Game Of Thrones Sets Record For Setting People On Fire

Game of Thrones has earned several records over its run on HBO, including most Emmys for a scripted series and largest ever television simulcast, but its latest new record may be the strangest of all.

Game of Thrones‘ seventh season has set more people on fire than any entertainment production before.

“In one battle scene we set more stuntmen on fire than have ever been simultaneously set on fire,” showrunner David Benioff tells Entertainment Weekly. “Our stunt coordinator really wanted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for this.”

Guinness doesn’t actually keep track of the numbers of people set on fire during productions, but Game of Thrones‘ Emmy-winning stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam – who has worked on film franchises including James Bond, Marvel, and Harry Potter – is pretty confident that what Game of Thrones has done this season is first in its class.

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“One sequence has 73 fire burns and that itself is a record,” Irlam said. “No film or TV show has ever done that in a whole show, let alone in one sequence. We also set 20 people on fire at one time, which is also a record. I think in Saving Private Ryan they had 13 on a beach, and on Braveheart they had 18 partial burns. Because of the nature of our attacking animals, we had the liberty to expand on that.”

By “attacking animals” Irlam is referring to the three dragons that Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is bringing with her as she sails across the Narrow See from Essos to Westeros to reclaim the Iron Throne. Photographs from the new Game of Thrones season (which can be seen in the attached gallery) have already previewed Dany riding Drogon, one of her dragons, into open battle.

Based on the popular book series A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin, the hit Emmy-winning fantasy series Game of Thrones chronicles an epic struggle for power in a vast and violent kingdom.

The seventh season of Game of Thrones will see Daenerys Targaryen finally make her way from Essos to Westeros to reclaim the Iron Throne, while the Night King’s White Walker army marches south, bringing winter with him.

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Game of Thrones stars Emmy and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Diana Rigg, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and Jonathan Pryce. Executive producers are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield. Co-executive producers are Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin.

Game of Thrones Season 7 premieres July 16 on HBO.

Game of Thrones may only have two seasons left, but HBO is already making plans to extend its stay in the world of Westeros and Essos. Multiple prequel scripts have already been ordered for a prequel series that will take place in the same universe, but that will not feature the same characters or be based on any story published by George R.R. Martin so far, though he is working with some of the prequel writers to develop the new series.

Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have also stated that they will not be involved in developing the new shows, though they will receive some form of an official credit since the spinoffs will be derivative of their original series.

Photo Credit: HBO