20 takeaways from Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon, behind the scenes of Game of Thrones

2. The origin of the “two-hander” scenes

One thing I loved about Game of Thrones was how it managed to pair up characters who never had the chance to cross paths in the novels due to the strict point-of-view system that George R.R. Martin uses. What if Brienne and Cersei had a chance to talk at the Purple Wedding? What sort of conversations would Varys and Littlefinger have behind closed doors?

There were plenty of ways Thrones went about crafting those meetings…but one of the most commonly used was known as “two-handers.” Both of those examples I just gave fit the category. Two characters, often who hadn’t cross paths in the book, trading excellently written lines back and forth. These scenes gave the show the chance to flesh out its characters, show off its great actors, and make more use of its spectacular (and expensive) sets.

As it turns out, these sorts of scenes happened almost by accident. During the chaotic filming of the first season, before the writers and crew had really nailed down their process, the directors would often cut pages from the script because they couldn’t logistically fit it all into the work schedule. Or budget would intrude. For whatever reason, there were cuts.

It got to the point where some of the episodes were running as short as 34 minutes. Facing a need to fill that time, the writers had to get creative.

“It was late in the process,” said Gina Balian, former vice president of drama at HBO and one of the players involved in these decisions at the time. “You’re thinking you’re almost done, and then you realize your episodes are short. And the way the cast was scheduled meant they weren’t all still there. We also didn’t have every set at our disposal. So the producing team said: ‘You’ve got these actors, these sets…what can you do?'”

Writer Bryan Cogman, the “third head of the dragon” and lore keeper of the GoT team, elaborated further:

"As a result, we wrote all of these new scenes that ended up defining the style of the show. They were these wonderful, lengthy [conversations between two characters], because we needed scenes that would fill the time, use our series regulars and use our existing sets, but not cost money or take too long to shoot. As a result you get scenes like the one with Robert and Cersei. If that problem hadn’t happened, I don’t think we would have had as rich a show."

That scene Cogman mentioned is during Season 1 Episode 5, “The Wolf and the Lion” — it’s the one where Robert and Cersei ruminate on their failed marriage over wine, marking perhaps the most tender moment we ever see from either of those characters. I can only speak for myself, but man am I glad that scene — and many others like it — ended up making it in.