Production
Writing
"The Spoils of War" was written by the series' creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The episode is the series' shortest episode to date. [3] In the "Inside the Episode" featurette published by HBO following the airing of the episode, David Benioff spoke about the inspiration for the return of Arya Stark to Winterfell, saying it was inspired by Odysseus's return, who is also unrecognizable after making his journey. [4] Benioff also stated that the important part of her return to Winterfell is her relationship with Sansa Stark, with Weiss following up by stating that the intention of the scene in the crypts where they are reunited was to "lay down the beginnings of the storyline where Sansa realizes what Arya is now." [5]
Speaking about the revelation of the cave drawings with the Children of the Forest and the First Men, Benioff stated that the inspiration for the drawings were the cave paintings created by prehistoric men that were found in France, and that the scene was meant to be evocative in noting the thousands of years that have passed since the drawings were created. [4]
In writing the battle between the Lannister army, and Daenerys' Dothraki and Drogon, Weiss stated that one of the most exciting elements of the fight involved the fact that two main characters were on opposite sides of the battlefield, and that it is "impossible to really want any one of them to win, and impossible to want any one of them to lose," according to Weiss. [6] He also compared the introduction of a dragon in medieval warfare to using an F-16 fighter aircraft in a medieval battle. [4] According to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly following the airing of the episode, the script stated that "One of our main characters is about to die." Coster-Waldau also stated about his character, "Jaime is such an idiot that he thinks for a second, 'If I can do this, I can win the whole thing in a 'Hail Mary.'" [7]
Casting
In addition to the regular recurring guest cast, Major League Baseball player Noah Syndergaard, then a pitcher for the New York Mets, made a brief uncredited cameo appearance as a spear-throwing Lannister soldier during the battle between Lannister and Tarly forces and Daenerys Targaryen and the Dothraki. [8] In an interview prior to the season conducted by Sports Illustrated , Syndergaard spoke about his appearance in the series by saying "It's a dream come true. I think it’s the greatest TV show of all time, so just to be able to say I was in Game of Thrones is an unbelievable feeling." [8]
Filming
"The Spoils of War" was directed by Matt Shakman. This was Shakman's first episode of Game of Thrones, but he had previously served as a director for several other television series, including Fargo , The Good Wife , Mad Men and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , among others. [9] The battle sequence at the conclusion of the episode, which was nicknamed "The Loot Train Attack" by HBO, [10] set an industry record for the most stuntmen set on fire, with real fire being used, rather than special effects, to simulate the dragon fire being emitted by Drogon. There were 73 "fire burns," in addition to 20 people being set on fire for a single shot. [7] Filming of the attack sequence took approximately 18 main-unit days, five second-unit days, and several weeks for the effects-unit. [11] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , Shakman spoke about the first time he read the script of the battle, saying "I was reading the script and this battle began and I kept turning pages and the battle kept going on page after page after page! The excitement, the stress and the fear all built at the same time, mirroring probably what was happening on screen. It was a huge opportunity and a challenge. I spent the better part of six months working on that one sequence." [12] The "Loot Train Attack" was filmed in Los Barruecos, [13] Province of Cáceres, Spain, and Emilia Clarke, who portrays Daenerys Targaryen, was filmed riding a motion base on a stage in Belfast in front of several green screens. [10] Joseph Quinn booked the part of Koner, one of the two guards, alongside Danny Kirrane's Henk, who mistakes the returning Arya Stark for a miscreant, with Quinn and Kirrane filming their part on set in a rainy Belfast. [14]
Shakman's first step in directing the battle was choosing to focus on a specific perspective, with Shakman choosing Jaime as the main point of view, noting "To see it from a traditional fighter like Jaime to see what happens when you introduce something like napalm or the atom bomb into battle and all of a sudden traditional fighting goes out the window." [12] Shakman also noted that Tyrion was another important perspective for the battle, as he watches from afar, saying "We talked through every beat of what he was seeing, and then he imagined that in his mind and brought it to life. He's the human intermediary there to see the battle through." Shakman filmed Peter Dinklage as Tyrion about a mile from the battlefield, and most of his shots involved "staring at lots of different tennis balls" for eye line. [15] Shakman drew inspiration for the direction of the sequence from Miguel Sapochnik, who directed the sixth season episode "Battle of the Bastards", and Neil Marshall, who directed the second season episode "Blackwater", as well as the battles in Apocalypse Now , Saving Private Ryan and Stagecoach . [12] Shakman also revealed that he used the volcanic destruction of Pompeii as a reference, which led to the idea of some of the army being turned to ash. [11]
For the beginning of the "Loot Train Attack," with the Dothraki approaching, Shakman stated that he wanted it to feel like a Western, saying in the interview, "I wanted that feeling of a Western — this savage attack coming at this more formalized line of men, that tension of circling the wagons and trying to protect them from the chaos and the onslaught." [12] Shakman worked with the horse mistress, Camilla Naprous, [10] in order to show the Dothraki's mastery at horse riding, which included standing on the horse's saddles while shooting arrows. [12] In order to accomplish this stunt, Naprous built what was referred to as a "metal shoe" that allowed the stunt performers to stand on the horses. The sequence continues with Drogon attacking the Lannister and Tarly armies, with special effects supervisor Joe Bauer noting that the number of shots of Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen riding Drogon increased significantly, with the entirety of the sixth season having eleven shots, while "The Spoils of War" alone had over 80 shots. As the stunt performers were lit on fire, they were required to hold their breath until the fire was put out, and specific attention was given to stunt performers in the middle of the shot, as they faced the brunt of the heat from the fire. [10] Shakman also spoke about the difficulty in shooting the dragon sequence and the safety of the performers, saying "The most difficult was safety because you're dealing with fire, horses and actors — and those things don't do well in close proximity yet the nature of it was to create this Bosch-like nightmare where, as the scene progresses, it becomes increasingly like you're in the pit of hell. That was difficult." [12]
Robert McLachlan who served as cinematographer for the episode, and previously was cinematographer for episodes including "The Rains of Castamere" and "The Dance of Dragons" in the show's third and fifth seasons respectively, was also interviewed about the process of creating the "Loot Train Attack." In an interview conducted by The Verge , McLachlan revealed that the production team received the script for the episode more than a year in advance. Several cameras were used to capture the "Loot Train Attack," including a small handheld camera known as an Osmo, which "allowed a horseman to get shots while riding a horse at a full gallop through the cavalry charge," as well as a "custom-built miniature helicopter drone" for the "overhead dragon shots." A cable-cam was also used, which made several passes over the battlefield during the course of filming. Going into filming, one of McLachlan's most desired effects was the amount of smoke on the battlefield, saying "we wanted to block the sun out so the shots would have some consistency. And I knew the fire and smoke would be incredibly beautiful." White smoke was used towards the beginning of filming, but as the battle went on, McLachlan decided to switch to black smoke, which was accomplished through burning diesel oil. This caused the crew to be required to wear masks and goggles, and raised concern for HBO's safety officer, who eventually prohibited further use of the black smoke due to health and safety concerns. Additional smoke was added later by the special effects team. [16]
The number of extras that were utilized for filming the "Loot Train Attack" began with more than 600 extras, and gradually decreased as the weeks of filming went on, with 400 extras returning the following week, and ultimately concluded with approximately 100 extras, according to McLachlan. McLachlan also discussed the "oner" featuring Bronn, which he described as a single shot that "runs for as long as possible," revealing that the sequence was actually three shots that were stitched together by the special effects team, led by VFX supervisor Joe Bauer. He continued by revealing that the entire "oner" Bronn sequence was accomplished in only three takes. [16]
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sophie Turner, who portrays Sansa Stark, spoke about filming the reunion scene with Maisie Williams, who portrays Arya Stark. Turner stated that the two kept laughing during the filming of the scene, and that they couldn't "keep a straight face". She continued, "Our relationship is so close, but it's only that fun side, never the business side. I was nervous. It just terrified me. It's like performing for your mum. When somebody is watching you don't do it quite as well." Williams also spoke about the scene, saying, "It was the weirdest thing when we shot our first scene together. We were both embarrassed to do our thing in front of each other. It took a few hours for us to get serious and actually do it. Later it was fine on set and we could concentrate, but it was so hard to get into character with Sophie in front of me." [17] Shakman also spoke about the reunion in a separate interview, saying, "It was fun for them, it was fun for us to see them work together, and same with Isaac when they all got together. They're all terrific, and they're amazing actors, and it was fun to see them come together now as adults and navigate these much more complicated scenes than they had to do with each other years ago." [15]
