Full script of “Battle of the Bastards” made available online. Here’s how it’s different from the actual episode
A Song of Ice and Fire, the series of books on which Game of Thrones is based, is a pretty strong footing for the scripts of the show, but the writers on the show (mostly showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss) are nothing less than artists. To adapt a great work into a script that will do it justice, is no easy job. Last year, one of the best episodes from Season 6 was “Battle of the Bastards“, which won an Emmy. The script has now been posted online, on the official Emmys website!
As you would expect, the script doesn’t really make it a hundred percent into the final filming, as is. A lot of changes come in, like actors, directors and producers making changes on the go, according to how a scene flows. The script for Battle of the Bastards was written by Benioff and Weiss. Game of Thrones fan-site Winter is Coming, has listed down a few of the most notable parts of the script. Here are some of the important ones :
Firstly, the way some scenes are described, like the scene where Danaerys Targaryen meets the Masters :
“Dany never turns to look at the approaching DROGON. She doesn’t have to look. She only allows the faintest hint of a smile. A smile that says: my tyranny’s not ended, motherf****r. It’s only just begun.”
Another change is that in the script, the scene where the two dragons finally leave their prison, reads as follows :
“Unsullied STRONGMEN roll back the giant stone blocking the entrance to the dragon prison, and hurry the fuck out of the way. We move in slowly on the dark entrance.”
In the actual scene, however, the dragons burst out of the prison themselves, when they heard Drogon.
Moving on, there are a couple of comments on Melisandre‘s age :
“She genuinely doesn’t know. It has been centuries since she admitted that she doesn’t know.”
..and then :
“MELISANDRE looks into the brazier flames. This activity appears to be more work for her than it was before, or perhaps it’s just that she’s approaching it with less unthinking confidence.”
Moving on to the battle itself, Harald Karstark leads Ramsay Bolton‘s cavalry, but in the actual sequence in the series, he isn’t seen during the battle.
Another example of unconventional description :
“The circle tightens forcing the Starks into a smaller and smaller space. It is clear the Boltons have the upper hand and the Starks are f***ed.”
The end of the Battle of the Bastards script has the description of the scene where Sansa Stark ‘lets the dogs out’. It goes as below :
“Ramsay screams. His screams become wet wheezes as the dogs go to work on his throat. And through it all, we stay on Sansa, as she walks away from him forever, allowing herself the faintest possible smile.”
Poetic, isn’t it? There are quite a lot of such interesting little bits in the script. If you do give it a read, come talk to us about which ones you loved the most, down in the comments, below!
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