Let It Burn

Back in 2015, on the set of Vaes Dothrak, the showrunners had already mapped the fates of the characters. But they were still grappling with their own fears.

- James Hibberd

IT’S NOT YET TIME FOR THE GREAT fire, but the burning will begin soon.

It was October 2015. Sometime around 4 a.m. The production had set up camp in a military-controlled patch of Spanish desert. You’d recognize this setting as Vaes Dothrak, where Daenerys was held a prisoner in season 6. It was the final night of filming at this location, and the last thing left to do was torch the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen (Emilia Clarke had already shot her triumphant emergence from the fire separately).

As the crew prepared the pyrotechnics and a bottle of bourbon was passed around, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss answered a few questions about the end of Game of Thrones. It’s an interview we waited a few years to publish—until the timing felt just right.

This was a unique point in the show’s history. Benioff and Weiss were still a couple of seasons away from being finished but were now beginning to seriously think about the end. They’d decided the fates of every major character. Sometimes they gave actors cryptic suggestions when filming certain scenes, with those final episodes in mind. The actor didn’t know why they were doing something a certain way, only that it was somehow important. After Thrones is finished, fans will look back and see subtle hints that were dropped.