Gemma Whelan says actors were burned during epic Game of Thrones battle

Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy. Photo / HBO

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 2: Stormborn. Do not read if you haven't seen the episode.

Gemma Whelan has revealed that fiery "battle of the boats" in Thrones' latest episode was about as dangerous as it looked and actors suffered burns during filming.

In the latest episode, Whelan's character Yara Greyjoy gets caught up in a fierce battle with her uncle Euron on the water, and they fight on deck while ships go up in flames around them.

The problem? No one told them the crew would literally be shooting fire at them.

"Suddenly it comes to shoot day and you're on a slippery deck in the middle of the night...Then they throw water at you and then - this is the extra thing that happened this year - they have this gun that shoots burning embers at you because the ship is on fire during the battle. They didn't warn us that was going to happen!" says Whelan.

"It looks awesome I'm sure, but we all got these like black and red burns on us. It was hard to look really serious when your head was on fire. For once you're quite glad that you're wet."

That said, she adds: "At the end of the day you go home and go, 'that was flippin' awesome' - regardless of a few ember pockmarks".

The episode ended with Yara being taken captive by Euron, after her brother Theon abandoned her.

"She thought she had Theon back, back as himself, as her Iron Born brother, but it seems that that may not be quite the case yet," she says.

"They left with such hope and then very quickly the wheels come off. It's diabolical really."

*Game of Thrones airs Mondays at 1pm and again at 8.30pm on SoHo, and is available on NEON.

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