The HBO show will conclude next month but not before it offers up another six episodes packed full of action.
While of course Daenerys Targaryen’s (played by Emilia Clarke) dragons are not real, Game of Thrones tries to incorporate as much reality as possible into the visual effects.
Michelle Blok, who worked on the sixth and seventh series of the fantasy epic as Previs Supervisor has spilled some of the secrets behind the making of the show.
In particular, she touched upon how fans may be surprised to learn how many real elements are included in some of the epic scenes, including season six’s Second Siege of Meereen which saw a victory for Daenerys.
She told Express.co.uk: “I think people are surprised because you just assume it’s a big visual effects show, everything is visual effects.
“It is visual effects but not in a CG way. Joe Bauer, the VFX supervisor is always very adamant that to get to get something looking believable you have to incorporate real elements into what you shoot.
“So, if it’s like wights falling through the ice, that’s a relatively simple thing to do.
“Even big CG environments like when we were doing the Meereen battle, Meereen doesn’t exist in real life but we found places in Spain and Croatia, castles and bits of old wall that we could shoot.
“We’d go out and shoot them with drones and then we could incorporate them back into the shoots so you’d have some elements that were real.”
Season eight is certain to have some major conflict scenes as the White Walkers go southwards.
Fans are gearing up for the Battle of Winterfell which will see “an uneasy collection of allies against the Night King and his army”.
The instalment has been directed by Miguel Sapochnik who was also responsible for the Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards conflicts.
The director has revealed the “complicated” nature of putting together a scene with so many lead characters in it.
He told Entertainment Weekly: “The [GoT battles] I’ve done previously were generally from Jon’s perspective.
“Here I’ve got 20-some cast members and everyone would like it to be their scene.
“That’s complicated because I find the best battle sequences are when you have a strong point of view. I keep thinking: ‘Whose story am I telling right now?’”
Meanwhile, Game of Thrones’ co-executive producer Bryan Cogman revealed: “What we have asked the production team and crew to do this year truly has never been done in television or in a movie.”
He continued: “This final face-off between the Army of the Dead and the army of the living is completely unprecedented and relentless and a mixture of genres even within the battle.
“There are sequences built within sequences built within sequences. [Showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] [wrote] an amazing puzzle and Miguel came in and took it apart and put it together again. It’s been exhausting but I think it will blow everybody away.”
Game of Thrones season 8 returns April 14 on HBO in the US, and the next day on Sky Atlantic in the UK.
The VFX Festival 2019: Emerging Talent took place in February 2019 and was hosted by Escape Studios, a leading provider of VFX, Games, Animation and Motion Graphics courses. Join industry professionals at The VFX Festival 2019: After Hours or school and college students at The VFX Festival 2019: EDU events during June 2019; find out more at thevfxfestival.com
