Jerome Flynn discusses filming the Loot Train Attack and Bronn’s divided loyalties

From a chance encounter at the Inn at the Crossroads in season 1, House Lannister gained one of its most venerable foot soldiers: the foul-mouthed sellsword Bronn (Jerome Flynn). Initially sworn to Tyrion, Bronn found himself in the service of Jaime Lannister after Tyrion became an enemy of the crown. Speaking to HBO’s Making Game of Thrones blog, Flynn revealed that serving the big brother hasn’t been as fun as serving the little one.

"There’s an element of frustration in terms of how [Bronn’s] being used. Jaime is talking about Bronn as if he’s his right-hand man with this elevated status, but Bronn is still getting tasked with dirty work. Bronn even tells him to go back to King’s Landing, but he sticks around and then makes Bronn basically go on a death run; it pisses Bronn off. Nobody’s going to be happy to be told to ride through that battlefield with the dragon ahead."

Bronn’s ride across the battlefield, wherein he dodged everything from Drogon to flaming carts to flaming people before plugging Drogon with a giant bolt, was stunning to behold, although it had some unintended side effects on Flynn’s home life.

"I was surprised when I was watching it. I spent weeks on that sequence, but I was on the edge of my seat, the adrenaline was running — they really nailed it. Although since the day the battle aired, I’ve been a little unpopular, I have to say. My postman won’t speak to me because I shot the dragon."

Hopefully Flynn’s postman speaks to him once he realizes Drogon appears to be in relatively good health. And also is imaginary.

As for the scorpion Bronn used to wound Drogon, it was a working model, and “probably the coolest weapon I’m going to get to play with,” according to Flynn. It pretty much goes without saying that he loved shooting such an action-packed sequence.

"It took four or five weeks to film that sequence, but the actual “death run” to Qyburn’s scorpion happened over a couple of days. And that one particular sequence was some of the most exciting filming I’ve had. You’ve got all this extraordinary excellence around you — people who have been training for months to get every little piece of their puzzle right; stuntmen, armorers, everyone. It’s a whole dance going on. And suddenly you’re set free, and it’s the ultimate boy’s playground with a lot of adrenaline thrown in."

One of the best things about the Loot Train Attack was that people were torn over which side to root for, which Flynn deemed “brilliant.” Is Bronn himself torn between loyalty to Jaime or Tyrion? “He doesn’t have total disregard for Jaime,” Flynn said, “but he has a bond with Tyrion that’s hard for him to ignore. And the connection they’ve made with their sense of humor. If Bronn’s got a fondness for anybody in the world, I’d say Tyrion is probably close up there. He sees him as an underdog like himself.”

Jaime probably isn’t used to being the uncool brother.

Circling back to the battle itself, the Making Game of Thrones blog posted these very cool storyboards of the bit where Bronn takes down Drogon:

Even in storyboard form, this is intense.

Next: Callbacks and Easter Eggs in “The Spoils of War”

Game of Thrones season 7 continues this Sunday with “Eastwatch” at 9:00 p.m. EST.

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