(BOOK SPOILERS) Game of Thrones Series Discussion for Book Readers

[jayembee]

It's going to be a long time before the series catches up to the books. The second half of Book #3 will be in 2014. Given the narrative structures of Books #4 & #5 (in which GRRM ran with character arcs rather than keeping to a chronological order), I suspect that Benioff & Weiss will reshuffle the events into chronological order and take at least three seasons, more likely four, to cover that material. Which means that the series won't be caught up to where the books are now until 2017 or 2018. And if Book #6 is as long as the preceding ones, it'll likely take up two seasons. Which puts the end of Book #6, series-wise, in 2019 or 2020.

As slow as GRRM is in writing the books (personally, I'd rather have them good than soon, as frustrating as it can be to wait), it's not impossible for him to reach the finish line before the series.

To be honest, I'd be more concerned that the more casual viewers will lose patience with how long the story is taking (I mean, if I'm right about how the show will play out, it'll take ~12 seasons overall) and the viewership drops to the point where HBO decides it's not cost effective to keep the show going.

[mredman]

Another interview with Michelle Fairley where the interviewer ask about Lady Stoneheart damn this woman is the fort knox

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/...rview-spoilers

So Catelyn is dead, but in the books, she is not actually gone! She becomes Lady Stoneheart! Who has deep gashes in her face from scratching herself, can’t speak because her throat was cut so deeply, and was in the river for a few days before being brought back to life. She marauds around killing Freys, plus anyone who might have done the Starks wrong, and appears occasionally going forward. Have you talked to Dan and David about Season 4?
MF: Well, you’ll just have to keep watching. You’ll have to keep wattttttcccchhhhin’.

The way Lady Stoneheart, zombie Catelyn, is described — she’s completely insane, basically.
MF: I’m completely insane, so it mightn’t be too much of an acting stretch!

Were that to happen in the show’s future, would that be fun?
MF: No one knows, no one knows. Sorry, Kate!

Oh my god — I’m asking IN THEORY. You mentioned before that at the end, Catelyn is purely consumed by vengeance, and that seems to be the after-death version of her. Which seems to be great fodder.
MF: Of course. For an actor to play something like that, I think visually it would be incredible. How do you portray evil, vengeance, lust for revenge? What does that do physically to a human being, what do they end up looking like? How do they attain it? The embodiment of that is something that would be incredibly exciting. Even evil people are justified. If you’re playing a character like that, you have to find a way of liking them.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Edword

This is ASOIAF, nobody is safe.

Well, I'd say almost nobody. There are compelling arguments for the ultimate survival of one character or another, and I suspect a fair number of them will get out of the series alive. But if the story is headed where I'm fairly certain it must head, there are two characters that I think are pretty much guaranteed to make it at least into the last book, if not to the end of the last book: Daenerys and Jon Snow.

It's GRRM's capacity for hitting the reader upside the head with the unexpected Louisville Slugger that makes one doubt that anyone is safe.

[Eddc15]

I think Daenerys, Jon, Arya and Tyrion are the four people who are going to survive to the end. That's assuming Jon isn't already dead.

However, if any of them were to die, I think it'll be Tyrion right at the end for the ultimate ***** slap from GRRM.

[jamclaur]

Originally Posted by Eddc15

I think Daenerys, Jon, Arya and Tyrion are the four people who are going to survive to the end. That's assuming Jon isn't already dead.

However, if any of them were to die, I think it'll be Tyrion right at the end for the ultimate ***** slap from GRRM.

Have you read any of the fan theories? They're not spoilers because nothing has been said by GRRM, but some of those are pretty great... I believe a lot of them.

[Gaius Marius]

Originally Posted by ForEver Blu

Now it's clear that the ninth eppy of each season will be a Game Changer.


With that said, my guess for S4 E9 from what I've read/heard about from friends about the books.


Tyrion will kill Tywin and Shae.

I'm guessing it will be the Battle at the Wall and/or the Viper/Mountain dual. I think Tyrion killing Tywin and Shae will be Ep 10.

The Red Wedding was brutal - even knowing it was coming. I had the dread feeling the whole episode, especially when the Dany/Sam/Jon/Bran stories were going on. The end result did not disappoint (though seein the Greatjon angry and drunk and Grey Wind ripping people up would have been nice ). I have to say that Talisa (brutal way to go both physically and psychologically) and Grey Wind (hate seeing dogs/wolves being killed ) were the worst deaths for me.

On a side note - who is ready to see some Martels next season

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by Gaius Marius

On a side note - who is ready to see some Martels next season

The addition of the Sand Vipers should certainly spice up some of next seasons' episodes. I eagerly await the casting rumors.

The Dornish should certainly fill the power vacuum on the show. I could see some of those characters quickly becoming fan favorites.

[Hucksta G]

Originally Posted by jayembee

It's going to be a long time before the series catches up to the books. The second half of Book #3 will be in 2014. Given the narrative structures of Books #4 & #5 (in which GRRM ran with character arcs rather than keeping to a chronological order), I suspect that Benioff & Weiss will reshuffle the events into chronological order and take at least three seasons, more likely four, to cover that material. Which means that the series won't be caught up to where the books are now until 2017 or 2018. And if Book #6 is as long as the preceding ones, it'll likely take up two seasons. Which puts the end of Book #6, series-wise, in 2019 or 2020.

As slow as GRRM is in writing the books (personally, I'd rather have them good than soon, as frustrating as it can be to wait), it's not impossible for him to reach the finish line before the series.

To be honest, I'd be more concerned that the more casual viewers will lose patience with how long the story is taking (I mean, if I'm right about how the show will play out, it'll take ~12 seasons overall) and the viewership drops to the point where HBO decides it's not cost effective to keep the show going.

Pretty sure quite a few events from book 4 and 5 will be brought in to the second half of the fourth season, and then the next season after that, I can't see them doing much more than two seasons on those books.

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by Hucksta G

Pretty sure quite a few events from book 4 and 5 will be brought in to the second half of the fourth season, and then the next season after that, I can't see them doing much more than two seasons on those books.

IDK man.....there is actually quite a bit that happens between books 4 & 5 that should warrant @ least 3 full seasons minimum.

i'd sure as sh!t hope they don't rush through events in those books and catch up to martin.

i'd be seriously pissed if they started making up their own story arc's just b/c they didn't take their time and ran out of source material.

[Gaius Marius]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

The addition of the Sand Vipers should certainly spice up some of next seasons' episodes. I eagerly await the casting rumors.

The Dornish should certainly fill the power vacuum on the show. I could see some of those characters quickly becoming fan favorites.

The Red Viper/Mountain duel is one of the scenes I am eagerly anticipating next season

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by Gaius Marius

The Red Viper/Mountain duel is one of the scenes I am eagerly anticipating next season

I wish they'd get Conan Stevens back for The Mountain instead of the guy they had for Season 2. Or, at least, they need to bulk this other guy up a bit. He's damn tall, but a bit too skinny compared to Stevens.

[CIBartowski]

Originally Posted by Gaius Marius

The Red Viper/Mountain duel is one of the scenes I am eagerly anticipating next season

That will be good, but I think I'm more excited to see that little blond s**t Joffrey die.

[robertee]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

The addition of the Sand Vipers should certainly spice up some of next seasons' episodes. I eagerly await the casting rumors.

The Dornish should certainly fill the power vacuum on the show. I could see some of those characters quickly becoming fan favorites.

So far we only know that the Red Viper is set to be cast (and possibly Ellaria Sand):

Leaked audition footage told us about the casting of Styr, the Magnar of Thenn for season 4 of Game of Thrones, but it seems we now have more names to add to the Official Pile of Awesome.

Tower of the Hand reports from a Q&A at ConQuesT 44 in Kansas City that George confirmed the show is at this very moment looking for season 4 characters:

"Auditions are being held now for season 4 – including Styr the Magnar of Thenn, Mace Tyrell and OBERYN MARTELL!!"

Fire And Blood: Glad the news is out. A little birdie told me they are currently looking for Ellaria Sand as well! (Though no, that’s not an official announcement by any stretch.) Either way, color me chuffed.

http://winteriscoming.net/2013/05/gr...ar-being-cast/

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

IDK man.....there is actually quite a bit that happens between books 4 & 5 that should warrant @ least 3 full seasons minimum.

i'd sure as sh!t hope they don't rush through events in those books and catch up to martin.

i'd be seriously pissed if they started making up their own story arc's just b/c they didn't take their time and ran out of source material.

There's no way they can drag out Feast/Dance for 3 seasons. I expect that the Ironborn stuff from Feast (that occurs at the same time as Storm) will be in season 4. Then season 5/6 will be a combination of Feast/Dance/first part of Winds (there's already been a few sample chapters). From there, who knows? Hopefully Winds is out by then.

[Hucksta G]

Originally Posted by robertee

There's no way they can drag out Feast/Dance for 3 seasons. I expect that the Ironborn stuff from Feast (that occurs at the same time as Storm) will be in season 4. Then season 5/6 will be a combination of Feast/Dance/first part of Winds (there already been a few sample chapters). From there, who knows? Hopefully Winds is out by then.

This is what I'm thinking, too.

[danman227460]

I read somewhere that GRRM has told the directors and producers where he wants to go and what he wants to do with the story. So even if they catch up to him, they will be still following GRRM's story that he wants to tell. I believe it was mentioned in an interview about what will happen to GoT if GRRM dies before he manages to finish the story.

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

IDK man.....there is actually quite a bit that happens between books 4 & 5 that should warrant @ least 3 full seasons minimum.

i'd sure as sh!t hope they don't rush through events in those books and catch up to martin.

i'd be seriously pissed if they started making up their own story arc's just b/c they didn't take their time and ran out of source material.

[frogmort]

I've been very busy for the last few days, but I just finished watching The Rains of Castamere. I actually watched it twice in a row, and I've never done that before. It was such an amazing and heart breaking episode. Even though I knew what was coming, I have to admit that I shed a tear or two. Michelle Fairley's acting in the last few minutes was absolutely astounding.


As for how many seasons the show will run for, according to Wiki:

[Show spoiler]Adaptation Schedule:

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss intend to adapt the entirety of the still incomplete A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, if HBO permits it. They envision the series to have a scope of some 80 hours, about eight seasons' worth of material. In 2013, producer Frank Doelger said that "we’ll probably get through to seven seasons".

Benioff and Weiss said that they do not want to pad Game of Thrones out so as to wait for George R.R. Martin (who has taken up to six years to write an installment of A Song of Ice and Fire) to finish writing the last two novels. Knowing the broad outlines of Martin's intended ending for A Song of Ice and Fire, and concerned that extending Game of Thrones to ten seasons would kill its sense of momentum, they consider it possible (but not preferable) that the TV series ends before the last novel is published.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

So what are you guys thinking that Dan & David are up to with Rickon and Osha heading to the Umbers at Last Hearth? In the books, they head off to Skagos, and Wyman Manderly sends Davos to retrieve them. Obviously, D&D know more about George's big game plan, so this might be a short cut or some such thing, but it seemed a surprising alteration to me.

On the plus side, maybe this means we'll get to see the Greatjon again!

[Hucksta G]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

So what are you guys thinking that Dan & David are up to with Rickon and Osha heading to the Umbers at Last Hearth? In the books, they head off to Skagos, and Wyman Manderly sends Davos to retrieve them. Obviously, D&D know more about George's big game plan, so this might be a short cut or some such thing, but it seemed a surprising alteration to me.

On the plus side, maybe this means we'll get to see the Greatjon again!

I remember reading that George said he like the actress who played Osha so much that he wanted to give her a larger part in the next two books, so yeah probably a way to keep her in the show.

[mredman]

i hope the show go for 8-9 seasons i think that will fit with all the 7 intended books

[robertee]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

So what are you guys thinking that Dan & David are up to with Rickon and Osha heading to the Umbers at Last Hearth? In the books, they head off to Skagos, and Wyman Manderly sends Davos to retrieve them. Obviously, D&D know more about George's big game plan, so this might be a short cut or some such thing, but it seemed a surprising alteration to me.

On the plus side, maybe this means we'll get to see the Greatjon again!

I don't think they're actually going to end up at Last Hearth. They'll probably get derailed somehow (Ramsay?) and head for the coast and ultimately Skagos.

Also, the Greatjon isn't coming back...he probably got killed at the RW or is a hostage like in the books.