Game of Thrones gave viewers a huge and harrowing end to the Night King (played by Vladimir Furdik) earlier this year.
After threatening to arrive on the doorstep of Westeros for years, he finally did, and attempted to claim Winterfell first.
However, just as he was about to claim the life of Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) he was stopped by Arya Stark (Maisie Williams).
Despite fans being utterly shocked by the reveal that Arya was the one to finally kill the Night King, it was not a complete secret.
Speaking on a new Game of Thrones featurette titled The Final Season, David Benioff spoke about the journey Arya has taken throughout the show.
Speaking about her battle with the wights leading up to the death of the Night King, he explained: “Arya has become an incredibly skilled fighter.
“She’s a better fighter than almost all of her opponents – her intelligence and her skills…”
However he then went on to reveal exactly how long he had known Arya was going to become the saviour of Westeros.
He announced: “It’s been probably three years now since we’ve known it was Arya who was going to deliver that fatal blow.”
Three years ago was in the midst of season six, which focussed mainly on Arya training with the Faceless Men in Braavos.
As her skills developed throughout the show and narrative, could this have been the turning point for her character?
Recently director of the show Miguel Sapochnik spoke to IndieWire about the show’s final battle – the Battle for Winterfell.
During the interview he admitted to wanting to kill off a number of characters – but wasn’t allowed.
He explained: “I wanted to kill everyone. I wanted to kill Jorah in the horse charge at the beginning.
“I was up for killing absolutely everyone. I wanted it to be ruthless, so that in the first 10 minutes you say: ‘All bets are off. Anyone could die.’”
However, it didn’t seem as if he was allowed, as the show’s creators, David Benioff and DB Weiss stopped him.
Miguel continued: “David and Dan didn’t want to. There was a lot of back-and-forth on that.
“With credit to them, they let me engage early. It was a sustained engagement.
“I got to really question and argue with them, and I’ve learned with them when to stop arguing because there comes a point when they dig in and you just don’t want to be there.”
Luckily for fans, they did, otherwise viewers would have seen a lot more casualties in the final episodes of the show.
Game of Thrones: the final season is available on digital download now.
