Why Game Of Thrones' Showrunner Thought The Latest Big Death Was So Fun

Warning! This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of Game Of Thrones. Read at your own risk!

Game Of Thrones fans are still reeling from the second half of last night's episode, in which the Night King launched an ice-spear practically the length of a football field to catch Dany's dragon Viserion in the neck, killing the massive creature. Showrunner D.B. Weiss says the team had some fun with that latest big death, and he explained why they're smiling while dragon fans are possibly weeping.

What was fun about the sequence -- in an awful way to us -- is up until the end, it's very close to one of those battles where all the good guys get out the other side more or less scot-free. But we knew that killing the dragon was going to have a tremendous emotional impact. Over the seasons and seasons of the show, it's really been emphasized what they are to Dany. We knew the Night King would see and seize this opportunity.

Indeed, Game Of Thrones' latest dragon battle looked as though it was playing out very much like the last one that fans saw, with a victory in favor of the good guys. Things looked even more lopsided with all three dragons were present to rescue Jon Snow & Co., so it was almost laughable to think that one of them would be taken down, especially after we watched Drogon take an arrow to the chest and be fine a couple episodes later. And while Weiss doesn't specifically come out and say it in the behind-the-scenes video, his thoughts almost make it sound as though the audience was made to focus so intently on the potential death of specific human characters that they ignored the dangers of Dany sending all three dragons out for this beyond-the-wall rescue, thus making the death all the more surprising.

As if killing Viserion wasn't enough, D.B. Weiss reminds Game Of Thrones fans that the dragon is now firmly under control of the Night King. The co-developer talked about the gravity that many fans undoubtedly felt during both of those moments, and he was clearly excited about delivering that kind of shock-within-a-shock.

We like to think when the dragon dies, it's kind of a one-two punch. On the one hand, you've just seen the horror of one of these three amazing beings like this in the world going under the water and not coming up again, and processing that. Then you're processing something that's even worse: when it comes back up from under the water again, and we see in the last shot of the episode what it becomes.

What it becomes is an ice dragon, and if there's anything that an army of undead villains doesn't need, it's an undead dragon. Or two or more undead dragons.

Game Of Thrones is all new on HBO for its Season 7 finale on Sunday, August 27, at 9:00 p.m. ET. There are a lot of things that could happen in the finale, and those interested in a list we would like to see should click here and share their thoughts. For a full list of shows to jump into once Game Of Thrones hits the offseason, be sure to visit our fall premiere guide.