No, but seriously, why doesn’t Daenerys just use the dragons? There are probably some tactical explanations (White Walkers are impervious to dragon fire, Dany doesn’t want to solve every problem with winged-beasts even if she should, etc.), but there are also budgetary reasons. I know that’s not as exciting as Drogon going to town on the Tarlys, but it’s something Charlie Endean, a first assistant director on Game of Thrones, has to keep in mind.
Endean, who told The Verge that his “loyalty” is at the “crossroads of the director’s vision and the production’s budget,” has to oversee everything from makeup to digital effects to costumes. He’s also keenly aware of how much money is being spent on every episode, which is why the show will sometimes go weeks at a time without dragons. Speaking of those diva-like dragons:
“Whenever a dragon appears, it’s expensive. And it’s a tricky one, too. The fans love them, but honestly, they’re very hard to work with.
An actor is trying to act quite often with something that isn’t there, so they’re being challenged to emote while looking at a green screen, or a piece of green cloth. The sequence where Jon meets Drogon, we were filming on a cliff-edge in Northern Ireland, with very high winds, and Kit had this safety rope attached to him, and a harness, because it was so windy. He had this heavy cape on, and had the wind picked up any more, he would have just turned into a human kite. So you have him standing on a cliff-edge with a flapping cape, and a guy dressed in wet-weather gear, because it’s freezing, holding up a green ball on the end of a green stick. And that’s the dragon.”
Again, this will never not be funny.
That green ball has a powerful agent.
(Via The Verge)
