What Is Dead May Never Die
"What Is Dead May Never Die" is the third episode of the second season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones, first airing on April 15, 2012.
The plot continues events built up in previous episodes: the aftermath of Jon Snow's investigation into Craster, Catelyn Stark's journey to the Stormlands in order to ask for Renly Baratheon's assistance in fighting the Lannisters, Theon's internal conflict as to where his allegiance lies, Tyrion Lannister uses his cunning to find his sister's spy within the Small Council, and Arya is consoled by Yoren before being confronted by soldiers looking for Gendry.
Tyrion separately shares plans with Grand Maester Pycelle, Varys, and Petyr Baelish, to marry Myrcella off, but suggests a different husband to each of them.
Tyrion sends him to the dungeons, but not before Pycelle confesses that he told Cersei that Jon Arryn knew of her incest with Jaime.
Renly grants Brienne a place in his Kingsguard, and is confident his army can defeat the Lannisters, but Catelyn reminds him his men are inexperienced.
When Renly is unable to consummate their marriage, Margaery reveals she knows of his relationship with Loras, but insists her pregnancy must secure their families’ alliance.
"What Is Dead May Never Die" was written by the story editor Bryan Cogman, based on George R. R. Martin's original book A Clash of Kings.
Aimee Richardson, the actor playing Myrcella (who has appeared in many past episodes as a background character), sent a note to Cogman thanking him for her "lines" in this scene.
The final scene also had to be redesigned in relation to the books, due to the constraints imposed by the location, the schedule, and the time restrictions for the child actors.
Cogman's first draft was more similar to the books, with Arya, Gendry, Lommy, and Hot Pie first fleeing and then being captured, but finally it was decided to combine both scenes.
"[2] In the audio commentary for this episode, included on the DVD and Blu-ray editions of Season 2, Cogman revealed that his initial script was over three hours long and had to be cut significantly (for example, Cogman mentioned that before the cuts he had included a long, drawn out fight scene between Jon and Craster, which was changed at the suggestion of director Alik Sakharov to a shot of Craster dragging Jon back to his keep).
[5] Due to her outstanding height (6 ft 3 in, 1.91 m) she was earmarked early on by fans of the books as a good fit for the character, and one of them even emailed her agent.
On September 12, 2011, while filming was taking place in Renly's camp, the high winds caused by Hurricane Katia destroyed a steel-framed marquee and five extras received minor injuries.
The website's critical consensus reads, "Superbly written and directed, 'What is Dead May Never Die' evokes a range of emotions as uneasy alliances are forged, past traumas are explored, and the stakes grow ever higher.
