A Ferocious Game Of Thrones Scene Was One Of The Few To Be Shot In America

"Game of Thrones" is a fantasy TV show based on George R.R. Martin's books, so technically, it shouldn't matter where on the real-life Earth the series went to find its many wondrous vistas and majestic landscapes. Still, it's always fun to know the ins and outs of making such an impactful show ... including, yes, its filming locations.

You might already know some of the major locations where "Game of Thrones" was filmed. Many of the scenes that take place in the Westerosi capital city of King's Landing were filmed in Dubrovnik, a city in Croatia — a country that served as a setting for other major locations as well. Meanwhile, the real-world equivalents of both Dorne and Dragonstone can be found in Spain, spots in Northern Ireland doubled as Winterfell and the Iron Islands, and the icy scenes of Castle Black and the lands beyond the Wall were quite understandably filmed in the national parks of Iceland.

For the U.S. audiences who might lament the lack of North America-based action on "Game of Thrones," the show actually does feature a little bit of that as well. Notably, the confrontation between Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and a ferocious bear in "Game of Thrones" season 3, episode 7 — titled "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" — was partially filmed in the U.S.

While not necessarily one of the best "Game of Thrones" episodes in history, "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" provides some of season 3's most thrilling moments. The episode's confrontation between Brienne of Tarth and a dangerous bear takes place in a Harrenhal bear pit, where the sadistic House Bolton stooge Locke (Noah Taylor, "Peaky Blinders") forces Brienne to wage war against the massive beast with just a wooden sword to hold it at bay. There's a reason why the show gave Locke, of all people, such a pivotal moment, too. The surprisingly impactful mid-game villain may technically be just one of the unsung minor antagonists of the series, but his greatest hits collection includes things like cutting off Jaime Lannister's (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) hand.

The animal actor playing Brienne's ursine adversary, Bart the Bear II ("Evan Almighty"), was actually the reason parts of the scene had to be filmed in the U.S. — Los Angeles, to be precise. Bart couldn't be moved to the planned Northern Ireland location, which meant that the production had to be taken to the bear instead of the other way around.

Incidentally, "Game of Thrones" eventually returned to North America while filming season 5, once again for animal-themed reasons. This time, the destination was Canada, where the show filmed footage of Quigly, the Arctic wolf playing Jon Snow's (Kit Harington) direwolf Ghost.