For a year, acclaimed British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay was embedded on the set of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, chronicling the creation of the show’s most ambitious and complicated season.

Debuting Sunday May 26 at 9 PM, one week after the series finale, two-hour documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch delves deep into the mud and blood to reveal the tears and triumphs involved in the challenge of bringing the fantasy world of Westeros to life in the very real studios, fields and car-parks of Northern Ireland.

Made with unprecedented access, The Last Watch is an up-close and personal report from the trenches of production, following the crew and the cast as they contend with extreme weather, punishing deadlines and an ever-excited fandom hungry for spoilers.

Much more than a “making of” documentary, this is a funny, heartbreaking story, told with wit and intimacy, about the bittersweet pleasures of what it means to create a world — and then have to say goodbye to it.

Jeanie Finlay’s previous credits include the documentaries Seahorse, Orion: The Man Who Would Be King, Pantomime, The Great Hip Hop Hoax, Sound It Out and Goth Cruise. Game of Thrones: The Last Watch is her eighth feature film.

The documentary is a Glimmer Films production for HBO; director, Jeanie Finlay; executive producers, David Benioff. D.B. Weiss, Bernadette Caulfield; producers, Jeanie Finlay, Rachel Hooper, Martin Mahon; editor, Alice Powell; filmed by Jeanie Finlay, Mark Bushnell, Louise Liddy, Aaron Black, Richard Jephcote; composer, Hannah Peel.