Game of Thrones show-runners break down the latest episode in new featurette

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

After spending two episodes setting the pieces in motion for the grand finale, Game of Thrones is ready to launch into an epic battle as the Night King and his horde of the undead have arrived at Winterfell. While we wait, why not take a look at a new featurette from HBO which dives into the events of the recent second episode of the eighth and final season, in which Game of Thrones show-runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss discuss Jon Snow (Kit Harington) revealing his true identity to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Jaime Lannister's (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) knighting of Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), the return of Theon (Alfie Allen), and Arya (Maisie Williams) and Gendry (Joe Dempsie) taking their relationship to the next level. It's a little bittersweet as this may be the last time we see some of these characters alive. It's time to face the end.

We've long heard that the inevitable clash between the Army of the Living and the Army of the Dead is expected to be the "most sustained action sequence ever made for television or film." According to Peter Dinklage, it will make "the Battle of the Bastards look like a theme park," but Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff is aware that throwing two armies at one another isn't the most compelling piece of entertainment so they made sure to give multiple characters their own survival storylines.

Having the largest battle doesn’t sound very exciting — it actually sounds pretty boring. Part of our challenge, and really, Miguel’s [Sapochnik] challenge, is how to keep that compelling… we’ve been building toward this since the very beginning, it’s the living against the dead, and you can’t do that in a 12-minute sequence.

The third episode of Game of Thrones' final season will air next Sunday on HBO.