--- title: Game of Thrones: Most Expensive Death Scene description: The most expensive Game of Thrones death to date had nothing to do with dragons, white walkers or even wildfire. canonical: https://time.com/4705628/game-of-thrones-most-expensive-death/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-17T20:09:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:01.010Z og:title: The Most Expensive Game of Thrones Death Might Surprise You og:description: Game of Thrones fans, you're going to know about this one og:url: https://time.com/4705628/game-of-thrones-most-expensive-death/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1dabbdab2e61a1b/698894eba988caa5e26b7fe5/game-of-thrones-season-6-episode-6-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: game-of-thrones-season-6-episode-6-1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Most Expensive Game of Thrones Death Might Surprise You twitter:description: Game of Thrones fans, you're going to know about this one twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1dabbdab2e61a1b/698894eba988caa5e26b7fe5/game-of-thrones-season-6-episode-6-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Most Expensive Death on _Game of Thrones_ Will Probably Surprise You > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=1e438329-f8c3-413e-a83e-2f930bee3747&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 17, 2017 8:09 PM UTC  Macall B. Polay/HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 17, 2017 8:09 PM UTC **Warning:** This post contains spoilers for [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4429346/game-of-thrones-season-7-cast-news/). Unbelievable as it may seem, of the [100 major deaths](http://time.com/3924852/every-game-of-thrones-death/) that have happened over the past six seasons of [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4698363/game-of-thrones-season-7-teaser-white-walker-clue/), the most expensive had nothing to do with dragons, white walkers or even wildfire. During the recent _Thrones_ panel at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss revealed the death scene with the largest price tag to date was the season five scene when Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) gouges Ser Meryn Trant’s (Ian Beattie) eyes out before slitting his throat. When asked why Trant’s death — which let Arya cross off the first name on her infamous [kill list](http://time.com/4385792/game-of-thrones-arya-stark-kill-list/) — ran up the costs of filming so high, Benioff had a very simple answer. “She couldn’t really poke out his eyes,” he said, according to [RadioTimes](http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-03-14/can-you-guess-which-game-of-thrones-death-scene-cost-the-most-money-to-film). 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