Dany’s Ride or Die Moment: How the Show Pulled It Off

It was the fiery counter-balance to last week’s icy battle north of the Wall—with Dany and her compatriots under threat and the odds of survival low, Drogon, the draco ex machina, swooped in like a flamethrower from heaven and smote the Harpies with fire. It was a scene book-readers have been expecting ever since A Dance with Dragons was released. And initially, the producers had no idea how the heck they were going to pull it off.

Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Benioff admitted they were a little dumbfounded when it came time to adapt the scene:

“I remember calling George and saying, first of all, congratulations, that scene’s incredible. Second, I have no idea how we’re ever going to put that on screen. And he kind of laughed. Until this year, I thought it was a scene that we couldn’t afford. Every time you see a dragon on the show, it’s incredibly expensive. This season is more dragon-heavy than any we’ve done before, and how they interact with people. The scene has 500 extras, it’s got people burning, Dany flying away—all things that are really hard to do.”

Part of the issue is that Benioff and Weiss hold themselves and the show to a very high standard. The reason that many early battles were cut, or reduced, was because they couldn’t have pulled them off effectively with the budget they had, and they weren’t going to go out there and do it if they couldn’t do it well.

This scene, in combination with last week’s Hardhome massacre, were both huge productions, and HBO loosened the purse strings a little for the occasion. Finally, Benioff and Weiss had the money to bring these moments to life, something that didn’t escape the notice of Kit Harington, who also spoke to EW:

 “What was different this year was: before, I’d hear, ‘Do we have the money to do that?’ and someone would say ‘no’…This year it was, ‘Do we have the money to do that?’ and somebody would say ‘yeah.’ And that was the big change. I think [HBO] realized to keep people engaged with this show, the big setpieces have to be bigger than the ones before.” 

As obsessive fans know, the fighting pit sequence was shot in the outdoor arena of Osuna’s Plaza de Toros, which meant it was nearly impossible to keep what was happening a secret, especially with 500+ extras. Over the course of a few days, pictures leaked out, not just of Tyrion and Dany seated together in the royal box and of Jorah fighting for his life, but of the special effects team setting stunt specialists on fire (the video has been long since taken down), plus pictures of chaos in Daznak’s Pit.

Still, the one thing the show did keep under wraps was Dany climbing on the back of Drogon and flying away. That was done in the studio, in which Emilia Clarke rode “a mechanical device.” “It’s green and shaped like a dragon’s back on hydraulics. It looks like a ninja turtle!” she said.

Don’t let Drogon hear you say that. Just because you’re his mother doesn’t mean he’s going to take kindly to insults.

• Published on 06/08/2015 at 4:30 PM CDT
• Last updated on 06/08/2015 at 4:30 PM CDT