One Game of Thrones Scene Was So Grossly Realistic It Made the Cast Vomit

Throughout its television run of 8 years, Game of Thrones has given its fans a whole collection of gruesome moments that were probably haunting some in their sleep for a while, but one specific scene wasn’t that easy for the show’s cast either.

As it turns out, a very important sequence back in season 1 was filmed with such a commitment to realism that everyone involved couldn’t really keep their disgust to themselves.

In James Hibberd's oral history Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, which comes as a collection of interviews with basically everyone who has ever appeared in Game of Thrones, this story holds a special place as it dwells on the process of shooting one of the scenes that would later become essential to the whole storyline.

The sequence dates back to season 1 when Ned Stark, portrayed by Sean Bean, takes his sons to a forest near Winterfell where they discover a stag’s dead body.

Filming this turned out to be a real challenge for everyone involved in the scene, and it probably would’ve been much easier if it hadn’t been for the fact that the stag’s dead body was real and not a prop.

No explanation for why the crew eventually opted for a real carcass was provided, yet the show still managed to get the actors’ reaction as if they’d mastered method acting.

According to Daniel Minahan, who got to direct several episodes of Game of Thrones season 1, the sequence forced the actors on set to open up the stag’s stomach, “and it releases this horrible smell. All the actors—the boys —threw up.”

Minahan’s confession was later confirmed and even specified by Tim Van Patten, the director of the season’s first episode, who recalled that “instead of using a taxidermy stag and then cutting to show some organ meats, we had an actual dead stag. It was bloated and filled with gas. We did everything in the scene up to opening up the stag's belly. Then we got to that moment when we drive the knife into it. Nobody was expecting this: The entrails fell out, and the odor sent the crew scrambling and vomiting.”

Despite all the gross experience that the scene appeared to be for its actors, it still plays a crucial role in the series’ further storyline, especially when it comes to Ned Stark’s bastard son Jon Snow who later turns out to be Ned’s nephew.

After finally dealing with the dead stag, the characters proceed into the woods to discover a dead direwolf and its pups. All of them will eventually become loyal companions for Ned Stark’s children.

Source: Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon by James Hibberd