With every single media outlet around the world desperate to uncover spoilers during filming of the Game of Thrones finale, the extreme lengths HBO went to in order to keep it under wraps have been revealed.
Isaac Hempstead Wright – who has played Bran Stark since the show’s very first episode – revealed details of just how top secret the GoT set was for the eighth and final season, particularly when it came to the scene where the Stark siblings all say goodbye to one another.
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The emotional scene saw Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Bran Stark say their farewells as they went their separate ways.
Filmed in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Hempstead Wright said shooting on location for the pivotal moment resembled a “CIA site”.
“It was ridiculous, the security and secrecy,” he said.
“When we shot in Dubrovnik for that scene where we’re saying goodbye to Jon Snow, I’ve never experienced anything like that, it was like being a secret agent.
“We came into the country on a chartered flight so nobody would see us, we stayed in this hotel and they booked out the entire hotel just for us.
“We weren’t allowed to go out, we couldn’t walk outside.”
As if renting out an entire hotel for the core cast members to stay in wasn’t enough, Hempstead Wright said producers took further precautions when shooting the scene on the dock.
“On that day, HBO rented out every single apartment and every single hotel room that could possibly overlook where we were shooting,” he added.
“We had coast guards patrolling just outside in the water to check no boats were coming by.
“When we were coming in and out of cars we had to be covered in coats, and when we flew back we were the last people on the flight and we had to sneak in.
“It was really amazing that people loved this story so much and were so desperate to get any nugget of information. You had a pinch yourself moments every day.
Throughout the show’s eight-year run, the series – which streams on new Aussie streaming service Binge – was built on speculation as to which character would take the Iron Throne.
Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) was a main player, as well as Jon Snow, Sansa Stark and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey).
No one was more shocked than Hempstead Wright, 21, to find out it was Bran the Broken who would end up ruling the Seven Kingdoms.
“I did not see it coming at all. A lot of the time it was fans and friends talking and saying ‘I feel like it’s got to be Bran’, and I said ‘You are so wrong, it’ll be someone else.’
