Game Of Thrones Season 8: 12 Easter Eggs & References You Might've Missed In 'The Bells'

9. Miguel Sapochnik References His Own Work

Game Of Thrones Battle Of The Bastards The Bells
HBO

The Bells has the distinction of being the last episode of the series to be directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who has previously helmed some of the show's biggest and best episodes, including the double-whammy at the end of Season 6: Battle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter.

Sapochnik references both in this episode: the shot of Cersei in the Red Keep, overlooking King's Landing as it explodes in a sea of fire, closely mirrors her destruction of the Sept of Baeler from TWOW, only this time she is powerless to do anything about it.

Battle of the Bastards, meanwhile, was an important reference point for Sapochnik in positioning Jon Snow and co as effectively the bad guys of this episode. To visually show this, he shot Harry Strickland, leader of The Golden Company, from behind in the exact same way he did Jon Snow at BotB. Later, we then follow Arya through the action in a long take, which again is a callback to doing that with Jon in Season 6.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.