Creating the sets for the final season of fantasy epic Game of Thrones was a "logistical nightmare", says production designer Deborah Riley.
"It was as intense as you can imagine," explained Riley, who worked alongside showrunners David Benioff and Daniel Weiss and directors Miguel Sapochnik and David Nutter.
"I don't want anyone to think this is television by any normal standard. It occupied my every brain cell at every waking moment."
The set for Winterfell is located in County Down, Northern Ireland
The third episode of the six-episode eighth season, which aired on 28 April, features the longest battle scene ever recorded in television history. The Long Night includes a 90-minute battle epic between the living and the dead Whitewalker army. Set in and around the fictional Winterfell Castle, the northern stronghold of the Seven Kingdoms, the episode was shot over 55 consecutive nights in the village of Toome, Northern Ireland.
"We were exhausted. What you see on camera was reflected in everybody," Riley told Dezeen. "It wasn't just the characters going through it but the crew too. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of what it was like for us at the time."
"Mud would go up past your ankles"
Riley, who has worked on Game of Thrones since season four, said the biggest challenge of the episode was building a set that could withstand the boggy ground in the area, which has been the set location for W...