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Game Of Thrones Showrunners Discuss That Long-Awaited Encounter

Contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 7, episode 3

It's been more than six years in the making, but ice and fire finally came together in the seventh season of Game of Thrones.

In the third new episode, "The Queen's Justice," Jon Snow (Kit Harington) traveled to Dragonstone to meet Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). And while fans have been rooting for both heroes since the show launched in 2011, the King in the North and the Mother of Dragons didn't quite hit it off. Still, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss said in a behind-the-scenes featurette (via The Hollywood Reporter) that the moment generated a lot of electricity on the set.

"The spine of the episode is their meeting," said Weiss. "It was a thrilling and exciting thing to watch happening, even as we were shooting it. Once we realized that we're kind of getting a charge just from seeing this happen on a set, which is a notoriously boring place, we had a sense that it would carry over to the finished version of the scene."

In their initial meeting, Jon and Dany are each fixated on their own enemies (the Night King and Cersei, respectively), which makes for some tense arguing. "[Jon is] a very strong-willed person," Benioff said. "He didn't come down there to join her in the fight against Cersei. None of that matters at this point. All that matters is fighting the dead."

Weiss added that Jon also might have the wrong idea about Daenerys. "He doesn't have much insight into what she's gone through," he said. "I think he sees a rich girl with a fancy name, sitting in a big chair with a fancy dress on, proclaiming herself the queen of the world. I don't think he's looking on her with as much respect as she has come to take as her due."

At the same time, Dany only knows what Jon will tell him about himself. He wasn't eager to bring up the whole resurrection thing, which is actually something that Dany can sort of relate to. It's also kind of weird that the woman who brought dragons back from extinction doesn't believe there could be other legendary beings walking around.

"She looks at him and she thinks this is some unwashed barbarian from the North, and a bastard," Weiss said. "His name is Jon Snow, and yet he's calling himself king. If she knew what he had seen, she would be looking very, very differently at what he's telling her. But at this moment in time, she only sees someone who is trying to carve up a piece of her kingdom for himself. And if what this guy is saying is true, then it really is an issue, and she has her own very serious issues to deal with in the shape of the woman who is now sitting on the throne."

Still, it's good to see these two finally meet face-to-face. As we learned at the end of season 6, Dany is actually Jon's aunt, but neither of them know it yet. At least she gave him some dragonglass to keep things cordial.

If you aren't sure you caught all the details, check out our full recap of the episode.