'Game of Thrones': Jon Snow's death and Cersei's walk of shame explained

In “Inside the Episode,” the writers and directors reflect on the making of their Emmy-winning episodes.

David Nutter carried out many death sentences in the nine episodes of “Game of Thrones” that he directed.

He directed Season 3’s “The Rains of Castamere,” which is better known as the Red Wedding because it featured the bloody end of beloved characters Robb Stark (Richard Madden) and his mother, Catelyn (Michelle Fairley). He saw the child Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram) burned at the stake in Season 5’s “A Dance with Dragons,” and in Season 8, he had Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) beheaded as she uttered her final word: “dracarys.”“dragon fire” in High Valyrian or “burn it” in modern English).

But it's also notable for one character it didn't actually kill after all: Jon Snow, the man with a heart of gold played by Kit Harington. Though Jon appeared to have been defeated in a Julius Caesar-style mutiny in “Mother's Mercy,” the fifth season of the Emmy-winning HBO drama, the following season's premiere showed us that he was only nearly dead.

But Jon's stabbing is just one of many, many Things that happened in that action-packed 2015 episode. Other standout moments include Cersei's (Lena Headey) literal walk of shame; Arya (Maisie Williams) going blind because she misused a power; and Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Theon (Alfie Allen), two victims of abuse by the psychotic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), joining forces.

And since this is Game of Thrones, there were also plenty of character deaths.

Before leaving for his daughter's wedding earlier this summer, which he promised would be far more relaxed than anything he'd directed, Nutter spoke about making what became one of the most divisive episodes of prestige television.

What's the first thing you do when you watch an episode with so much going on?

Shout. (IOh!)

You know, it was the end of the season and it was my big chance to show what I have.

When Lena was six months pregnant, we had to do the walk of shame. So I had to find an actress who could do that walk of shame like her and have the same gravitas and weight. That was probably the hardest job I've ever had because I had to be a psychiatrist. I talked to all these actresses who auditioned for the role and I said, “Do you know that you could be trending on the Internet all over the world if someone takes a picture of you on the first day of shooting?”

Lena Headey had a body double who performed Cersei's walk of shame scene.

(HBO)

A lot of women auditioned on video and walked around naked. But there was one woman who auditioned on video and she did it in her underwear. But she had a fantastic head and shoulders, and Lena had a very similar personality. [look]And she was a great actress called Rebecca Van Cleave. She was from Virginia and she lived in London and she studied acting. She really wanted to be a good actress and she was phenomenal at it. I'll never forget it. There's a side shot where you can't even tell if it's Lena or Rebecca.

In that scene he also appears (fully dressed) Hannah Waddingham Like a religious fanatic, shouting “shame” while leading Cersei around town. She was then a stranger actorbut she would soon become a breakout star on Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.” Do you remember casting her?

[Creators] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] We chose her. We wanted someone who was imposing, and her presence was imposing. Her voice was strong.

There's also the big secret of Jon Snow's apparent murder. Did you know when you filmed this episode that he would be resurrected in the next season?

I never wanted to read beyond where I was in the story. Right after the season ended, there was a big political event with Barack Obama and we were at Chuck Lorre's house. Obama was a big “Game of Thrones” fan. I took a picture with Barack. He grabbed me and shook my hand, and put his [other] He put his hand on my shoulder and whispered, “You didn’t kill Jon Snow, did you?” I said, “Sir, he’s dead. He’s deader than dead.”

Did not knowing yourself make things easier for you as a director?

Yes, much easier.

You want to give it the seriousness it needs.

I also wanted to do it quickly and not make it a long, drawn-out thing. So I used a camera as he walks through the crowd… and then the last shot was of Jon Snow. [on the ground] with a [camera] I climbed onto a crane. I'd seen enough blood at the Red Wedding that this was almost peaceful.

The audience had questions about another death in this episode: Stannis Baratheon by Stephen DillaneThe audience sees him wounded after the battle., and Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) He raises his sword over his head as if he wanted to kill him once and for all, but we don't actually see the body. How did that shot occur?

That was David and Dan tightening the screws ever tighter.

There's also a death that sums up the show's spirit of having something good immediately followed by something really bad: Myrcella Baratheon (Nell Free Tiger) She dies poisoned after telling her uncle, Jaime Lannister (Nikoláj Coster-Waldau), that she knows he is her biological father and that it doesn't bother her.

This is a love scene between a daughter and a father. You know, “You sacrificed yourself.” [this family]. But everything you did had a purpose.” And then the daughter was willing to help her father in any way she could.

Indira Varma gives Ellaria Sand Myrcella Baratheon by Nell Tiger Free a fatal kiss.

(HBO)

Towards the end of the episode, we see Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) Slowly, and suddenly, she is surrounded by Dothraki warriors, members of her late husband's people. But neither she nor the audience are clear about whether they are happy to see her. How did she achieve this?

We wanted it to be something that evolved. She's on top of the hill and she sees a storm coming. It's almost like she's being enveloped. It's a Dothraki hurricane that she's in the middle of.

It was important to play at her level, as if they were almost in awe of her.