Writing[edit]

The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.

"Battle of the Bastards" was written by the series' creators, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
Elements of the episode are based on the sixth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, The
Winds of Winter, which author George R. R. Martin hoped to complete before the sixth season
aired.[4] In an "Inside the Episode" segment published by HBO shortly after the episode aired,
Benioff and Weiss said that the final battle was primarily inspired by the Battle of Cannae and
the American Civil War.[5][nb 1]According to Weiss, "We went back to the Roman fight against the
Carthaginians in the Battle of Cannae where the Romans got caught in an encirclement by
Hannibal and just slaughtered to the man. We used that as our model".[5] Benioff said, "The 'Battle
of the Bastards' becomes incredibly compact. All these men, all these combatants, crammed into
this incredibly tight space on the battlefield. You read accounts of the battles in the Civil War
where the bodies were piled so thick it was actually an obstruction on the battlefield".[5] Episode
director Miguel Sapochnik said in an interview that the Battle of Agincourt was the original
inspiration but the concept was adapted to fit budgetary constraints.[6]
Weiss said that they wanted to depict a full-fledged battle, "From the beginning we knew that one
thing we'd never had on the show was a true medieval pitched battle where two sides bring all the
forces they can into play in some battlefield that's somehow negotiated or agreed upon and they
go at each other until one of them wins and the other one loses. This is a staple of human history,
and we started to look through film samples of it. There really wasn't one that both made you feel
what it was like to be there on the ground and gave you a sense of the geography of the
battle."[5] According to Benioff, they also wanted to demonstrate the role luck plays in battle, "Just
to feel the kind of randomness of it where there's arrows falling from everywhere, people are
getting killed, people are getting trampled by horses, and so much of it is just luck. Jon Snow is a
very skilled combatant, but part of the reason he survives this battle is just he gets lucky".[5]
In the "Inside the Episode" featurette Benioff said about Daenerys Targaryen's transformation
during the series, "I think Dany's been becoming a Targaryen ever since the beginning of Season
1".[7] According to Weiss, "She's not her father and she's not insane and she's not a sadist, but
there's a Targaryen ruthlessness that comes with even the good Targaryens".[7] Benioff
concluded, "If you're one of the lords of Westeros or one of her potential opponents in the wars to
come and you get word of what happened here in Meereen, you have to be pretty nervous
because this is an unprecedented threat. You've got a woman who has somehow formed an
alliance where she has a Dothraki horde, a legion of Unsullied, she's got the mercenary army of
the Second Sons, and she has three dragons who are now pretty close to full grown. So if she
can make it all the way across the Narrow Sea and get to Westeros, who's going to stand in her
way?"[7]

Casting[edit]
Iwan Rheon (right) played Ramsay Bolton since the third season but originally auditioned for Jon Snow,
played by Kit Harington (left). "Battle of the Bastards" contained their only shared scenes in the series.

"Battle of the Bastards" was the final episode for actor Iwan Rheon, who had played Ramsay
Bolton since Game of Thrones' third season.[8] His first appearance was in "Dark Wings, Dark
Words", as a then-unnamed "boy" who helps a captured Theon Greyjoy. Before he was cast as
Ramsay, Rheon auditioned for the role of Jon Snow.[9] In an interview, he described learning
about his character's fate: "I had received half the scripts, five episodes, then I got the call. They
joked, 'Isn't it great Ramsay ends up on the Iron Throne?' As soon as they said that I said, 'He's
dead, isn't he?' It's cool. I've had four lovely seasons here. It's been great to be involved with
such an amazing show. I think it's kind of right he goes down. Because what else is he going to
do after this? He's done so many things. It's justified and it's the right thing to do. It's the right
path. He's reached his peak. It's nice for the audience that he goes out on this high, if you
will."[8] In that interview, Kit Harington talked about Rheon: "I love Iwan's work. He's an incredibly
detailed actor who's created a character who's remarkable and despicable."[8]
"Battle of the Bastards" was also the last episode for recurring character Rickon Stark (Art
Parkinson), who had appeared since the series premiere episode "Winter Is Coming".[10] In
an IGN interview, Parkinson said that he was tipped off about his character's death: "Whenever I
was told that I was coming back for Season 6, before they sent me through the scripts and stuff,
they sent me through a ring just to say, 'Listen, so that you don't get a shock whenever you read
the scripts, just know that you die this season.'"[10] He continued, "Whenever I came back, I was
excited to come back, and the scenes all seemed pretty amazing. I was so happy to re-embrace
the character."[10] According to Parkinson, he was sorry that Rickon would die but his manner of
death was a compensation: "It was a cool death, and it was always going to be a good death, so
at the same time, I was pretty happy."[10]
Another character departure was Smalljon Umber, played by Dean S. Jagger.[11] In an interview,
Jagger talked about his casting: "I prayed for it. When I heard I got the part my knees buckled. It
was a life-changing moment."[11] Before becoming a professional actor, Jagger dug trenches and
worked at a mattress factory to pay his way through acting school and was a professional
rollerblader.[11] Ian Whyte also made his last appearance in "Battle of the Bastards" as the giant,
Wun Wun;[12] he had played Gregor Clegane during the show's second season.[12] Special-effects
supervisor Joe Bauer said about Whyte's casting as Wun Wun, "We wanted a large performer
because somebody who would be 14, 15 feet tall would have more weight and mass to move
around, and a person who's a normal size would have a very difficult time pulling that off".[12]