. “But I turned to the producers and said, ‘I don’t want to do 11 weeks of night shoots and no one else does. But if we don’t we’re going to lose what makes Game of Thrones cool and that is that it feels real.’”
You can read the full EW feature here.
The final season of Game of Thrones premieres on April 14.