'Game of Thrones' Season 7 wants a world record for setting people on fire

In news that can best be described as peak Game of Thrones, the creative minds behind HBO's juggernaut series have revealed that they tried to break a fittingly destructive record in Season 7 -- by setting fire to 20 stuntmen.

“In one battle scene we set more stuntmen on fire than have ever been simultaneously set on fire,” showrunner David Benioff told Entertaiment Weekly. “Our stunt coordinator really wanted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for this.”

Unfortunately, Guinness apparently doesn't keep track of officially-sanctioned arson, so we may never know if the show succeeded, but Game of Thrones stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam certainly seems to be paying attention on their behalf.

“One sequence has 73 fire burns and that itself is a record,” Irlam said. “No film or TV show has ever done that in a whole show, let alone in one sequence. We also set 20 people on fire at one time, which is also a record. I think in Saving Private Ryan they had 13 on a beach, and on Braveheart they had 18 partial burns. Because of the nature of our attacking animals, we had the liberty to expand on that.”

We all know that "attacking animals" is Thrones code for gigantic effing dragons, and as the Season 7 trailer demonstrates, there are plenty of potential targets for Daenerys' rowdy kids to flambé next season -- although the most likely casualties are Lannister soldiers, as HBO sneakily revealed in a preview photo.

But will that sizzling stunt take place during the scene that was teased in the trailer, where we see one of Dany's dragons swooping over an open battlefield, or are the producers keeping the spectacular moment hidden until later in the season? (It would be nice to think the dragons are toasting some White Walkers, right?)

We'll find out when Game of Thrones returns for Season 7 on July 16.