Game of Thrones cinematographer teases forthcoming episodes as “surprising” and “satisfying”

Long time Game of Thrones cinematographer Robert McLachlan has not been shy about singing the praises of upcoming episodes of season 7. Not long ago, he teased the penultimate episode of the season as “different” from the others, which is intriguing by itself. Now, speaking to the Radio Times, McLachlan talked about Episodes 4 and 5, both of which he worked on.

The title of Episode 4 is “The Spoils of War.” McLachlan described it as “surprising and epic.” As for Episode 5, the title of which we don’t know yet, he called it “very satisfying” and “crowd-pleasing.”

"I’m extremely pleased with them. Four is definitely going to impress people and five I especially like too – there are some lovely crowd-pleasing scenes in it."

We’re gonna go out on a limb and and say McLachlan probably isn’t referring to dialogue or costumes. Words like “crowd-pleasing” and “epic” most likely refer to a battle, and as one of the images from “The Spoils of War” reveals, we should be in for one hell of those before long:

McLachlan, who has been with the show back since season 3, deemed “The Spoils of War” his favorite of the two episode he did this year. “[I]t was really hard work – uncommonly hard work. It was the toughest one I’ve done of the eight episodes I’ve worked on.”

Both “The Spoils of War” and the as-yet unnamed episode five were directed by Thrones newcomer Matt Shakman, known primarily for his work on shows like Fargo and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, not the first guy you’d think of to direct a Game of Thrones episode, much less an action-packed one. According to McLachlan, those episodes were originally set to be directed by fan-favorite David Nutter, the guy behind episodes like “The Rains of Castamere” and “The Dance of Dragons.” But Nutter was unable to direct after undergoing back surgery, so Shakman got the gig.

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Besides the two episodes we mentioned above, Nutter also directed “Mother’s Mercy,” which included Jon’s murder and Cersei’s Walk of Atonement. He had a reputation for directing the show’s big moments. Can we expect something similarly huge from Episodes 4 and 5 of season 7?

Next: Carice van Houten discusses Melisandre’s “nicer” demeanor and where the character is going

We’ll know before long. Before that, the third episode of season 7 — “The Queen’s Justice” — airs this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. EST.

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