Game of Thrones is sparing no expense for the final season with a recent battle scene reportedly taking 55 days to film…
If there’s any doubt about just how much is going into the final season of Game of Thrones, look no further than the ambitious battle scene that reportedly just wrapped up filming in three separate locations around Northern Ireland.
Thanks to a post from assistant director Jonathan Quinlan (that was later deleted), a thank you note was sent out to the cast and crew on Game of Thrones after spending 55 days shooting a single battle scene for the final season of the series.
You read that right — 55 days on a single battle scene.
This is for the Night Dragons.
For enduring 55 straight nights. For enduring the cold, the show, the rain, the mud, the sheep sh*t of Toome and the winds of Magheramorne.
When tens of millions of people around the world watch this episode a year from now, they won’t know how hard you worked. The won’t care how tired you were or how tough it was to do your job in sub-freezing temperatures.
They’ll just understand that they’re watching something that’s never been done before.
And that’s because of you.
Now long production schedules for a major Game of Thrones battle scene isn’t that unusual. For the episode ‘Battle of the Bastards’ shoot as well as the Loot Train shoot last season, Game of Thrones spent over 20 days filming the scenes necessary to get all the shots needed for final production.
That means this latest shoot more than doubles that, which will likely go down as the longest and most arduous shooting schedule for any single scene in television history.
Back in February, art director Deborah Riley teased about an upcoming episode that would be filming in March that would be one of the biggest in the history of the show with director Miguel Sapochnik leading the way. Sapochnik also directed the ‘Battle of the Bastards’ episode and ‘The Winds of Winter’ season finale back in season as well as the infamous ‘Hardhome’ episode where Jon Snow battled the army of the dead for the first time back in season 5.
Now as far as what was being shot for 55 days, we can only speculate but possible spoilers exist below so be forewarned…
The two major sets where the Game of Thrones battle scene was being shot were in Toome and Magheramorne in Northern Ireland, which have previously been used when shooting scenes in Winterfell — the home of House Stark in the North.
Speculation is that this ambitious 55 day shoot could have been revolving around the Night King’s army invading the home of the North and the epic and bloody battle that pit the army of the dead against the combined forces of all the soldiers in the North.
Of course we won’t know anything for certain until Game of Thrones airs next year but it’s likely this 55 day shoot had something to do with the White Walkers’ invasion of Westeros. Considering that Miguel Sapochnik might be the man in charge of directing this ambitious shoot, it once again leads me to believe he’s taking on the final White Walker battle for the last season.
The final season of Game of Thrones is expected to continue production through the spring and then wrap up around June with the show then airing on HBO for six episodes in 2019.
