HBO has released the storyboard for the scene from “Dragonstone” where Bran Stark and Meera Reed arrive at the Wall. Gone are the days of watching are favorite characters traverse vast distances — Bran and Meera simply showed up outside the tunnel, met new Lord Commander Dolorous Edd, and filed on inside. However, the storyboard shows that, as originally imagined, the scene was slightly different. Take a look.
Okay, so that part isn’t that different. But stick with us.
Well, that’s actually exactly the same as what ended up on screen. But your patience is about to be rewarded.
We see Edd take a look north before heading for Castle Black in the episode, but he doesn’t duck under the gate as it closes, and I didn’t get the impression there was a huge storm on the horizon, either. Of course, the scene preceding this one — Bran’s vision — included a storm, one created by the Night King. Perhaps the producers didn’t want to give the impression that the army of the dead was closer to the Wall than it actually was.
Elsewhere, we have the first official “Beautiful Death” poster of the season. Every episode, HBO commissions artist Robert Ball to produce a poster that represents a character’s (or characters’) death. For “Dragonstone,” it’s all about the destruction of House Frey as brought on by young Arya Stark. Behold this beauty.
We look forward to more of Ball’s work through the season. As long as it doesn’t involve any direwolf.
