Director Alex Graves on The Lion and the Rose and setting up for a grand finale

Director Alex Graves on The Lion and the Rose and setting up for a grand finale by lightbringer

In this week’s Inside the Episode David Benioff and Dan Weiss take us behind the scenes of The Lion and the Rose. The pair talk about Stannis’ decision to go all in with Melisandre, as well as Bran getting the coming attractions of what’s in store for him once he masters his ability.

Like the episode, much of the video is dedicated to the Royal Wedding, including the rare opportunity they had to put characters together. They explain that the sequence leading up to Joffrey’s demise was designed to tell us exactly who he is, what this episode means for the structure of season 4, and give a nod to a great actor who will be missed on set, Jack Gleeson.

We are also treated to two shorter videos this week, in the first George R.R. Martin explains Cersei’s immediate accusation of Tyrion, and in the second Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Jerome Flynn talk about Jaime’s first left-handed sword fight.

For even more information on the behind the scenes happenings, James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly has shared some tidbits from his set visit to Croatia when they were filming the wedding celebration. Hibberd admits “there was something supremely satisfying about watching the story’s most despised villain meet his fate over and over again.”

Hibberd notes that it’s true what everyone says about Jack Gleeson, he couldn’t be less like Joffrey, saying that “it was is a bit like viewing schizophrenia.” One of the band members of Sigur Rós told Hibberd, “He’s always giving us this ‘really-sorry’ face… He doesn’t want to throw them at us, but they keep telling him to throw them. It’s amazing how he can play such a bad guy and be such a nice guy.”

During Joffrey’s elaborate pie cutting scene, the mood on set was light:

“Live birds, what would go wrong,” Weiss deadpanned.

“They could fly back to Bosnia,” fellow showrunner David Benioff suggested.

“They could attack Jack and peck his face off,” Weiss countered.

Gleeson practiced with his sword, unable to resist making some whooshing sounds as he swings it about.

And Nikolaj Coster-Waldau couldn’t resist pulling at least one gag:

As Gleeson rehearsed dying on the floor, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau rushed into the scene and mock ad-libbed, “My son!” drawing laughs. Then, when Gleeson had to spend sometime playing “dead,” Coster-Waldau held an umbrella shielding the young actor from the sun between takes. “See? I care,” Coster-Waldau said.

For more from Hibberd’s report visit Entertainment Weekly.