Jon Snow and company encounter a violent horde of wights
Jon Snow goes north of the Wall to find a wight. He succeeds in spades.
Let’s back up a bit. Fairly early in the filming cycle, the Game of Thrones production build a massive set in Wolf Hill Quarry near Belfast. It looks like an island in the middle of a frozen lake.
An island on a lake. https://t.co/MD7gd3dBi7 pic.twitter.com/SsDHhHd7Rb
— Crown_For_A_King (@Crown_ForAKing) November 14, 2016
The #GameofThrones team builds something near Belfast. https://t.co/MD7gd3vcGH pic.twitter.com/IwQMgYrfwi
— Crown_For_A_King (@Crown_ForAKing) November 14, 2016
The production spent three weeks filming on this set, a very long time for a TV show. Kit Harington (Jon Snow) was spotted on it, and Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane) and Rory McCann (the Hound) were all seen in Belfast around the time of the shoot. According to fansite Watcher on the Wall, this set played hosted to an action involving this group of characters encountering a massive horde of wights. There were 300 extras on hand to play the wights, and expect that number to increase after the CGI people are finished.
Yet another intriguing clue: actor Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark) was photographed eating dinner with some of the Wolf Hill Quarry actors in Belfast when this action scene was being filmed. So Benjen Stark, last seen dropping Bran and Meera off an unreasonably long distance from the Wall in the season 6 finale, will also likely be a part of the huge wight fight.
Finally, director Alan Taylor was signing autographs alongside Kit Harington and Iain Glen around the time of the shoot. Since Taylor is only directing one episode this year, that tells us when during the season this action scene will fall: Episode 6, the all-important penultimate episode.
Next: And now for something (seemingly) completely different