Drones have been used for many outside-the-box activities, from helping street artists post their works on tall buildings to delivering engagement rings to making better wine. Here’s another thing drone inventors never counted on: They’ve also been used in attempts to reveal Game of Thrones spoilers.
Star Sophie Turner was in New York City for Comic Con over the weekend, and, on top of crying when she saw Maisie Williams, she revealed this tidbit, as per EW: Drones have been caught flying over the Northern Ireland Game of Thrones set.
In fact, it became such a problem that HBO crew members started using a “drone killer” — a device that, according to the Los Angeles Times, can disable a drone and force it back to earth.
“It creates a field around it and the drones just drop,” Turner explained. “It’s very X-Men.”
The device, says the Los Angeles Times piece, looks like a gun, and it “can be aimed like a rifle or a shotgun at a drone in the air. The 30-degree field of its beam and its range of almost half a mile make the target hard to miss.”
Typically “drone guns” have been used by the police for “life and death situations,” though it was also used at the 2017 Rose Parade, to stop anyone illegally watching it.
The Game of Thrones set is generally a “no fly” zone anyway, with helicopters and planes also banned, thus sustaining the realism of a fantasy show set in a distant past overrun with dragons and Ed Sheehran.
Over the years, HBO has worked closely with local Irish authorities to prevent unauthorized photography. In return, the production has, according to the BBC, brought an estimated $200 million to the Belfast economy. from folks eager to tour the sights they see on screen.
When Game of Thrones’ final stretch lands early next year, you’ll have no idea what’s in store and you can be pleasantly surprised by all the twists and horrible deaths. Don’t thank HBO. Thank the drone killer.
(Via EW)