GAME OF THRONES Releases "Battle of The Bastards" Trailer, Teases The Largest Battle in TV History
I don't normally write about trailers for upcoming episodes of Game of Thrones, but this one's worth breaking that tradition. After a decent but not great episode last night, HBO released a trailer for next week's episode 9, entitled "The Battle of The Bastards." This is a notable episode because A) it's going to be directed by Miguel Sapochnik, the same guy who directed last year's terrific "Hardhome," and B) because the show has teased that this is going to be the biggest battle television has ever seen.
The season has been leading to a confrontation between half-siblings Jon Snow & Sansa Stark and Ramsay Bolton, and it looks like we're going to see it play out next week in the most epic way possible. I'll admit: sometimes in scenes like this, my eyes can sort of glaze over because I just become numb to the carnage taking place on screen. The showrunners are aware of this, and they took steps to make sure it doesn't happen here. A few months ago, D.B. Weiss said:
“We wondered, ‘Why don’t you see more fully fleshed-out battles in movies and TV?’ Then you get into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to actually shoot these things in a way that isn’t just helter-skelter chaos but actually gives you a sense of battle geography and the ebb and flow, and you realize why.”
And David Benioff chimed in:
“Miguel did such a fantastic job with ‘Hardhome’ we thought we should bring him back – this time with horses,” Benioff said. “Horses are not easy, at all. And certainly in terms of numbers – number of extras, number of stuntmen, number of shooting days – it’s the biggest we’ve done.”
Game of Thrones airs Sunday nights at 9pm EST on HBO.