Should these scenes have been cut from Game of Thrones season 8?
By Dan Selcke
More close-ups of Daenerys during the massacre
The key moment of “The Bells” comes when Daenerys, sitting atop Drogon, sees the Red Keep in the distance and decides to burn the whole city to ash. After that, we don’t see her face for the rest of the episode. All we see is Drogon lighting stuff up.
But in the script, we see Dany’s face one more time, when she reaches the Red Keep. The script says to focus “tight on flying Dany as she looks at the exterior of the Throne Room, the room her ancestors built.” Dany see the lion sigil in the windows where the Seven-Pointed Star once was, which she takes as a “symbol of everything that has been taken from her.” It “drives her to fury.” And the walls come tumbling down.
Image: Game of Thrones/HBO
Should it have been changed?
Oh my god, this should have stayed in!
Director Miguel Sapochnik has explained why he and his team decided not to show Daenerys after she decides to lay waste to King’s Landing. “At that point, you don’t need to see her,” he said. “We decided not to cut back to her. When she makes that decision, she and the dragon become one.”
Okay, Miguel, I’m all about respecting your artistic vision, but if you ask me, that was COMPLETELY the wrong call. Again, to me, the big problem with the season is that we didn’t understand why Daenerys did what she did. It didn’t ring true, pun not intended. Zooming in on Emilia Clarke and letting her sell Daenerys’ emotions with her Emmy-nominated performance during this crucial moment could have helped bridge the gap. Hell, it might have won her that Emmy!
Granted, what the show really needed was more scenes setting up Daenerys’ turn. But still, this could have helped.
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And that’s that! What do you all make of these deleted scenes?
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