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‘Game Of Thrones’: Behind The Scenes Of Episode 9, ‘The Battle Of The Bastards’ [Spoilers]

By Sahash Khanal
Published on: 07:09 PST, Jun 20, 2016

Games of Thrones has definitely fascinated us with incredibly grandeur episodes. And with last night’s episode, they have gone one better. Not only was the ninth episode of Season 6, titled “The Battle of the Bastards,” the most expensive episode in the show’s six-year history, fans will agree that it was also one of the best and most epic.

It was pretty clear from last week’s promo that the ninth episode would see everyone’s favorite bastard, Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington), face off against the most deplorable bastard in the seven kingdoms, Ramsay Bolton (played by Iwan Rheon). Aptly titled “Battle of the Bastards,” it was already clear right from the promo that this was going to be, at the least, the season’s most epic episode. And well, that it was. It also turned out to be one of the most epic episodes in the show’s entire history.

Although HBO hasn’t disclosed the development budget of the latest episode, we know that the budget for this season has been upped compared to the earlier seasons. Season 6 has a budget of around $10 million per episode, which is almost double the $6 million from earlier seasons. And most of this hike in the budget could be attributed to Episode 9.

The episode started off with not one, but all three of Daenerys’ dragons blazing hell fire on the masters’ fleet of ships. And as if that wasn’t already too much CGI (and subsequently too much of a hike in the development costs), the most epic scenes of the episode were still to come. Still, it was quite satisfying seeing Daenerys’ own the masters once and for all. Her role in the episode ended with the formation of a new alliance and an unlikely rapport with Yara.

And so began the premise to perhaps the most epic battle scene in TV history. One thing Game of Thrones has never had in the past was a proper battle scene. Battles in Game of Thrones have always had a preamble and a conclusion, but the actual battle in between was never portrayed in full. The latest episode, however, possibly makes up for all that. The production crew featured a whopping 600 crew members, including 500 extras, 70 horses and 25 stuntmen and women. And it took 4 different camera crews a total of 25 days to shoot the scene in all its glory. All this went into making perhaps the most expensive episode in television history. And what an episode it was too!

Wun Wun was extensively featured in the episode as well, and that must have required a lot of CGI in itself. His death brought an unlikely ache to all of us, but all was forgotten just moments later as the world rejoiced seeing Jon beat Ramsay to pulp. But, of course, the “bastard” wouldn’t get to go so easy. The epic conclusion to an epic episode saw Sansa confront her demons and close the chapter of Ramsay Snow once and for all, as he was fed to his own hounds.

The next episode, titled “The Winds of Winter,” is set to air on Sunday, June 26, at 9 p.m. ET. The official synopsis for the episode claims “Cersei faces her trial.”

[Image via HBO]

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