<P> In writing the battle between the Lannister army, and Daenerys' Dothraki and Drogon, Weiss stated that one of the most exciting elements of the fight involved the fact that two main characters were on opposite sides of the battlefield, and that it is "impossible to really want any one of them to win, and impossible to want any one of them to lose," according to Weiss . He also compared the introduction of a dragon in medieval warfare to using an F - 16 fighter aircraft in a medieval battle . According to Nikolaj Coster - Waldau, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly following the airing of the episode, the script stated that "One of our main characters is about to die ." Coster - Waldau also stated about his character, "Jaime is such an idiot that he thinks for a second,' If I can do this, I can win the whole thing in a' Hail Mary ."' </P> <P> In addition to the regular recurring guest cast, Major League Baseball player Noah Syndergaard, pitcher for the New York Mets, made a brief uncredited cameo appearance as a spear - throwing Lannister soldier during the battle between Lannister and Tarly forces and Daenerys Targaryen and the Dothraki . In an interview prior to the season conducted by Sports Illustrated, Syndergaard spoke about his appearance in the series by saying "It's a dream come true . I think it's the greatest TV show of all time, so just to be able to say I was in Game of Thrones is an unbelievable feeling ." </P> <P> "The Spoils of War" was directed by Matt Shakman . This was Shakman's first episode of Game of Thrones, but he had previously served as a director for several other television series, including Fargo, The Good Wife, Mad Men and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, among others . The battle sequence at the conclusion of the episode, which was nicknamed "The Loot Train Attack" by HBO, set an industry record for the most stuntmen set on fire, with real fire being used, rather than special effects, to simulate the dragon fire being emitted by Drogon . There were 73 "fire burns," in addition to 20 people being set on fire for a single shot . Filming of the attack sequence took approximately 18 main - unit days, five second - unit days, and several weeks for the effects - unit . In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Shakman spoke about the first time he read the script of the battle, saying "I was reading the script and this battle began and I kept turning pages and the battle kept going on page after page after page! The excitement, the stress and the fear all built at the same time, mirroring probably what was happening on screen . It was a huge opportunity and a challenge . I spent the better part of six months working on that one sequence ." The "Loot Train Attack" was filmed in Cáceres, Spain, and Emilia Clarke, who portrays Daenerys Targaryen, was filmed riding a motion base on a stage in Belfast in front of several green screens . </P> <P> Shakman's first step in directing the battle was choosing to focus on a specific perspective, with Shakman choosing Jaime as the main point of view, noting "To see it from a traditional fighter like Jaime to see what happens when you introduce something like napalm or the atom bomb into battle and all the sudden traditional fighting goes out the window ." Shakman also noted that Tyrion was another important perspective for the battle, as he watches from afar, saying "We talked through every beat of what he was seeing, and then he imagined that in his mind and brought it to life . He's the human intermediary there to see the battle through ." Shakman filmed Peter Dinklage as Tyrion about a mile from the battlefield, and most of his shots involved "staring at lots of different tennis balls" for eye line . Shakman drew inspiration for the direction of the sequence from Miguel Sapochnik, who directed the sixth season episode "Battle of the Bastards", and Neil Marshall, who directed the second season episode "Blackwater", as well as the battles in Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan and Stagecoach . Shakman also revealed that he used the volcanic destruction of Pompeii as a reference, which led to the idea of some of the army being turned to ash . </P>

Game of thrones spoils of war filming location