While some of us will just have to agree to disagree with the direction Game of Thrones is headed on the story front, it's hard to deny how big of a spectacle this season has been. HBO finally brought us the dragon battles we've been begging for, and as the series careens toward the finish line, you can expect a hell of a lot more action.
WARNING: Game of Thrones spoilers will follow.
There were a number of notable moments in the latest episode, "Beyond the Wall," as Jon Snow and his motley crew of warriors struggled to survive while surrounded by a group of wights. They faced adversity prior to being stranded in the middle of a frozen lake, when a zombie bear (!!!) maimed and killed several members of their group. During a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Beyond the Wall," the HBO crew made it sound like that bear was a real point of contention with the staff.
"What we had to go through to get the zombie polar bear was writing the zombie polar bear into every season of the show for about four seasons," said writer D.B. Weiss. "Only to have Bernie [Caulfield] and the special effects guys tell us in the nicest possible way, 'Fuck you, we cannot afford a zombie polar bear.' This year made perfect sense that you could have one of these things out there, and we really put our four feet down, and we said, 'God damn it, we want our zombie polar bear.'"
His collaborator, David Benioff, confirmed how much of an issue this was with the staff of Game of Thrones. "We thought they'd be so excited to do a zombie bear, and it was kind of like, 'Oh my God, they're serious about doing this fucking zombie bear.'"
That's certainly the funniest reveal of the extended behind-the-scenes footage, and you can watch the two masterminds behind Thrones discuss that specific scene starting around the 3:55 mark up top. But the whole thing is worth your time if you have 13 minutes to spare, so try to find a break in your work day to see how everything came together.
