This year for the Watchers on the Wall Awards, we divided our Action category into two: a bigger-scale category for the entire action sequences and battles of Game of Thrones, and a smaller-scaled second category for fights. Best Fight voting opened on Tuesday (polls are still open for another day!) and now it’s time to turn our attention to the Best Action Sequence of season 6.
The finalists are:
Battle of Meereen: (From “Battle of the Bastards”) Daenerys & her dragons destroy ships, while the Dothraki slaughter the Sons of the Harpy.
Battle for Winterfell: (From “Battle of the Bastards”) Jon Snow and the Stark army face overwhelming numbers and Ramsay Bolton’s strategies in a brutal battle, and are saved by the Vale.
The Cave: (From “The Door”) Compromised by Bran’s actions, the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave is fatally breached by the army of the dead.
Castle Black: (From “Home”) The wildlings launch an attack on the mutineers of Castle Black, as the murderers besiege Davos and a few loyal men.
The Temple: (From “Book of the Stranger”) Daenerys torches the khals in the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen and emerges unburnt.
Baelor’s Sept: (From “The Winds of Winter”) Lancel chases a little bird underground only to find death and wildfire waiting; the explosion, killing many King’s Landing notables, quickly follows.
Final round rules: Cast your vote for the winner in our Best Action Sequence poll. At the end of 72 hours (Sunday 9/25/16 at 3PM EDT), the battle/action sequence with the most votes will be the winner! The results of the poll will be revealed during the live Watchers on the Wall Awards ceremony, which will take place in early October. Specific date to be announced in the near future!
DRAGONS.
Doran Martell!
EDIT: Damn it!! too late…
Sept.
Ah there is no contest here.The Battle for Winterfell was not only the best action sequence in GoT but in television too.
They were all great – but the Battle of the Bastards was the most talked-about episode of television of the year and won a truck-load of Emmys for a reason – nothing like it has ever been seen on television before.
Ramsay Bolton: ‘Do you like games, little man? Let’s play a game.’
So began the 30-minute epic rollercoaster ride of emotions known as Battle of the Bastards.
From Rickon running across the field to Sansa walking off screen with a little smile on her face, this sequence had it all.
Great dramatic moments that makes the action worthwhile, epic fights, amazing camerawork, awesome stunts, astounding VFX and Ramin Djawadi’s fantastic score. And of course stellar performances from the cast.
So many great moments and visuals with Jonny-boy leading the way. Charging horses in slo-mo, Jon facing a calvary, flying arrows, tracking shot of Jon in battle, pile of bodies, Wun Wun punching a horse, Jon being trampled and reborn, Tormund ripping Smalljons throat out, Sansa and the Vale to the rescue, Ramsay being beaten up by Jon and Sansa feeding Ramsay to his own dogs.
One of the greatest action sequences in the history of television.
So in short, I voted for the Battle for Winterfell 🙂
Battle of Castle Black is actually a thing? I barely remember a battle.
The Battle for Winterfell of course. The best action sequence of the show and certainly one of the best in TV history. How are they possibly going to surpass this in S7+8?
I wouldn’t call this a hard choice, because hello, BATTLE OF THE BASTARDS!
However, I must say, wow. Each and every nominee here was fucking incredible. EVEN the little fight at castle black. There was so much mystery and excitement on what was to unfold, including arrival of Tormund and Wun Wun. I cannot wait to watch this season again. Im holding off a bit because we have 4546846831 years till next season.
Heh me neither, but it obviously got votes (oh wait – there wasn’t a preliminary round for this one, right?) Battle for Winterfell was the one and only choice for me in this category. Nothing but thrilling action for 30 minutes, some of the best tv I have ever seen.
Emilia said there’s a S7 battle that’s bigger. I’m curious as to who’s going to direct it.
Best Action Sequence: Battle for Winterfell
This ended up being one of the easier decisions for me; that said, there were numerous fantastic action sequences throughout the season – and I anticipate there being many more in season seven!
Of those that were nominated, I have to say that the opening sequence of 610 that culminated in the explosion at the Sept of Baelor was stunning – this was, by far, the best opening sequence I think I have ever seen on television. It set up the best GoT episode to date, and totally delivered in every way.
The Battle of Meereen was visually awesome, and marked the first time that all three of Daenerys’s dragons were utilized in combat – her Westerosi enemies should be very afraid! Action-wise it delivered, and the VFX were all spot on – it left me with what was a believable vision of a girl riding into battle on the back of her dragon.
The depiction of fire was also awesomely done in 604, when Daenerys burned down the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen. It was a stunning power play that gave her a new and improved army, and the VFX people were once again on top of their game.
An excellent action sequence I cheered at – in spite of the apparent anti-climax – was the storming of Castle Black by Dolorous Edd, Wun Wun, Tormund and the wildlings. The way in which the Night’s Watch just gave up symbolized the decline of the institution we have been aware of since Jon arrived at the Wall. The storming of the castle was perfectly executed, and totally one-sided. One of the things I love about GoT is that it does have the ability to change your mind about individual characters and groups of characters; who would have thought after 409 that I would be cheering for the wildlings overwhelming Castle Black?!
My runner-up in this category would have to be the invasion of the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave by the Night King and his wights. The build-up of tension, the chase to the door, the acting, the music, the editing, the direction………it was all completely and utterly what an action sequence should be. I would have been on the edge of my seat watching it, had I not been on the floor in absolute bits over Summer and Hodor!
So…….I chose the Battle for Winterfell. This completely summed up what I have come to expect from a GoT action sequence. The VFX accentuated what they could film naturally, and produced a beautiful and cinematic piece that depicted the brutality, randomness and chaos of battle – while giving us the linear focus of Jon Snow. The stunt team earned their Emmy and then some with this episode, and the actors involved in the fighting sequences – particularly Kit – were perfect at selling this story. Like the attack on the cave, the Battle for Winterfell was everything that an action sequence should be – and all of the elements, such as stunts, acting, VFX, direction……all of it was there. Again, Miguel Sapochnik earned his Emmy and then some.
Rhaenys Stark,
without Miguel 🙁
I find it incredible that I cannot vote for the battle of Mereen. There you have the PEERFECT action scene and yet… there is a perfecter (!) one.
Winterfell it is, then.
Jack Bauer 24,
I assume Alan Taylor, because he has experience directing action.
Miguel will probably be back for Season 8.
I voted for the Cave, guess I’m in a minority.
BtoB of course.
The dragons can win next year.
This is like a Sophie’s Choice decision!
(but, BotB, c’mon)
It’s obvious that it’s the Battle of Winterfell.
If I had to choose the best action sequence other than the obvious choice, it will either have to be Battle of Mereen, Sept or Cave.
Sept or Cave… Between these two… It’s hard to choose.
Stark banners on the walls of Winterfel
Jack Bauer 24,
They’re categorizing it as an action sequence, not necessarily a battle.
Battle of winterfell
Dee Stark,
I think D&D and Miguel have hinted he’ll be back for S8 😀 Can you imagine a collaboration between him and Neil Marshall? I’m gonna go crazyyy
Jack Bauer 24,
I think Alan Taylor too. He is the most experienced of the four. He directed Baelor after all. I believe he’ll do great.
Having voted for the choicest part of BotB in the ‘Best Fight’ category and the Citadel Library in the ‘Best FX’ category, I give my laurels here to the Battle of Meereen (the airborne part, anyway). It feels odd to me to be voting for a sequence from Dany’s storyline, because that’s my least-favorite major part of the overall narrative. But they really did do a fantastic job with the execution of her dragonriding this time (no more ‘Neverending Story’ cheesy GGI!) and with the destruction of the slaver ships. It was pretty awe-inspiring.
That said, this is probably my least-favorite category. I’ll take a small scene with well-written witty banter or political conniving over a big action setpiece any ol’ day. But I’m weird that way.
The Battle for Winterfell was the shows most ambitious battle sequence to date and boy did it deliver. It had that beautiful continuous shot of Jon at the beginning and you could absolutely feel the mayhem as the battle continued. It definitely deserves the win.
I’m still surprised that they managed to put the Battle of Meereen in the same episode. Talk about action packed! Lol. Fingers crossed for major dragon action next season though!
Baelor is magnificent, but it’s not a big budget, large scale battle. He will have big shoes to fill and I feel like no matter what he delivers people will say Miguel would have done it better.
The cave was amazing. I savor every chance we get to see the NK and the WW. I’m really interested in seeing how much we see of them next year. They rarely feature in more then one episode a year at that was with 10 episode seasons. With only 7 next year I’m worried.
I didn’t even have to think about it: Battle of the Bastards.
Jack Bauer 24,
People will definitely say that, Miguel is a legend now…
Taylor has directed Thor 2 and Terminator Genisys, so he knows how to do action. I simply hope that with the better scripts, actors and effects that GoT has, his episode will be better than these two movies xD
Donna,
Me too…. that is a classic intense zombie battle
Rhaenys Stark,
Yeah, I think Alan Taylor will be good also. Definitely with better writers and such behind him, as you say.
The Sept.
And I still think the Battle at Hardhome was better.
I loved BotB, but I still think Hardhome was the better episode myself. I think that’s the best episode of GOT yet.
Still, in this category, I easily voted for BotB.
Just Hodoring here because I got my fingers tangled and hit the Post Comment button before checking the Notify Me box again. Mods, feel free to delete.
I voted for the Battle of Mereen
I mostly chose it over Winterfell simply because of how predictable and trite the ending to the Winterfell battle seemed. In spite of being severely outnumber, Littlefinger shows up out of nowhere to save the day in just the nick of time. It was pretty predictable yet almost entirely unbelievable (from a timing perspective).
The battle was still excellent, but the ending spoiled it a bit for me, and Mereen was magnificent.
The Sept is my all time favorite scene, but not defined as an action sequence for me.
The sequence leading up to and the aftermath of the explosion of the Sept was terrific and got my vote.
The battle of Winterfell was, of course, very good but having the total copout of Littlefinger saving the day at the last minute moved it below the Sept explosion in my ranking. I assume they did that to set up future conflict between Jon/Littlefinger, Jon/Sansa, and Sansa/Littlefinger but it still took some of the overall epicness from the battle in my opinion.
It’s all quite obvious really:
Battle of Meereen is the best VFX sequence.
Battle of Winterfell is the best action sequence.
The destruction of the Sept of Baelor was the best dramatic sequence (and that music…).
At least I hope I voted like that cause it sure makes sense now.
(Apologies to the Door sequences, they were good, but this season has brought even better.)
Went with Sept of Baelor
Hold the Door was close second, but a sense it was rushed, same with Dragons
But Sept of Baelor was great, the drawn-out nature, the music, the Directing etc, one of the best sequences of the entire show so far
The BoB as an overall sequences was great, eg Jon Snow nearly suffocating
I appreciate this being made a separate category. Having a battle compete with individual fight scenes either means that the smaller fights wouldn’t have a chance, or a larger action sequence would have to be broken up, and the sequence as a whole would not be represented in the winner’s list.
Since there was no preliminary round, none of the nominees were cut out, so there are some that barely count as an action sequence. Castle Black involved multiple characters, but there isn’t any action really outside Win Win killing that poor Night’s Watch guy (which wouldn’t even count as a fight, much less an action sequence).
Whole the end results of the Dosh Khaleen scene and the Sept sequence were explosive and violent, there is not much action in the sequences as a whole, so I didn’t really consider those.
The only nominees I really considered action sequences thoughout were the Cave sequence, the Battle of Mereen, and the Battle of Winterfell. The cave sequence was exciting throughout, and a worthy nominee. The Battle for Kareem was a lot of fun too. But the Battle of Winterfell, by any measurement was stronger. More impressive on a technical level, with plenty of violent action throughout the rather long sequence, all incredibly well done. Easy choice for me.
battle of bastards was something HUGE, but no other scene had the power to make me tremble and truely breathless as the invasion of the cave did. It was surely the best scene from the season in my humble opinion!
This poll is as needless as nipples on a man’s breastplate. BotB the clear winner.
The battle of Meereen, of course! The Sept scene was amazing too but I don’t consider it to be “action”.
Voted for the Battle for Winterfell. I think the Battle for Mereen and the cave scene were excellent too, but the BoB tops it for me.
Anyhow, I have enjoyed watching all these scenes again. I loved the Tyrion’s plan, I wept again about Hodor and Summer and felt absolutely engrossed in the long shot the followed Jon in the battlefield until his “rebirth” after nearly being crushed to death.
Moka,
I felt exactly the same way about the Sept scene. That’s why I did not vote for it.
I had to vote for the “Hold The Door” sequence because it was utterly amazing, terrifying, fantastical and most excellently realized. You will not see anything this complex and multi-layered in a non-fantasy film. It was tough not to vote for the Destruction of the Sept or the Battle of the Bastards, but these are scenes you would see in any violent actioner. The combination of the elements of fantasy and realism were seamless in the attack by the army of the dead on the Three Eyed Raven’s cave. Frankly, the episode was flawless.
Best Action Sequence: The Cave: (From “The Door”) Compromised by Bran’s actions, the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave is fatally breached by the army of the dead.
Honorable Mentions: The Battle of Winterfell and the Battle of Meereen.
Honestly, I could have gone for any of those three. This was definitely the second-hardest category for me. Only VFX was tougher.
TOIVA,
.
Exactly how I voted. And The Door was the best death.
The Wolves of Winter,
Great just great! That’s it in a but shell.
BotB for me but Sept was a millisecond behind it 🙂
I voted for the Battle of Meereen, though the Sept and BotB were close seconds.
Battle of the Bastards easily takes the cake though I loved the Dragons in action!
Sorry if I’m sounding ignorant and maybe I’m missing something, but what’s so great about the battle of Meeren? It wad hardly a battle at all. At least not compared to the battle at winterfell. Just the dragons burning a few ships and the dothraki slaugthering some slavers. Can someone enlighten me?
This was a tough decision between two options: “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Cave” but I chose the former one. BotB is my favorite episode overall.
I live for the dragons but even I have to admit the battle of the bastards was the best action sequence ever
THIS! Exactly this! Same votes in the same categories. I just loved the integration of the scenes, the soaring dragons, the columns of fire, the trebuchets. And the little dragon flying in the distance over Dany’s shoulder as she’s explaining the situation to the “wise” masters and then it comes roaring up the cliff face to land behind her! Not a fan of Meereen generally (except my poor Bear, Jorah) but loved the sequence. Just flawless!
Honorable mention to Lancel’s underground odyssey. The tension from the visuals and especially the music make the sequence great.
Dee Stark,
Dee, I so agree with you. Hard choices all, but I had to go with BOTB too! I can’t imagine what S7 & S8 are going to be like. It’s going to be a long winter…haha.
Hard choice…although I have to agree that the storming of Castle Black was pretty anti-climatic it was very exciting to see the wildlings charging to defend Davos and Co. I cheered out loud (have a bad habit of being very vocal with this show..)
The 3ER cave scene was so well executed you could actually believe it was happening for real!
Dany and the 3 dragons was amazingly well done. All three dragons appearing together! It was so great.
The Sept…that episode was so great, but for best action scene I had to go with:
“Do you like games, little man?” It started the most epic battle I’ve ever seen on television. How do you not vote for that?
Best Action Sequence: The Battle for Winterfell
We’ve had some incredibly stacked categories in these awards, and this one is no exception. Yet out of all the categories that we’ve voted on so far, this one was the easiest. The Battle of the Bastards is the best pure battle sequence that Game of Thrones – indeed, that any show on television, and most movies besides – has ever pulled off. I haven’t voted for it in as many categories as I thought I would, but that’s partly because it wasn’t eligible in its entirety, as it is here. The entire sequence is packed with so many incredible elements that it can be hard to single one out. But taken together, it’s even more than the sum of its many impressive parts.
I’ve said I believe that Baelor’s Sept is the best overall sequence in the show’s history, and I stand by that. However, I voted for it in the Best Dramatic Scene category (also, the “action” elements of the scene aren’t necessarily what makes it so). I voted the Battle of Meereen in the Best Visual Effects Scene category, and I voted Hodor’s sacrifice while escaping the Three-Eyed Raven’s Cave in the Best Death category. I somehow haven’t found a place to vote for Dany burning down the Dothraki Temple yet, which is remarkable. That was one of the highlights of the season for me – when “Book of the Stranger” ended, I was downright giddy. The storming of Castle Black was excellent as well – it just can’t compete with the scale of the other nominees.
Nathalie is filming 🙂
https://twitter.com/missnemmanuel/status/779197217965998080
Easy: The Cave. Beautiful direction, lighting and choreography, heart-wrenching farewells to many a character, Meera being absolutely badass, the Night King being downright terrifying – what’s not to love?
Battle of Winterfell: Seriously overrated in my opinion. Outside of a few individual scenes, that episode was surprisingly mediocre for me.
Battle of Meereen: Dragons burn stuff, Unsullied and Dothraki kill people. Been there, done that.
Dany burns the Khals: season 1 finale the XXL edition. Been there. Done that.
Wildlings storm Castle Black: Was nice enough, but doesn’t measure up to the grandeur of the others (no pun intended).
Sept of Baelor: The only reason this did not get my vote, is that I already voted for it in the most dramatic scene category.
Jared,
And Tower of Joy for Best Fight. I voted exactly like that as well 🙂
They are all such great sequences!
I bet seasons 7 and 8 are going to be very disappointing to you then lol.
It was between Battle of the Bastards and Dany roasting the masters and their ships. I have to choose Dany, because the entire scene both surprised and floored me, and just remembering how far she’s come, it was very emotional to watch. The feeling I got in my chest when the music swells as Dany, flying Drogon, dive-bombs the ships with the other dragons flanking them? It’s too much. BotB is an extremely close second. Actually, they all are.
IDoKnowSomeThings,
That’s just a name the fandom have taken to calling it. And it *is* a battle- At the end of the previous episode, and the very beginning of ep 9, the masters fleet are pummeling Mereen with flaming catapults. Dany just takes her time assembling a plan for defense.
Chris,
Thank you 🙂
That depends entirely on whether Dany, her dragons and Grey Worm / Missandei will continue to have plot-induced death immunity and whether the White Walkers actually make it south of the Wall next season.