A Blog of Ice and Fire
As is traditional, at the end of each year HBO releases a year-in-review video which also then looks ahead to what’s coming next year. This year is no different, as at the 1:38 mark we get four quick glimpses of four of the show’s central characters: Cersei, Jon, Tyrion, and Arya. These are so swift that I’m not sure we’d consider them spoilerish… but just in case, lets just say there are spoilers:
Over at EW, James Hibberd reveals a design for Arya Stark’s brand new costume for the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. With quotes from Maisie Williams, the article notes it’s a radical new design for Arya who has spent most of the past four seasons in androgynous clothing, and now has something a bit more feminine with which to blend in in the Free City of Braavos.
She also teases an upcoming scene, one that has to do with her previous clothing, which sounds like it may be drawn from a sequence in A Feast for Crows.
An interesting viral marketing campaign from HBO for next year’s Game of Thrones has hit the web: Three-eyed Raven is a new site that allows users to sign up for Twitter or (in select countries) SMS notifications of “the sight”, short (and by short, we mean very short) teaser videos that provide a brief glimpse at the upcoming season. The first video—which you’ll receive a link to after signing up—features Arya and a hint of a location she’ll be spending a great deal of time at.
Doubtless more teasers will drop in the coming months.
As the title says, Telltales Games has released the first teaser trailer for Game of Thrones: Iron from Ice, an episodic adventure following the lives of members of the northern House Forrester of Ironrath in a sort of side-story that fits along with the continuity of HBO’s Game of Thrones. The game promises to have appearances from notable characters from the series—including Cersei and Tyrion Lannister, and Ramsay Snow—and it seems the actors will be voicing their characters. Here’s the trailer below:
Alongside this, Telltales has sent character images and brief details to a number of gaming and media sites, which have been very helpfully compiled over at IGN. These short profiles reveal thirteen original characters who’ll appear in the game, although there’s no sign which of these will be among the five playable characters.
The first episode is set to release before the end of the year.
It’s been going around the gaming press that a community manager at Telltale Games has revealed that they intend to have the officially-licensed Game of Thrones adventure game titled Iron from Ice out by the end of the year. A little less than a year ago, Telltale’s acquisition of the license from HBO became big news among gamers, as Telltale’s recent adventure games—their Walking Dead game in particular—have been popularly and critically acclaimed for their storytelling and characters.
Last month, Telltale released a very short teaser hinting at a North-based storyline, mentioning some of the minor houses in the wolfswood:
Courtesy of HBO, we have an exclusive excerpt from Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones: Seasons 3 and 4 , written by Cat Taylor, assistant and official “keeper of scrolls” for Game of Thrones, as well as the lead writer on HBO’s Making Game of Thrones production blog. The first book in the series, covering the first two seasons, was written by writer and co-producer Bryan Cogman, and was a fantastic look behind the scenes, filled with photographs, interviews, VFX renderings, and concept art that showed the massive scale and complexity of the production, as well as the amount of talent involved in making it the visual splendor that it is.
This excerpt suggests that the second volume in the series will do the same, as it gives us an inside look at the appearance of the giants and the mammoths in “The Watchers on the Wall”:
Deutsche Welle—a German broadcaster that was among the first to have a web presence way back in 1994—celebrates the 20th anniversary of that presence by doing something… rather unique. See their press release below to learn just what they’re up to:
Deutsche Welle reporting live from Westeros
Deutsche Welle (DW) Director General Peter Limbourg sees the need for reliable information on the current conflicts in “Game of Thrones”. Users worldwide have also been called out to help DW develop “Valyrian” and “Dothraki” as official DW languages.
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of DW’s first website, Germany’s international broadcaster has expanded its online reporting to include the continents Westeros and Essos. The focus should specifically deal with the current conflicts that have been made public on the series “Game of Thrones”. Limbourg sees DW’s role as being a reliable source of information: “The international bestseller from George R.R. Martin presents a multifaceted albeit notoriously subjective view of the events. The TV series from HBO is a global phenomena – but the standard of reporting leaves a lot to be desired.”
DW has been a trusted source of news and information for more than 60 years. It has become a tradition at DW to use extraordinary anniversaries to provide a tongue-in-cheek look at what “worldwide” actually means. To celebrate 10 years online in 2004, DW expanded its range of online content to include the Klingon language.
Starting today, the new online special answers the most pressing questions from “Game of Thrones” at http://ift.tt/1qYpWuK. Like what qualifies the Night’s Watch to be the arctic special forces? And what secrets are lost in a raven-based communications system?
In order to provide information among new target audiences requires certain linguistic skills. In the world of “Game of Thrones”, the most used languages are “Valyrian” and “Dothraki”. But these have just recently been made public here. New words are discovered and deciphered each day, with new rules and dialects that are discussed by fans.
“It’s that type of diversity that we want to highlight here,” says Limbourg. “That’s why you won’t find any complete articles in Valyrian and Dothraki, but rather interactive translation pages. Piece for piece, we will be completing a new version of the website and everyone can take part.”
DW has been online since 1994. It was the first German public broadcaster to go online and even outpaced international competitors like the BBC by three years. Today, dw.de is available in 30 languages – not including Valyrian and Dothraki – and has 33 million unique visitors per month.
... the Guinness Book of World Records, that is. The 2015 edition of the perennial guide to records great, small, and even exceedingly trivial will be hitting retailer bookshelves next week, and among the new records recorded is “Most Pirated TV Program”.
Citing TorrentFreak’s report, the book states that the 5.9 million illicit downloads of the the third season’s finale, “Mhysa”, make it the most pirated TV program in the world. It will also note that executives at HBO have in the past said that the wide-spread piracy is “better than an Emmy.”
Once again, James Hibberd has the scoop, revealing that Mark Gatiss—writer and actor on Sherlock, among many other pop favorite shows—will be returning on season 5 to reprise his role as Tycho Nestoris of the Iron Bank of Braavos. Last seen negotiating with Stannis Baratheon over the Bank’s financial support, his appearance in season 5 certainly heralds more use of Braavos and the Iron Bank for this season.
Hibberd also adds that Gatiss will be filming in Croatia next week.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, veteran Northern Irish actor J.J. Murphy passed away mere days after filming his first scene for season 5 of Game of Thrones. Heretofore an unpublicized member of the cast, the Telegraph reports that Murphy was cast in the role of Ser Denys Mallister, a senior man of the Night’s Watch who in the novels was the commander of the Shadow Tower and a leading candidate to succeed Lord Commander Mormont. The Telegraph notes he was due to film more scenes, and speculates as to whether the role will be removed from the show or if another actor will be cast to fill it.
Murphy, 86 years old at the time of his death, had decades of theatre experience. According to the Telegraph, he was best known for his work at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, where actors such as Liam Neeson and Ciaran Hinds cut their teeth and learned their craft alongside him. Our condolences to his friends and family.
Thanks to the intrepid Martino Santirso, Westeros.org is happy to present his diary from the London Film and Comic Convention. Over the coming days, we’ll be posting interviews with a number of Game of Thrones actors that were present at the convention, and as always they’re quite the charming bunch. Martino has provided an introduction to the diary—and himself—here... and as it happens, we’ve also posted the very first interview as well with actor Finn Jones, who plays the famous Knight of Flowers, Ser Loras Tyrell. Finn was actually one of the first actors we ourselves interviewed way back during the first season, and we’re pleased to say he’s as exuberant as always!
You can read Finn’s interview here. As the week progresses, we’ll add further interviews with the likes of Gethin Anthony (Renly Baratheon), Kate Dickie (Lysa Arryn), Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne), and Kristian Nairn (HODOR) !
HBO’s just sent out a release noting that today, the season 4 boxed set of Game of Thrones can now be pre-ordered (US Bluray, US DVD, UK Bluray, UK DVD). Here’s the full release concerning the contents, and the differences between the DVD and Bluray editions:
The global cultural phenomenon Game of Thrones returns for its fourth season on Blu-ray and DVD from HBO Home Entertainment on 16th February 2015 and is loaded with exclusive bonus content, including extensive guides and illustrated histories.
This hit HBO series has broken ratings records and topped The Sopranos℠ to become the most popular show in the network’s history. Season four continues this winning streak with 19 Emmy® Awards nominations including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage) and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Lena Headey).
Each year, Game of Thrones continues to be one of the best-selling TV programmes available on Blu-ray and DVD, and Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season is packed with even more exclusive bonus content including roundtable discussions, on-set interviews, audio commentaries, and brand new animated histories giving fans hours of extensive, never-before-seen material.
In Season 4, while the Lannisters’ hold on the Iron Throne remains intact, new and ongoing threats from the south, north and east threaten to tip the scales. As Stannis Baratheon and Daenerys Targaryen continue to grow their respective armies, the arrival of the Lannister-loathing “Red Viper of Dorne” poses a more immediate danger. In the north, the depleted Night’s Watch seems overmatched against the advances of Mance Rayder’s army of wildlings, which in turn is being trailed by an even more formidable foe: the undead White Walkers.
Well, this is an interesting revelation at EW’s interview with yesterday’s panelists. When asked if he’s writing for season 5, George admits that he is not, in fact, doing so. This will be the first time that the show has not had a GRRM-penned episode. Martin cites his work on The Winds of Winter as the primary reason. You can find the full interview below (the question, and Martin’s response, starts at the 1:10 mark):
The panel’s over, and the big news out of it is that HBO revealed a number of the new cast members via a casting video, seen below (keep reading for HBO’s press release, and a bonus season 4 blooper reel!):
The Primetime Emmys have announced their nominations for this year’s award, and the ever.popular Game of Thrones leads the field with a total of 19 nominations, including a number in the “major” categories: Best Drama, Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage), Supporting Actress (Lena Headey), Guest Actress (Diana Rigg), Writing, and Direction (Neil Marshall for Watchers on the Wall). Other nominations are Casting in a Drama, two entries in the Cinematography category (for Anette Haellmigk, who acted as director of photography for a six of last season’s episodes, as well as Jonathan Freeman, also responsible for several episodes), Costuming, Hairstyling, Interactive Program (for HBO’s use of Instagram and Facebook), Makeup, Music Composition, Prosthetic Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Stunt Coordination, Art Direction, and Visual Effects.
It’s a tough field in the major categories, especially with Breaking Bad‘s final season under consideration, and performances by its supporting cast in Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn, while a HBO sister program True Detective has Cary Fukunaga’s direction and Nic Pizzolatto’s writing to contend with as well. Still, as they say, it’s an honor to be nominated. The Emmy awards will be handed out on August 25th.
Our final video for season 4 became our longest ever, needing to be split up into three parts to keep it managable. Linda and I cover the season from start to finish, reviewing both the best and worst moments, as well as speculating regarding how they’ll bring about the adaptation of the novels to season 5. There’s some spoilers along the way—some of them drawn from information about the show’s adaptation choices, specifically, and some just drawing from the novels—so beware if you’re sensitive to either!
You’ll find the videos below:
As we’ve done for the previous episodes this season, Linda and I have filmed a video of our discussing the episode, focusing on various aspects including providing insights into the history and background of various details, as well as our views on various aspects of the episode. We’ve placed the video in our episode guide, but you can find it below:
For those of you in the UK, you can also see our appearance in the final Thronecast episode of the season—as well as Iwan Rheon (aka Ramsay) and Natalia Tena (Osha) with her band Molotov Jukebox—over at Sky’s website.
The preliminary parts of our episode guide for “The Children”, the season finale of Game of Thrones, are now up. Besides the analysis and the book-to-screen breakdown, we’ve linked the post-episode videos HBO has released.
Unfortunately, the recap may be somewhat delayed this time around due to other commitments! And we’ll see if we can manage to get the video discussion/review out as well.
This past February, I had the opportunity to interview a number of actors in London. One of the ones I was most eager to meet—because she had been rather difficult to get an interview with previously!—was Sibel Kekilli, who plays Shae. Although given the early date of the interview it was difficult to approach anything discussing her big turn this season, it was a good chance to catch up with the actress.
An award-winner in her native Germany for her powerful work in films such as Head-On and When We Leave, Kekilli proves to be a very enthusiastic interview subject—a lot of exclaimations, a lot of smiles, and not a little laughter.
What was it like, when you first got involved in Game of Thrones?
Big news for Bryan Cogman, story editor of Game of Thrones and writer of such episodes as “Kissed by Fire” and “The Laws of Gods and Men”. According to Deadline Hollywood, Cogman will be writing the Magic: The Gathering film—the first in a potential franchise of movies—for 20th Century Fox and Hasbro with Simon Kinberg (of X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, among other works) producing.
Congratulations, Bryan!
(Oh, and before anyone worries that this scripting work will pull him away from Game of Thrones, never fear—Cogman’s participation is confirmed at least through season 5!)
The first parts of our episode guide for “The Watchers on the Wall” are now live, including our analysis of the episode (TL;DR: it’s really, really good) and our book-to-screen breakdown. We’ll see if we can get the recap done in the next hours. Also included in the guide are the videos HBO has posted up, including a 2 minute piece focusing on the fight scene. Look at the opening of that one, folks, and you’ll see a lot of why we were so baffled by the duel in “The Mountain and the Viper”.
Neil Marshall delivers, and so do the writers, the production, and more. However, after the cut, a very brief commentary on a controversy that seems to be rearing its head on the forums and online—one that I hope is just a tempest in a tea cup…
Well, it’s about time! HBO has just made us aware of the fact that October will see the release of Living Language Dothraki , a conversational language-teaching course with a workbook and an audio CD. Amazing, and long overdue.
Now, where’s the Valyrian book?
The full press release can be found below, including details on additional resources that can be purchased along with the entry-level course:
One of the actors who has been most elusive among the regular cast has been Aidan Gillen. We’ve hoped to interview him for a number of years, but could never make it work… until, that is, earlier this year when I traveled to London to take part in a round of interviews with Gillen, as well as a number of actors.
I recall back when the show was announced that all sorts of names flew about for various roles, but Gillen’s name was easily the most common fan suggestion for Petyr Baelish. Those suggestions were largely based on his role as Caracetti in HBO’s groundbreaking The Wire, I suspect, but I admit at the time I hadn’t gotten past the show’s first season so didn’t know him from there. But we here at Westeros.org also latched onto the name when it was suggested, because of his charming, fearless, devilish performance as Stuart Russel T. Davies’s Queer as Folk.
With many notable roles under his belt, in film, television, and theater, the Dublin-born actor proves a very knowledgeable, extremely thoughtful interview subject. He takes his time with all his responses, thinking them through. And, as you’ll see, he’s more familiar than most of the actors with the source material….
Without being too spoilery, what sort of character does Littlefinger takes this season?
How much do you know about what lies ahead for your character? You’ve read the books, I know, but do you know what lies beyond that?
(For the rest of the interview, head over to the Features page!)
Spanish fans, are you sitting down? Because according to James Hibberd at EW, the production is looking to film in Spain for season 5. While Hibberd’s coy about just what new region might be depicted there, the image heading the article might be taken as a hint… although as we’ve seen from the past production, it’s entirely possible that filming in Spain might be used to supplement footage shot elsewhere (just as the dragon scene in “The Laws of Gods and Men” was filmed in Iceland, as Byran Cogman revealed in our interview, despite all other Slaver’s Bay exteriors having been shot in Croatia).
Spain has a very long history as a popular filming location for its beautiful, semi-arid regions and the Moorish influence on its architecture. Andalusia—the name of the region deriving from the Arabic name, Al-Andalus—served as one of the primary filming locations for David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, as well as a significant part of Sergio Leone’s westerns with Clint Eastwood, such as A Fist Full of Dollars and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and also Anthony Mann’s El Cid. Suffice it to say, it will provide a lot of possibilities for Dorne, a region Martin has explicitly connected with Moorish Spain.
Our episode guide for “Mockingbird” is now updated with the first of our content: the book-to-scene breakdown and our review analyzing various scenes, as well as a number of HBO’s post-episode videos (including an interesting one from GRRM discussing Littlefinger’s feelings towards Sansa). Besides that, HBO has placed the trailer for episode 8 on-line, which we’ve placed over in the episode guide for “The Mountain and the Viper”. Remember, that episode won’t be airing until two weeks from now, as the show takes a break for Memorial Day (replacing it in its time slot is the HBO original movie, The Normal Heart, starring Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts; heard some good things about this harrowing look at the early days of the AIDS crisis in New York City, so it’s worth checking out).
We hope to get our detailed recap of the episode posted tomorrow evening, but for those who want to discuss the episode, rate it, and more, the A Song of Ice and Fire forum is full of like-minded individuals, so give it a try!
The episode’s done, and our episode guide for “First of His Name” has gone live with our initial analysis of the episode, as well as our book-to-screen breakdown and a number of HBO’s post-episode videos. Our own video—as well as our exhaustive recap—will have to wait until tomorrow this time around, as neither of us can stay up much longer out here!
But to tide you over, there’s always the forum, and HBO has also released the preview to the next episode, which you can find at the guide for “The Laws of Gods and Men”.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview a number of actors in London. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has been our most frequently interviewed actor, I believe—he’s always been quite game to talk to us!—but they’ve always been just with him. This time around, Gwendoline Christie joined him, and I finally got to see at first hand what the show is like as the two actors spark off one another, sending zingers one another’s way with much laughter. And sometimes the zingers aren’t just directed at one another, as you’ll see below ...
Nikolaj, since we spoke last year we’ve seen that your character has become more human and likable. Do you feel that progression continues this season?
Read the rest of the interview at the Feature page!
More than a week has passed since “Breaker of Chains ” aired to some controversy, all thanks to the sept scene between siblings Cersei and Jaime, a dark moment between them made grotesque by the presence of their dead son’s body in the scene. Outrage was exceptional on many sides as a general opinion formed that what was depicted was a rape scene with Jaime forcing his sister. Matters were thrown into some confusion by certain remarks from director Alex Graves and actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, compounded by a very brief remark from executive producer David Benioff in the Inside the Episode featurette which were construed by some as being contradictory.
This week, however, a pair of new interviews with the actors involved in the scene sheds some further light on what they had intended to achieve. Speaking with Sweden’s Expressen newspaper, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau expanded (Google Translate version) on his earlier remarks, speaking forthrightly but with a clear acknowledgment that what viewers took from it was in many cases different from what he, Lena Headey, the director, and the executive producers had intended. Two brief excerpts:
Last night’s episode, “Oathkeeper”, now takes its place as the highest-rated episode of the series to date, with a tremendous 6.9 rating according to HBO, as reported by EW’s James Hibberd. The premiere and the third episode each tied for the previous highest mark, of 6.6 million viewers, so that’s approximately a 5% increase. Hibberd also adds that across three viewings, the episode reached the 8.4 million mark viewing it on the day.
Our episode guide for “Oathkeeper” has been partially completed now, thanks to a mad scrabble of post-episode work. The most time-consuming part, the full recap, shall take awhile longer. HBO has also kindly released a number of post-episode videos, which you can find in our Extras section, while our own video discussion will be up some time tomorrow. It looks like there’ll be a lot to discuss.
HBO has also released the trailer for episode five, which you can find at our “First of His Name” guide.
Our episode guide for Breaker of Chains is now live! Featuring the usual detailed recap, review, and book-to-screen breakdown, we cover all the bases.
One note, though: Youtube’s taking abnormally long to process our video (which was more in-depth than our previous episode-focused videos, in a try at a new format), so it’s not available at the moment. Apologies about that! We’ll try to include as soon as possible… which may be after we wake up, as it’s rather late here and I don’t think we’ll be staying up much longer.
In an impressive turn, HBO has skipped the usual “Lets wait 2-3 weeks” to announce renewal following news that Game of Thrones smashed ratings expectations in its debut this yea.
And even more impressively, HBO has confirmed what everyone pretty much knows: this show is good to go for at least 2 years, with season 5 and 6 now locked in place. This follows recent news prior to the premiere that executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss had renewed their contracts with HBO for two more seasons.
The full press release can be found below
The first episode is done, and our guide to “Two Swords” is now online, with a detailed recap, some thoughts on the qualities of the episode, and a look at the adaptation from the perspective of translating the book to the screens. Still a bit sparse on images from this season—apologies for that, something we hope to correct soon!
Besides our own review, there’s a great deal of discussion over at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum, which we highly recommend for fans (there’s sections for those who have not read the novels at all, but be vigilant about not peeking too much at other threads).
We’ve been so busy these last weeks—with getting things ready for this new season, arranging the new server setup to handle the traffic load that we expect this season, and so on—that the thought of writing a season 4 early impressions piece, based on our viewing of the first three episodes (courtesy of HBO), never really crossed our minds. It was what we had done in past seasons, certainly, but each season seems to leave us busier and busier.
However, we had enough requests for our impressions that we decided to throw something together… but unlike the previous, written ones, this is a video that we’ve thrown up on Youtube. You can find it over at our Feature page, along with a great deal of other features we’ve done over the years, or you can see it below. These are basically spoiler-free general impressions, where we mull over various things that we felt were worth mulling over. For those who want hardcore spoilers, this will likely just be an exercise in frustration, so beware!
Are you in the area of London? Do you have a great Melisandre, Arya, White Walker, Cersei, or Drogo costume? BBC One needs someone just like you to help them out! They’ll be filming a piece on Game of Thrones, with Charles Dance on board as a guest, and they’d love to have some cosplayers on hand who can dress up and help them convey something of the story.
Would-be cosplayers are needed in London for Monday, March 31st—yep, short notice! If you’re interested, see below for contact details:
We’ve previously reported on exclusive featurettes for season 4 of Game of Thrones that Verizon and Comcast released, but it looks like HBO has now put them up on the official Youtube channel in 720p quality. Definitely worth a look, but beware spoilers (especially in the weapons and fighting video):
Well, this is a fascinating development: Sky has announced that every episode of season 4 of Game of Thrones will air simultaneously with the premiere airing in the US. That means diehard fans in the UK will be able to watch it at 2AM, if they feel like it, right at the same time as fans in the US. The usual 9PM Monday airing will also take place, for those who prefer their prime time television at prime time.
This is obviously a very bold move on Sky’s part, as it’s clearly in response to piracy of the episode in the UK. The economic arguments have been undercut somewhat: streaming packages offering Sky Atlantic, including the £15 monthly Sky Go and the £4.99 (introductory) price on NOW TV, are available without needing a full TV package. The other most common argument after that, however, was the fact that many die-hard fans want to be able to take part in the conversation after a new episode as soon as possible. They may not stay up to 3AM watching an episode, but there are many who’d get up a bit earlier in the morning to watch the show so they could immediately leap on to the forums, or at least be very happy to have the episode waiting for them when they get back from school or from work. Sky Atlantic’s 9PM airings prevented that, however, and the wait was simply too long…
But now that’s gone as an argument as well. It will be very interesting to see if this makes a dent in illegal downloads of Game of Thrones in the UK, which was ranked as the country with the fourth highest illict downloads of the show last year.
April 2nd will see the first episode of Game of Thrones receive a red carpet premiere in Stockholm, and in collaboration with HBO Nordic we’re offering fans the chance to be a part of it—and besides that, a chance for fans to attend a special fan event planned for the 6th of April. The winner of the competition will receive not one, not two, not four, but ten tickets to bring their friends along with them to the premiere; all other prize winners will receive pairs of tickets to the fan event.
See below for full details (in Swedish!), including instructions for how to enter the competition. Please bear in mind that the subject of the email should be exactly the same as noted below—makes it much easier for us to sort through entries!
Game of Thrones merchandising is burgeoning, to say the least, and this has led to the occasional oddity (like mini football helmets) and things you’d otherwise not expect them to make. Case in point? The newly released Game of Thrones: A Pop-up Guide to Westeros (Order: Amazon US, Amazon UK). I admit, the last pop-up book I owned featured the Transformers—not the new ones from the Michael Bay movies, the old Hasbro Transformers of the 80s. But a look around suggests that pop-up books aimed at fannish culture are certainly a thing, and the designer of this particular book—Matthew Reinhart—has cut a niche for himself bringing his abilities to the world of geek culture with Star Wars, DC comics, and… x80s Transformers, too; it’s a small world!
A lengthy interview with executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss—the longest I think I’ve ever seen—covers a huge range of topics, from the origins of their acquaintance to their current work on the unannounced season 5 (it’s happening, no need to wait for HBO to make it official). It’s insightful. Here’s an excerpt related to working from the template of a published series, and having the author on hand:
I read an interview with John Irving where he said he always knows the ending when he starts a book and he makes a beeline for it. I guess it helps center your brain.
There’s more to be found over at Vanity Fair, including a fascinating bit discussing the influence of Anthony Mann, Roman Polanski, Akira Kurosawa, and Andrei Tarkovsky on the visual style of Game of Thrones; getting to watch an original, well-preserved 35mm print of Ran would indeed be something special.
Last month, I had the opportunity to sit down with a number of the actors involved in Game of Thrones, to talk about the journey so far, and perhaps to draw out a few hints about what’s to come. First up in this interview series—leading up to and into the next season—I had the pleasure to talk with Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane), the latter of whom I’ve never had the pleasure of interviewing before. We have a chance to talk the joys of Vine, the pleasures of Iceland, and how their characters get along as season 4 commences.
Maisie, many people have mentioned you as a very impressive actress. Do you have any method you use, or have you just picked things up since you started the show?
How does it feel not to get to act with Sophie?
To read the rest of the interview, visit our Features!
These are shorter promo pieces, half a minute long each, but they offer more tantalizing glimpses from the upcoming 4th season:
That Game of Thrones is a global phenomenon is without a doubt. It appears in scores of foreign markets, has events around the world where actors are eagerly sought after as guests, and the fan base reaches to some of the remotest places in the world. So it’s no surprise that the exhibitions of the show’s props and costumes have ranged widely, across both hemispheres. Usually, these have been specifically tied to promoting the TV show, but in at least one case they have been used for quite a different purpose: educational. At Stockholm’s Royal Armory, Sweden’s oldest museum and part of the royal palace complex (which happens to be one of the largest royal palaces still in use as a royal residence), a new exhibition titled Power Games (Maktspel) was launched last week exploring depictions of power in television and cinema. Set alongside costumes and artifacts from Sweden’s 16th century were costumes from the films Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age as well as Game of Thrones.
Linda and I were invited by the armory to take part, and so off to beautiful Stockholm we went! You can read more about what saw at the exhibit, and what’s in store for visitors, over at our Features page.
HBO has been on a tear with releasing content in the lead up to the April 6th premiere of Game of Thrones. After the NYC premeire, this new trailer was streamed—but now you can get it in all its 720p goodness via Youtube:
More to come, we’re pretty sure!
James Hibberd scores another exclusive, revealing that David Benioff and Dan Weiss have renewed their contracts with HBO, setting them on course to run the show through a prospective sixth season. As Hibberd puts it:
“Though HBO has not yet officially renewed the show for a fifth year, Thrones is the premium cable network’s most-watched series (averaging 14.3 million viewers last season across all the network’s platforms) and is second only to The Sopranos as its most popular show of all time. Recently the producers told EW they suspect Thrones will conclude after seven seasons.”
So, just to emphasize, a two year contract renewal is not a guarantee of a sixth season… but at this point it seems that, short of some catastrophe happening to HBO or the production, a sixth season is all but assured.
And then Weiss and Benioff will be up for contract renegotations again… and so, too, will a number of actors, we suspect, as six year option contracts are pretty normal in TV.
Fans in the UK have a lot of reasons to be excited about Game of Thrones this season… not least that it’s now more accessible than ever thanks to NOW TV, powered by Sky! The streaming service has all three past seasons available for streaming now, and will be airing season 4 within 24 hours of the US premiere date. Viewers can sign up on a month-to-month, no-contract basis, and besides Game of Thrones will have access to many other programs on demand and live showcasing a selection of Sky’s very best program offerings.
To help get the word out, NOW TV and Westeros.org are pleased to announce a contest series. The prize? An iron throne of your own, of sorts—one much more comfortable than the one Joffrey is sitting on. Approved by HBO, these numbered, limited edition Iron Throne seat backings will allow you to rule the Seven Kingdoms from the comfort of your own home.
Open to UK fans, the contest will run over three weeks, with one winner selected each week. Here’s the task for the first week: Let us know over at the @westerosorg Twitter what your first command would be if you sat the Iron Throne! Make sure to use the #GoTNOWTV hashtag, and help spread the word!
We’ll have more on costuming soon, once we’re done with our report from Stockholm’s Royal Armory and its Power Games exhibition, but Time Warner Cable has a special feature on season 4’s costumes, courtesy of HBO. You can see it below. Among other things, I believe it gives us the first, absolutely official glimpse at Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Mace Tyrell:
A lot of new shots here, a few new bits of dialog, and at least one very, very interesting scene (see if you can guess which one we mean), can now be found over at the official Game of Thrones Facebook page.
Visually stunning work, as usual!
Following the big reveal of the April issue of Vanity Fair having an Annie Leibovitz-photographed feature on Game of Thrones, Vanity Fair has busily been releasing material from the shoots and interviews to whet the appetite. Most notably? This extended interview with George R.R. Martin. Lots of interesting tidbits therein, including his apparent hope that the production slow its tempo a bit by taking time off for a prequel series (as Spartacus did) or a split season (as many, many shows are currently doing these days).
There have also been some excellent videos released with the cast members from the Leibovitz shoot, featuring everything from advice actors would give to their characters to what other characters they might want to play:
HBO has let us know of a wonderfully-amusing vignette, narrated by Charles Dance, recounting how David Benioff and Dan Weiss came to adapt George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series into Game of Thrones. It’s definitely just a bit on the comedic side:
Very charming! The list of just how many locations, cast members, costumes, and more go into a typical season is a particularly fun set of factoids
Following up the Vanity Fair piece with its remark that the producers are thinking of seven or eight seasons, James Hibberd at EW has a somewhat more definitive quote from the David Benioff:
“It feels like this is the midpoint for us,” Benioff says. “If we’re going to go seven seasons, which is the plan, season 4 is right down the middle, the pivot point.”
Of course, it’s not 100%, as HBO executive Michael Lombardo implies a possibility of 8 seasons, which matches Vanity Fair’s earlier quote. But at the moment, 7 seasons appears to be the end goal of the producers.
Vanity Fair has unveiled the cover for the April issue… and Game of Thrones features heavily indeed. It’s not just any Game of Thrones photo shoot—world famous photographer Annie Leibovitz turns her practiced eye, photographing the actors and creators of the show, while there’s plenty of interview material… including this fairly definitive quote from Benioff and Weiss:
Below, see a video showing the cover shoot, featuring Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Peter Dinklage. The April Issue will be available to digital subscribers from March 13th.
A few new things to look at in this trailer. titled “Secrets”:
Music by Losers, from their song “Turn Around”.
HBO seem to determined to make sure that the entire world knows that season 4 of Game of Thrones is coming, because another trailer is due this Sunday evening, doubtless airing just before the finale of True Detective (very much looking forward to that, myself). HBO has teased it using Vine, which can be seen below.
Fully embracing the season’s “All Men Must Die” tagline, HBO has announced a new website: Beautiful Death, dedicated to providing an illustrated death-by-death countdown towards the premiere of season 4. There’s two already up, and more are promised.
The illustrations come from Robert M. Ball, who is no stranger to Game of Thrones art, as his portfolio features some character illustrations he was commissioned to do for Wired .
The second image, depicting the Hound’s killing of Mycah, is quite striking.
While Brooklyn gets the new-sold-out screening and Seattle gets the art show—and a number of other places are getting the international exhibition—there’s quite a lot going out there in the world of Game of Thrones curation…
Such as “Makspel” in our native Sweden! Hosted by the Royal Armory (Livrustkammaren) in Stockholm, beginning March 14th through January 4th the event will feature costumes from Game of Thrones as well as the films Elizabeth and its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age set beside historical costumes from the 16th century. The museum, the oldest in Sweden, is part of the historic royal complex in Stockholm’s Old Town (Gamlestaden), making it even more worth the visit if you happen to be in the vicinity in the coming months.
The evening before will feature an official opening that’s invitiation only (Linda and I will be there)... but as part of the event, the museum is hoping to have re-enactors and cosplayers on hand dressed as their favorite Game of Thrones characters. If you or anyone you know has a show costume in their closet, make sure to take a look at this file with information about what they’re looking for! An important note, however: if you’re interested, they’d like to be contacted no later than tomorrow, so get to it (and hope to see you there!)
HBO has released word of a truly massive sneak peek of season 4 of Game of Thrones.... at Brooklyn’s renowned, state-of-the-art Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dubbed “The Epic Fan Experience”, up to 7,000 fans will be be able to look at the traveling exhibition of costumes and props before filing into the arena to witness the premiere episode of the new episode. This event will take place on March 20th, more than two weeks before the season premieres on HBO.
It’s not a free event; tickets will be released on March 6th and can be purchased via Ticketmaster, with net proceeds going to the very worthy charities, Nothing But Nets and Books for Africa. So, not just an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, but one that helps some good causes. Definitely worth keeping your schedule open for!
See the full press release below:
After its series of “Valar Morghulis” posters, with their stark black-and-white depictions of the show’s key characters, HBO now provides a somewhat more colorful image. I think it’s quite striking…
... even if they do insist on calling it a three-eyed crow.
Via EW, fans can now read a paragraph—yes, a whole paragraph!—from The Winds of Winter. This is actually a clever means of noting a unique approach that Random House has decided to use to promote the World of Ice and Fire app (Buy: iOS, Android): the next big update (which, yes, Linda and I have worked on and teased, due next month, will also include the full chapter that is being previewed here.
As I said in the tease, the update will be of particular interest to fans of The Lands of Ice and Fire (Order: Amazon US, Amazon UK), as it will provide some new information on some of the new lands and places that the map has revealed, as well as additions of a number of characters that previously weren’t covered in the update.
Following on today’s earlier sneak peek from EW, HBO has now released three character teasers focusing on Tyrion (seen in the Tyrion peek), Daenerys, and the Starks. You can see them below:
HBO has just aired the second Game of Thrones trailer, teasing just a bit more of what’s to come for Season 4. You can see it below:
Season 4 premieres on April 6th, at 9:00PM Eastern.
Taking a page from Han ZImmer’s Inception score, HBO is teasing a brand new trailer due this Sunday night with this very brief Vine video—and accompanying audio—that suggests it may focus on Daenerys and the story in the east:
No new images here, but it certainly whets the appetite to see more.
As season 4 approaches, the licensing juggernaut that is HBO’s Game of Thrones keeps on moving as well. Things are heating up significantly in the toy area (keep reading for a contest to win some of the figures!), as figurines and miniatures based on the Game of Thrones license have proven very popular. Leading the way, of course, has been Funko‘s POP! series of figures, which are being released in new editions with some regularity. Funko has been expanding, however, in two directions.
First, to really encourage the collecting craze, Funko has created its new “blind box” minis in the same style as the POP! figures. The “blind boxes”—named for the fact that you never know what you’re going to get—are going to lead to a lot of collecting and trading. The other direction Funko has gone, however, is creating the first-ever 6” collectible action figures for the series. Not yet really released, Toy Ark spotted early photos of the figures via an eBay auction of someone who had gotten a hold of them early. The initial series of six figures include Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister , The Hound, a White Walker, Daenerys Targaryen, and Ned Stark.
Last night, HBO aired a 15 minute feature highlighting what’s to come in season 4… and embracing the magic of the Internet, they have releaed it on to Youtube. You can watch it below:
Having watched that, what has you most excited?
The Making Game of Thrones blog has posted a new season 4 video, this time introducing the show’s new production designer, Deborah Riley. A lot of glimpses of new sets, discussion of all the work that is involved in one of the most intricate television productions in the world, and also some glimpses of characters old (in brand new costumes, in some cases) and new:
On a related note, the Game of Thrones production has a tremendous crew working for it, many of them Northern Ireland locals, so it’s no surprise that Belfast’s growing reputation as a place with a lot of skilled craftsmen and production workers has led to more demand for studio space to accommodate more productions.
HBO has finally released some official stills from season 4 of Game of Thrones—premiering April 6th—and there’s the usual lovely assortment of images of actors…
.... but for fans of the novels, perhaps the most important one is the one that features the first good look at Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand, with that character’s lover, the Dornish prince Oberyn Martell, also known as the Red Viper. There’s many more images to be found, however, totalling fifteen showing off some new costumes, hinting at some key relationships, and more (including, for that matter, the first good look at Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis.
You can find them at our gallery.
Ahead of the February 9th airing of the 15 minute-long season 4 preview feature, HBO has released a promotional video giving a taste of what’s to come:
Just one tiny bit of new footage, I believe, featuring Joffrey with a sword (fans will know what that’s about). The real fun comes February 9th.
HBO has just sent out a news blast with information that should be of interest to fans of Game of Thrones: a 15 minute featurette will air prior to February 9’s airing of True Detective (great show, by the by) , titled Game of Thrones Ice and Fire: A Foreshadowing. The featurette promises to have “clips from upcoming episodes, behind-the-scenes-footage, interviews with talent, and cast members’ answers to questions posed by fans.” Should contain yet more glimpses of new things from Season 4, set to debut on April 6th.
The Game of Thrones exhibition of previous seasons is making a come back for season 4, with some brand new exhibits included. Spanning three continents and six countries, starting January 27th in New York City. The full press release, and the list of dates and locations, can be found below:
Now that the trailer is out, it’s no great surprise that HBO has started providing more material for fans to feast their eyes on. First up? A brand new entry in the “On the Set” series of videos, this one introducing season 4 to fans as it zooms about the four countries in which the past season was filmed, talks to executive producers and other key members of cast and crew alike, and gives us a few glimpses of some new locations and characters.
The video is available at HBO.com presently, and is embedded below; when it shows up on the official Game of Thrones Youtube, we’ll provide the link for that as well:
After the success of last year’s book penned by writer and producer Bryan Cogman, it should be no surprise that HBO has announced a new book for Fall 2014 publication, written by Cat Taylor (assistant to the executive producers, and writer of the missives on the official Making Game of Thrones blog). It doesn’t seem that it can be preordered on Amazon.com as yet, but below you’ll find the details revealed in the press release:
Here it is, folks:
Lots and lots of dialog, glimpses of intriguing scenes… should be a bit of excitement for everyone! Season 4 premieres on April 6th.
Not exactly the usual way for one of these to get out there, but thanks to a tip from The Rabbit, it looks like HBO Adria has put out a brief teaser trailer, which adds a bit of new footage that we’ve not yet seen. We’re guessing that they’ll all be glimpsed in the full trailer due this Sunday, but until there, he’s a chance to whet your appetite:
The social media platform of the moment, Vine, is playing host to five “Vines”—very short videos—from HBO, featuring moments from season 4! You can find the official videos all gathered at the Game of Thrones Vine page, but here’s a taste, with some brief comments—note it contains spoilers!
HBO has just blasted out a press release revealing that season 4 of Game of Thrones will be premiering on April 6…. and that the first trailer—an extended trailer, at that—will be appearing on HBO this Sunday, right before the premiere of True Detective (which, I should add, looks fantastic, and has been getting some rave reviews; sounds like more must-watch TV!)
So, now a date’s in place, and a trailer is coming, and we expect to soon have some of the first official cast stills coming our way.
For those without HBO, never fear about the trailer, by the way: it will of course show up on HBO.com and the official Youtube channel.
Over at TV Line, Michael Ausellio broke some interesting news: Michiel Huisman, the Dutch actor who was recast into the role of Daario Naharis, has secured a place in the as-yet-unannounced-but-absolutely-inevitable 5th season. And not just any place, but as a member of the regular cast of the series. Not wholly unexpected, this, but it’s interesting that it’s being confirmed now and basically proves that the producers and HBO are already looking to getting season 5 set up.
As is usual with HBO, we expect that an official renewal won’t be announced until after season 4 premieres… and as we all know, the official premiere date has not been announced, yet. Will the TCA winter press tour—the cable portion of which begins on January 9—provide us more information? We’ll have to wait and see.
As the holidays approached, George R.R. Martin shared the news that his theatre, the Jean Cocteau in Santa Fe, New Mexico, would begin to host screenings of the first three seasons of Game of Thrones. Today marks the start of the screenings, starting with the first three episodes of season one. The marathon series of screenings will take place more or less weekly, up to March 24th, and GRRM himself will be in attendance at some of the screenings to introduce the episodes and answer questions. Notably, the screenings will be entirely free, although it will be first come, first served at the small theatre.
Below, you’ll find the full schedule of the screenings:
Which, as it happens, w
