Between Dany and her dragons and Melisandre and her love of setting people aflame in the name of the Lord of Light, “Game of Thrones” burns up quite a few people on a regular basis. And though on the HBO series what is dead may never die, the real-life actors being set on fire do need to go home unscathed at night.
In a new behind-the-scenes video posted by HBO on Monday, the “Game of Thrones” stunt team reveals its secrets for keeping everyone in Westeros safe as they douse them in fire.
“We burn more people than anybody else, basically,” stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam says in the clip — seriously, they broke a TV record with 20 full-fire burns in one shot — as he explains how they manage to do this without killing anyone.
“We’re trying to create this really dynamic frame of action,” he says. “We’d love to go home at the end of the day and no one’s paid any kind of price for it.”
We then see the stunt performers doing a “fire dance,” which is what they call the route they take in the scene from when they are set on fire until they are extinguished by the safety guys.
Irlam explains they wear three layers of Nomex underwear, which is soaked in fireproof gel and are only burned for 15 seconds at a time.
Watch the video above.
“Game of Thrones” returns with its eighth and final season April 14 at 9/8c on HBO.