Every few years a show on HBO becomes a bonafide sensation, and is the quintessential water cooler for those with the premium network or have a Max subscription. Game of Thrones was definitely in that category, and its spinoff House of the Dragon has followed suit. While the final GOT season is somewhat controversial, the epic Battle of Winterfell in "The Long Night" was a thrilling episode of television. And Arya actress Maisie Williams shared the intense story about how they made that battle happen.
The Game of Thrones series finale didn't please everyone, with some fans feeling like the show should have ended with "The Long Night." Maisie Williams recently appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast, where she explained the logistical challenges of getting that battle sequences together...especially because it was alot of night shoots. As she offered:
So the prep on that was unbelievable. We had started filming in autumn, the year before. We got to that episode in, I think it was the February of the year after, and we shot for three months at night time... I mean, I'm saying ‘we,’ I was there for a handful of nights compared to the crew that literally went nocturnal for three months and didn't see any of their family or children. It was a lot. Working on that show required so much more than just the average job for them
Talk about dedication. While movie and TV sets are known for long hours, this is another level entirely. Namely because the crew was doing nothing but night shoots for months in order capture the violence and chaos of the Battle of Winterfell. At least actors had days off when they weren't needed!
There are a handful of Game of Thrones episodes which focus entirely on one epic battle, like the Battle of the Bastards or Battle for The Wall. But actually getting together these episodes are huge undertakings, as Williams shared:
So we did a lot of prep. There was this whole rendered version of the episode. And so we all have the script, and we all had this big meeting at the Winterfell Castle a couple of weekends in a row actually and they'd bring in all the different actors in at different points, and we just talked through the whole thing. And then we had a big map of the castle and where everyone is. It was kind of like a real battle. We had like, the little people, and Miguel, our incredible director, had it all in his mind. And so there would be a couple of weekends of these rehearsals. By the way, it's actually snowing at the time and, so it's freezing. We also have all the fake snow on the fake fire, and then they just broke it down into tiny little pieces. I had a couple of moments where I was working with Sophie, when we're standing and looking at the start of the battle and we're just looking out into darkness and kind of just messing around for the most part.
Is anyone else's head spinning? While "The Long Night" was a thrilling episode of television, when it aired fans complained it was too dark to see Jon Snow and all the rest of the cast. But despite that, months of hard work happened in order to bring the epic battle to life on the small screen. While appearing on the same podcast, Maisie reveals an injury she got while filming the Battle of Winterfell as Arya Stark. In her words:
And then there's a big fight thing that I do through one of the battlements. That was another bit. I twisted my ankle quite badly that day, because I had to run away and they had all these fake bodies on the ground and it's super dark, so I slipped on one of them. It happens.
Smart money says she wasn't the only one who got injured while filming "The Long Night." After all, there were a huge amount of background actors battling, using sharp weapons that are prone for human error. But in the end those efforts paid off, as it was arguably the most popular episode from GOT's final season.
Game of Thrones is streaming in its entirety on Max, and House of the Dragon is expected to return this summer. While we wait, check out the TV premiere list.
