Red Wedding Director Explains The Most Important Part Of Game Of Thrones' Iconic Slaughter

HBO's blockbuster fantasy series "Game of Thrones" stands as one of the most influential television shows of the century. The series dominated the pop culture zeitgeist for much of the 2010s, with many of its most unforgettable moments serving as a major topic of discussion at the watercooler following the episodes' premieres on Sunday evenings. As viral as many of the series' moments have gotten, perhaps no sequence shocked viewers more than the infamous Red Wedding.

It has been over a decade since "Game of Thrones" episode 309, "The Rains of Castamere," first aired on HBO, and the impact of this devastating episode is still felt to this day. The episode is centered on the wedding of Edmure Tully (Tobias Menzies) and Roslin Frey (Alexandra Dowling), where one of the most gut-wrenching moments in television history occurs: The King in the North, Robb Stark (Richard Madden), his pregnant wife, Talisa Stark (Oona Chaplin), and his mother, Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) are all massacred. The director of the episode, David Nutter, acknowledged that the most critical components regarding the Red Wedding involved the element of surprise and the audience's engagement with the characters up until that point.

Part of what makes "The Rains of Castamere" such an emotionally devastating episode is in the build-up leading to the inevitable massacre of House Stark. Robb and Talisa share a heartfelt conversation with Catelyn, expressing optimism about the future now that a baby is on the way. In particular, Robb and Catelyn are extremely pleased, providing viewers with a moment of positive vibes, which makes the massacre all the more shocking. David Nutter explained to EW why the buildup was necessary. "I wanted the tightest bond moment with our heroes before it began and to give the audience a sense of ease, that this is a happy ending and some hope that everything is going to turn out well," he said. "I didn't want to make the audience feel like something bad was going to happen."

Eventually, the rug is pulled out from under all of them. George R.R. Martin, author of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series that "Game of Thrones" is based on, reflected on the massacre organized by Lord Walder Frey (David Bradley). "Robb has made his peace, and you think the worst is over," he explains. "Then it comes out of nowhere. There are also secondary characters killed. Then outside, hundreds of Stark people are killed. It's not just two people." The sheer bloodshed on display is so visceral, and it immediately became one of the defining moments in television of the 2010s.

David Nutter recalls directing the Red Wedding and acknowledges the pride he feels having served an integral role in crafting one of the most important sequences in "Game of Thrones." He admits that he may be over-critical about his work during the process itself, but upon completion of filming, he drove home to his apartment with a sense of confidence. "No one knew the response would be so immense," he said. "But for a television director, it was a wonderful feeling knowing how much I affected people in the process of telling a story. It was the best gift I could have ever had." The episode was nominated for a 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, but lost to Showtime's "Homeland."