Game of Thrones director spills secrets from record-breaking scene

The Spoils of War was one of the most explosive scenes from the most recent season of Game of Thrones.

It was one of the most explosive scenes from the latest season of Game of Thrones: Daenerys Targaryen leading her army and dragon to rain down fiery hell upon the Lannister and Tarly armies.

"The Spoils Of War" episode in season seven saw Emilia Clarke's character come face-to-face with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's Jaime Lannister, who went on to kill her dragon, Drogon.

In a new interview with GoldDerby, director Matt Shakman revealed how it all came together — including dealing with the insane secrecy surrounding the plot.

"They make you sign all these NDAs before you get your script. Then they deliver the scripts to you and it's like Christmas morning," he told the publication, adding that he hadn't quite realised the scale of what he was dealing with.

"So I'm reading through [the script] and I get to the 'loot train battle'. I'm flipping page after page after page, and it's still going on.

"I began to realise the task that was ahead of me and also the opportunity. As a director, you live for the opportunity to work on that level and that scale. But also you're bringing this big action sequence to life that has all these wonderful characters that you've loved for years coming together for the first time."

The episode earned Shakman a Director's Guild Awards nomination, and inadvertently set a record for the most stuntmen ever set on fire.

At one point, 20 people were on fire at the same time, with 73 men set alight in total during filming.

"We didn't set out to break a record. It sort of just happened," Shakman said.

"A battle like that, especially when you have a big visual effects dragon, can quickly become something that feels unreal. I wanted it to always feel particularly visceral. People on fire — there's nothing more visceral than that. It also is one of the most dangerous stunts you can do."

While he wasn't called on to direct any episodes in the eighth and final season, Shakman revealed that he has been told "bits and pieces" of the plot.

Game of Thrones season eight is expected to premiere sometime in early to mid-2019.