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

9. The True Story of Ser Pounce

Game of Thrones didn’t have the easiest time with animals, with the Stark direwolves getting sidelined as the show went on. Yet those wolves, which were played by real dogs in season 1 and CGI in later seasons, were far from the only animals on set. There was also Ser Pounce, King Tommen Baratheon’s adorable…kitten?

You see, in the novels, Ser Pounce is one of King Tommen’s three black kittens (the other two are named Boots and Lady Whiskers). Originally, they weren’t in the show’s outline…but Bryan Cogman set his heart on including Ser Pounce, and found a way to make it happen.

It was supposed to be a short, simple scene, where Margaery Tyrell sneaks into Tommen’s bed chamber for a visit, and the cute little kitten jumps on the bed to get petted and basically look cute.

But as is often the case when it comes to filming animals on television, nothing went quite right.

“Ser Pounce was supposed to be a little dainty kitten,” said Bryan Cogman. “And then this giant-ass cat showed up. And then the cat wouldn’t do anything.”

The cat had one cue: jump on the bed. But as the film crew tried over and over to get the shot, it became apparent that their feline co-star just wasn’t going to cooperate. In the end, a crew member had to toss the cat up onto the bed from off-screen.

Once the cat was on the bed, the troubles continued. Natalie Dormer had to basically hold the cat still so she could get through her lines. “That cat was a real diva,” she said. “We got one take that was halfway passable, and that was the one we used.”

“To be fair, cats aren’t famous for taking direction,” Cogman added.