Here’s your badass break for the day: Watch Maisie Williams and Gwendoline Christie train for their “Game of Thrones” fight
It’s been a few weeks since the Game of Thrones Season 7 finale, but let’s face it, we’re *still* thinking about that wild (albeit short) season. It’s going to be okay, though, because HBO’s behind-the-series miniseries, The Game Revealed, is still breaking down some of our favorite moments of the season, including one of our favorite scenes: The badass sword fight between Brienne of Tarth and Arya Stark.
During the fourth episode of the season, Arya made her grand return to Winterfell and reunited with her siblings, Bran and Sansa, after six seasons apart. As excited we were for the Stark siblings to be back together again, we were also thrilled to see Arya reunite with Brienne (and Pod), whom she’d encountered at the end of season four, during that epic fight.
But not only did Arya and Brienne reunite, they had the most beautiful sparring match, and during episode four of The Game Revealed, it was just as amazing behind the scenes as it was on screen.
“The fun thing about the Arya and Brienne thing was I don’t think we had to do too much to it to make it really fun to watch, because everybody’s wanted to see these two together for a long time,” director of photography Robert McLachlan said. And if they didn’t know they did, they certainly do the minute the two of them meet.”
The sparring match between Brienne and Arya was so exciting because, despite their very different heights, Brienne and Arya have long been seen as very similar characters due to their warrior natures — and they’re also alive during a time where being a woman warrior was frowned upon. That clearly has not stopped them.
Seeing the two fan favorites spar was not only fun to watch, it also showed exactly how far they’d each come as fighters since the series began.
“In a fight, it’s so much more than just choreography,” Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne, said. “Every movement says something about the character. It tells the story of these two very different warriors.”
Not gonna lie — that was one of our favorite moments of the season. We seriously hope Arya and Brienne continue on their warrior paths together when Season 8 finally airs on HBO.
