WiC note: I’m adding a Read More because there are MAJOR SPOILERS in this. This is a set visit that mentions a huge plot point from season 3 (and book 3 A Storm of Swords) so do not read this post if you don’t want to be spoiled! All others, proceed!

mcdoodils:

In the words of house Stark “Winter Is Coming” but for me it came last Friday. When I got to watch production on what will undoubtedly be one of, if not the defining moments of season 3. I had been told that the crew had returned to the Demesne, Moneyglass. This got me wondering what they could have been shooting here as Winterfell doesn’t actually have much of a role in book three. My first thought was “The Red Wedding” as it takes place in the North. Now anyone who has seen the Demesne knows that there is a shit load of green [Yes I know this is Ireland and you expect a lot of green but you get my point], which lead me to think the North, following my chain of thought so far?

Anyway after a few failed attempts to gain access to the set, I finally got the breakthrough on Friday. It’s all rather long and boring, along such lines as my sisters, boyfriends, fathers, cousin owns the land [Demesne], what’d you know not that long after all.

Cutting a long story short…

With the land owner [Niall or Niell Higgins] in tow we breezed through security and yes I did have a rather smug smirk on my face [ha ha ha ha, Mr Security guard, didn’t I say I was a V.I.P.]. First thing that struck me was the shear size of the production, huge floodlights everywhere, lots of technical vehicles, vast amounts of RV’s which I assume was for major cast, a marquee for all the extras to get royally suited and booted and finally and perhaps most strangely of all was a rather old double-decker bus.

Anticipation grew the closer we got to the action [it’s quite a walk from the car park], on said walk which seemed to take forever Mr Higgins regaled us with various tidbits of previous and current shoots. What confirmed the “Red Wedding” for me was Mr Higgins revealing that [Imagine the Irish accent] “A massacre took place last night” and “major characters got their heads removed and sowed onto an ox.” I will admit I did laugh out loud at this point, obviously I explained what I thought it was. After scaling through an 18th century stable and hopping over what seemed like miles of cables.

We definitely had came to the right place, suddenly the autumnal silence had been broken with the battle cries and clatter of swords mixing to make it seem as if we had be transported back in time. Unfortunately it was all extras, as the main scenes took place on the previous night. I didn’t mind at all it was still fantastic to see the Frey’s me battle it out with the Northmen. Before coming I had been told that there was to be gas men on set as thing were going to burn. This was confirmed to me immediately as the set was engulfed with “controlled” fire. The main focus of the scene was a wagon on fire rolling down a dirt road as the battle enraged around it. All the extras I seen were wearing generic gear, apart from one man who seemed to be wearing Lannister attire, the only reason I mention this is because this man has golden hair. It’s probably nothing, but It did stand out for me.

Whilst this was going on we took the opportunity to go onto the actual set. Which I’m 100% sure is the Frey’s courtyard. Not much to the set, excellent detail as you would expect. As you would expect I had a quick nosy to see if I could find any souvenirs but to no avail. I did find one of the “Twins” banners but it was massive you’ll just have to take my word for it that I pranced about with it for a little while.

I will get some photos of the set, once the last of the production crew leaves. I apologize if I waffled.

“Winter Is Coming in March 2013”



