content: "'''The Watchers on the Wall'''" is the ninth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 39th overall. The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Neil Marshall. It aired on June 8, 2014.
  Like season two's "Blackwater" (also directed by Marshall), the episode focuses exclusively on one storyline: the Wildling assault on Castle Black and the Wall, and the Night's Watch defense, led by Ser Alliser Thorne and Jon Snow.