Trivia / Game of Thrones S2E9: "Blackwater"

• Cast the Runner-Up: Directing example. Neil Marshall had applied to direct before, but was turned down. The episode's director dropped out two weeks before production, so he was brought on board.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: George R.R. Martin considers "Blackwater" his favorite of the four episodes he wrote for the series.
• Enforced Method Acting: A month of shooting nights in cold, wet Belfast had the result that the actors' exhaustion were quite genuine.
• Production Posse: Liam Cunningham had starred in director Neil Marshall's films Centurion and Dog Soldiers - both of which were what got him the job on this episode. This marks their first collaboration where he doesn't die.
• Self-Adaptation: George R. R. Martin wrote this episode himself.
• Throw It In!:
  • The wind and rain seen during the battle was all real and not simulated by machines.
  • Some of the Gorn wasn't in the script, but added in at Neil Marshall's thoughts.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early on, when the show runners weren't sure they'd have the budget to stage a battle, the episode took place mainly in Maegor's Holdfast with Cersei and Sansa - and the majority of the battle happening off screen. As they'd had to cut a battle in "Baelor" for budgetary reasons, they begged HBO to give them the funding to make this one happen.
  • In the book, Tyrion devises a plan involving the construction of a huge chain to prevent Stannis' ships from escaping the wildfire. This was eliminated from the script early for budget reasons.
  • The wildfire was originally going to be achieved with a catapult that fired bags of burning green napalm, but they ended up just using regular fire that was later coloured green in post production.
  • Originally, Stannis was not going to fight in the battle, only leading from a distance, just like in the book. Director Neil Marshall didn't think this would work and decided that Stannis should fight and lead his army into battle.

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