Game of Thrones’ season 6 episode ‘Beyond the Wall’ will forever be remembered as ‘The One Where the Night King Murdered Beautiful Viserion and Daenerys Didn’t Even Cry’.
However, it also featured a giant wight polar bear (well, a man in a green CGI suit) – and now HBO has released a video revealing how the undead mammal was created.
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The short video breaks down the special effects used in creating the tragically-turned polar bear, and interviews stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam, director Alan Taylor, VFX supervisor Joe Bauer, Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Rory McCann (The Hound).
“The polar bear fight was a real challenge,” says Irlam. “Because obviously we don’t have a zombie polar bear — I’ve got a big guy in a green suit.”
“It’s very much like a shark attack,” explains Bauer, referring to the bear’s ambush, while Harington describes working in “a big CGI box”.
Meanwhile in Westeros, the final season of Game of Thrones looks to be the most expensive yet, with a budget of a whopping $15 million per episode.
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HBO
It’s an incredible figure, but it’s also worth bearing in mind that the last six episodes could very well all be feature-length.
Game of Thrones airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK. Pre-order the season 7 DVD or Blu-ray, or buy a digital download here.
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