‘Game of Thrones’ Actor Explains Just How the Show Keeps Spoilers a Secret

Many TV shows go to great lengths to keep their biggest twists from getting spoiled, but none go quite as far as Game of Thrones.

While some shows may have actors sign NDAs, or wait until the day of the shoot to show them a script, the HBO series takes every precaution necessary to ensure that their secrets stay private.

Joe Dempsie, who plays Gendry on the show, recently spoke with Variety about the current season. When asked about trying to keep his big reveal a secret, he said that everything on the show was kept so tightly-locked that it would take a miracle to leak information.

“That was one of the main differences in going back in this year. It’s just the small practical things they have to do to make sure that nothing gets out. A filming schedule is a rarely spotted thing. If you can get your hands on it you have to kind of devour it then give it back. We don’t really know the scenes we’re shooting until the week before,” Dempsie said.

“The call sheets are all sort of coded, so your character name is something completely different. Unless you had the key you’d have no idea which characters are in scenes with which other characters. Then just other things like, you get given a set of sides in the morning — which is like the script for what you’re shooting that day. You have to sign for them and then make sure you give them back in the end of the day or someone gets in trouble,” Dempsie admitted.

So, not only do Game of Thrones actors have to turn their sides in at the end of each day, but they have to remember all of the different code names in order to know who they’re going to be working with.

The next episode of Game of Thrones will air this Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO.