Game of Thrones may not have ended the way fans were hoping but it's hard to deny that it astounded viewers with several memorable battle sequences. Although the fantasy series would be known for its huge battles in the later seasons, it all started with Season 2's impressive Battle of Blackwater. But did you know the jaw-dropping sequence almost didn't happen? Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have just revealed that they had to beg HBO to let them orchestrate the epic battle.
Vanity Fair has just published an excerpt from Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, a book by James Hibberd that chronicles the show's history. In the excerpt, Benioff and Weiss revealed that HBO thought that the battle in the second season would be too expensive to accomplish and proposed other options. However, the showrunners reached out to then-programming president Michael Lombardo in an effort to bring the Battle of Blackwater to life.
"We begged and pleaded with Mike Lombardo. We were negotiating. We had a big conversation about how many boats could we do," Weiss said.
This wasn't the only obstacle that Blackwater had to face. Although they were eventually given the budget for the battle, the original director of the episode didn't think it would be impossible to pull off. Interestingly, the unnamed director had to bow out of the project and would be replaced by Neil Marshall, who took the challenge head-on.
It's interesting how Game of Thrones initially struggled to bring some of its iconic scenes to life. Nevertheless, it is a relief to know that the showrunners stood their ground with Blackwater and produced one of the best battle sequences in television history.
Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon will be released on October 6.
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