HBO
Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Castor-Waldau) confronts Locke (Noah Taylor) at the bear pit in Season Three. Taylor's character had originally been written to die in the scene, but the showrunners changed their minds.
But they did change their mind about killing one character in season three, the showrunners Weiss and Benioff revealed onstage at SXSW.
In season three, Weiss and Benioff had written a scene where Noah Taylor's character, Locke, would have been killed.
Locke was known as being Ramsay Bolton's best hunter. He had tracked down Jamie Lannister, chopping off his sword hand.
As Jamie left to go back to King's Landing, he discovered that Locke had put Brienne in a bear pit with only a wooden sword to defend herself.
"He had a death scene in season three," Weiss said. "Nikolaj (Jamie Lannister) was going to throw Noah Taylor's character into the bear pit."
But because Noah Taylor was "too good" in the role, Weiss and Benioff changed their minds. In the scene instead, Jamie saves Brienne from the bear and Locke lives, unscathed.
"We decided after working with Noah, he should stay on," Weiss said.
Locke's character continued into Season 4 but eventually met his death after he was killed by Bran who had warged into Hodor. His prolonged appearance on the show is remarkable given it was the only time that the showrunners delayed a character's inevitable fate.