Game of Thrones season 7: Sand Snakes actor discusses episode 2 ending and fan reaction to her character

'I’m sure it’s going to look great but it was bigger in real life than on screen'

Season seven of Game of Thrones is truly underway, the second episode seeing the Queens of Westeros make their first moves towards seizing/keeping the Iron Throne.

**Spoilers for the episode ‘Stormborn’ ahead**

During the episode’s climactic finish, Euron Greyjoy defeating Theon and Yara at sea, killing the Sand Snakes in the process.

For many, their death will no doubt be a joyous occasion, the characters being some of the show’s most hated — remember “bad poussie”?

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly for their post-episode analysis, Jessica Henwick discussed filming the brutal final scene and defended the way the Sand Snakes were adapted.

“It was grueling,” she said of filming the boat scenes. “It was one of the few occasions where it was more intense on set than it will be on screen. Normally there’s a lot of CG [when filming action scenes] and you watch it on screen and you see a massive epic battle, but when you’re filming it’s all quite tame by comparison.

“For this, the audience can’t feel the heat on their face from the pyrotechnics going off or feel the wave machine trying to knock us off our feet, or the sweat dripping off our faces. They were blowing burning embers onto us. One of the stunt double’s wigs caught fire. And some of the stunt doubles fell through the balsa wood floor of the ship. It was hard, night shoots, we were really battling the elements they had created. I’m sure it’s going to look great but it was bigger in real life than on screen.”

On the reaction to the characters, she explained how difficult it was for the producers to decide which Sand Snakes should have been included on the show. Balancing each of their stories — those included — was then another challenge.

“They had to introduce three characters all at once and differentiate them,” Henwick said. “When you’re limited to an introduction of two lines per character and there are four characters in the scene — during our introduction scene in season five — it’s hard to create a lasting impression.

“You kind of have to shove a character down the audience’s throat and Game of Thrones’ success is in its multifaceted characters. At the time it was definitely frustrating feeling like there’s so much potential here, and a lot of the stuff that we shot didn’t make the final cut. It was hard. But overall, given the size of the character, I’ve been very happy with how it’s come out.”

The episode ‘Stormborn’ also saw Arya reunite with her long-lost dire wolf — a callback to season one — and Sam attempt to cure Ser Jorah’s greyscale. Read our review and recap here.