Game of Thrones season 8 cast tease Winterfell battle so huge they were left 'really miserable' by gruelling shoot

'It was the most unpleasant experience I’ve had on Thrones'

The cast of Game of Thrones have teased a huge season eight showdown that will take place at Winterfell.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, who were on set, Maisie Williams teased being "broken" by the intense, physical shoot required for the huge battle.

“I skip the battle every year, which is bizarre since Arya’s the one who’s been training the most,” Williams said. “This is my first taste of it. And I’ve been thrown in at the deep end.”

Iain Glen, who plays Ser Jorah Mormont on the show, concurred that the gruelling schedule for the battle left the cast feeling "miserable".

“It was the most unpleasant experience I’ve had on Thrones,” Glen said. “A real test, really miserable. You get to sleep at seven in the morning and when you wake in the midday you’re still so spent you can’t really do anything, and then you’re back. You have no life outside it. You have an absolute f**ked bunch of actors."

Even The Hound actor Rory McCann was struggling with the battle, which saw an unnamed actor collapse on set.

“Everybody prays they never have to do this again,” McCann said.

The report details how the battle was nicknamed "The Long Night" by the crew, who spent months building the gigantic Winterfell set. Davos actor Liam Cunningham added: "I heard the crew was getting 40,000 steps a day on their pedometers.”

Director Miguel Sapochnik, who previously helped bring the infamous "Battle of the Bastards" to screen, said they took inspiration from the huge Helms Deep battle in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

“The [Game of Thrones battles] I’ve done previously were generally from Jon’s perspective,” Sapochnik said. “Here I’ve got 20-some cast members and everyone would like it to be their scene. That’s complicated because I find the best battle sequences are when you have a strong point of view. I keep thinking: ‘Whose story am I telling right now?’”

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones reaches HBO and Sky Atlantic 14 April. Read everything we know about the final season here.