Any juicy links available? :P

Which at the moment isn't much. Most of the cast has been cast and the remaining actors aren't likely to be big names, so there probably won't be any more huge announcements until filming itself starts, which I believe is currently scheduled for 29 October.

Recent tidbits: confirmation of Morocco as the filming location for Dany's adventures in the east. Set construction for GoT is starting to get underway right now. The production office in Belfast is up and running. Some pre-filming filming is being done in Scotland (probably landscape and backplate shots for the more mountainous terrain that Ireland lacks, particuarly around Belfast).

The more interesting news is that HBO has apparently informally told some industry insiders they are very excited about the project, have picked up on the huge hype for it (Time Magazine has run a big feature on it before it's even started filming which is unprecedented) and are virtually certain to greenlight the first season. The only thing that might stop it is if big problems in filming itself crop up, and with this cast and crew that seems unlikely.

Latest news:

There was a feature on a Norwegian TV programme about four wolves that have been trained for TV work being shipped over to Britain for an unspecified project based on a book. Naturally everyone thinks it's for GoT and it's certainly possible, but it could also possibly be for the last two HARRY POTTER movies or some other project we haven't even heard of yet.

In other news, confirmation that the sets for the series are being assembled. Apparently the set for GoT will consist of several castle rooms with wrap-around greenscreens, which I imagine will primarily be for Winterfell (word is that the 'new' sequences in King's Landing may be partially or completely dropped in favour of sticking more closely to the book).

Note to any Irish fans of the books: GRRM will be doing a book signing in Belfast on 3 November and another in Dublin on 5 November. The Belfast signing looks like it could be a big deal, as they are trying to get some of the cast and crew from the shoot to go along as well.

More casting news:

Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
Rory McCann is a Scottish actor with many roles behind him, such as the early 2000s comedy-drama series The Book Group and the mini-series State of Play. He is best-known for recent appearances in Hot Fuzz and a general in Alexander. He will be playing the role of Sandor Clegane, nicknamed 'The Hound'. Sandor is the younger brother of the monstrously huge Gregor Clegane, the most feared knight in Westeros, whom he despises. Sandor is a large, powerful warrior and the sworn shield of Prince Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson). He is not a knight and holds the concepts of knighthood and chivalry in disgust. He is distinguished by his partially burned face and seems to enjoy the suffering of others.

Nice piece of casting! McCann is a decent actor, even when he has to say more than just "Yarp!"

There's been some more casting, but nothing major: Jamie Campbell-Bower is playing Ser Waymar Royce whilst Bronson Webb is playing Will. Those are the two members of the Night's Watch who come to a sticky end in the prologue.

Esme Bianco is playing 'Ros', the first character created specifically for the TV series. Apparently the writers were moved to give her a name after previously referring to her character as 'Red-Headed Whore'. Ros is a prostitute working at a brothel (presumably Chataya's) in a new scene set in King's Landing. The writers and GRRM agreed that Tyrion needed a stronger first scene for the series, and having him first appear in a brothel rather than simply riding into Winterfell's courtyard was felt to have more punch, as well as establishing right off the bat that Tyrion isn't going to be your normal comedy fantasy dwarf character.

There was a full script readthrough at the production offices in Belfast today, which apparently went very well. Filming starts two weeks from today.

Casting is now complete. I was waiting for this to post the last round-up:

Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
Isaac Hempstead-Wright is a young British actor whose roles have mostly been confined to the stage and a few adverts. He will be playing Bran Stark, the fourth of Eddard (Sean Bean) and Catelyn Stark's (Jennifer Ehle) five children. Bran is young (seven in the books, possibly slightly older in the series) and adventurous. He spends a lot of his time exploring the many halls, courtyards, walls, nooks and crannies of his home, the vast castle complex of Winterfell which sprawls across many acres. However, he is getting old enough to start learning of the affairs of state, and when the series opens his father judges him old enough to start learning about the harsher side of dispensing justice in the unforgiving lands of the North.

Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark
Joseph Mawle is a very well-respected British actor who won acclaim for his portrayal of Jesus in The Passion. He will be playing Benjen Stark, Lord Eddard's younger brother. As the youngest of the three Stark brothers (the eldest, Brandon, died just before the recent civil war), Benjen was not meant to inherit lands or titles. Instead, he joined the Sworn Brotherhood of the Night's Watch, the force assigned to guard the massive Wall that guards the northern border of Westeros against the wildlings who dwell beyond. In its heyday being a member of the Watch was a noble calling, but in recent decades only criminals and the dregs of society have been sent to the Wall. Its numbers have fallen to a mere one thousand to guard some 300 miles of defenses, an impossible task. Benjen is the First Ranger, one of the most skilled and senior members of the Watch. He is close to his brother and also to his bastard nephew, Jon Snow, whom he seeks to recruit into the Watch.

Ian McNeice as Ilyrio Mopatis
This casting is not yet 100% confirmed but very heavily inferred from statements from official sources. Ian McNeice is an extremely familiar face from British and American television, recently appearing as the news announcer in Rome and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in the Sci-Fi Channel's version of Dune. He was also in Edge of Darkness and the recent Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie, as well as playing a Vogon in the film version of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He is playing Ilyrio Mopatis, Magister of the Free City of Pentos beyond the eastern sea. An inordinately wealthy merchant with an interest in politics, Ilyrio is the benefactor and protector of the exiled prince and princess of Westeros, Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen. He has arranged for Daenerys to be wed to the barbarian warlord Khal Drogo in return for the use of his troops in invading the Seven Kingdoms. Though physically unimposing, Ilyrio is extremely intelligent and possesses formidable monetary and intelligence resources.

Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo
Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa is well-known to Stargate fans as Ronon Dex, a role he played for four years on Stargate Atlantis. He announced his casting at a Stargate convention in Australia this past weekend, where he confirmed that he did a Maori haka at the casting session to win over the casting director. He will be playing Drogo, the warlord or Khal of a vast Dothraki army, a khalasar. He commands 40,000 elite mounted warriors, and is fierce and unrelenting in battle. He is remarkably young for his role, which he won through bravery and glorious deeds. Spurning the offers of women from his own people, he has chosen the beautiful 'dragon princess' from the exotic western lands as his bride, a wedding arranged by Ilyrio in return for Drogo agreeing to lend men and aid to Viserys' bid for the Iron Throne of Westeros.

Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel
This is another casting strongly supported but not 100% confirmed as yet. Ron Donachie is another extremely familiar face from television and film, with roles in the film version of Titanic and in TV series such as Hearbeat, Rebus, Doctor Who, The Bill, Taggart, Auf Widersehen Pet and just about ever major British TV series of the last twenty years. He'll be playing Ser Rodrik Cassel, Master of Arms at Winterfell and in charge of the military training of Eddard Stark's sons. Rodrik Cassel is a stalwart, utterly loyal and reliable servant of House Stark, as is his own son Jory, who is a guard, and his daughter Beth, who is a maid in the castle. Rodrik is unusual in being a worshipper of the Faith of the Seven that holds sway in the southlands, rather than the old gods of the forest who are worshipped in the north, and is a knight, which is also unusual as that is mainly a southron custom.

Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin
Another heavily-indicated but not confirmed casting. Donald Sumpter is another veteran British actor with recent roles in The Sarah-Jane Adventures (as Erasmus Darkening) and in Into the Storm as Lord Halifax. He will be playing Luwin, the maester of Winterfell. Maesters are men of science and learning, trained in the Citadel in the distant city of Oldtown (more than three thousand miles from Westeros on the south coast of the continent). Luwin serves as Winterfell's resident physician, midwife, lawyer, master of intelligence and general advisor. He is also in charge of the education of Lord Stark's children. He is extremely loyal to the Stark family.

Jamie Campbell Bower as Ser Waymar Royce
Jamie Campbell Bower is an up-and-coming British actor who has already scored three impressive genre credentials (with the respective fanbases), landing the roles of the young Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Caius in Twilight: New Moon and the role of 11-12 in the new version of The Prisoner. He is also a musician, and sings and plays guitar in the band The Darling Buds. He will be playing Ser Waymar Royce. Waymar is a younger member of House Royce, a powerful family in the Vale of Arryn. With too many sons to find lands and wives for, his father sent him to the Wall to join the Night's Watch. Waymar doesn't appear to have been completely happy about this, but makes the best of it he can. As the story opens, he is leading (due to his noble rank and position as a knight) a three-man scouting expedition beyond the Wall. Whilst young, arrogant and a braggart, he is also skilled in combat.

Bronson Webb as Will
Bronson Webb is another young British actor with a fair bit of experience behind him, with roles in The Dark Knight, Atonement, Kingdom of Heaven and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He is currently filming the new Ridley Scott version of Robin Hood with Russell Crowe. Will is a young member of the Night's Watch, a commoner not of noble birth, but an experienced tracker and scout anyway. He is part of the scouting expedition under the considerably less experienced Ser Waymar Royce. Will is a noted character in the books as he is the first POV character of the first book, and the first character the reader meets.

Richard Ridings as Gared
Another not-quite-100%-but-likely role. Richard Ridings is another experienced British actor, whose most memorable genre role was in an episode of Red Dwarf, where he had a memorable on-screen death involving a Psiren, tomato ketchup and a burger. He's had many other roles in series such as Casualty and has a solid career as a computer game VO artist, recently doing work in Risen and Killzone 2. He is playing Gared, a much older and experienced member of the Night's Watch on the ranging with Waymar and Will.

Esme Bianco as Ros
Esme Bianco is a burlesque dancer and performer who has recently moved into screen roles (she actually did a video shoot for the band Slayer before taking off for Northern Ireland). She will be playing Ros, the first created-for-the-TV-show role. Ros is a prostitute in the capital city of King's Landing, possibly working in Chataya's (which plays a bigger role later in the series) and is a 'friend' of Tyrion's. Her role may reoccur later in the run, assuming it gets picked up.

Pics of the whole cast can be found here.

Filming has begun.

Shooting got underway at ridiculous o'clock Saturday morning after several days of preperation, with Doune Castle in Scotland standing in for the exteriors of Winterfell and also some of its interiors. Peter Dinklage and a blonde Lena Headey were seen preparing for filming, whilst a Scottish battle re-enactment team were taking the roles of Lannister guardsmen. A white dog was seen as well, presumably the animal that's representing Ghost. Sean Bean was reported as not being around and not turning up until next week, leading to speculation that they were filming perhaps the Ghost/Tyrion/Jon scene in the courtyard and maybe the pivotal "The things I do for love," moment (since that's the only scene where Cersei is around but Ned isn't), or possibly new material not in the books.

From here filming moves to the Paint Hall in Belfast next week (I'm in Belfast on the 3rd for GRRM's signing and the after-party, which hopefully some of the actors might attend) and then to Morocco for the Dany sequences later in the month.

Some pics - none of the actors in costume as yet alas - are available on the Winter is Coming blog.

Filming has started is excellent news! Now we need only wait until the whole experience is available on HBO.

German band Corvus Corax were called in to play the role of musicians for the Winterfell feast, where they played an acoustic version of this song.

No word on whether their involvement will extend beyond that.

Filming at Doune Castle was completed on Tuesday, they then moved to Tollymore Park near Newcastle, Northern Ireland (not the British one ;) ) to film the prologue. Apparently they're now at the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast, where the bulk of the production will be filmed.

Well, that was a fun few days. This was GRRM and some of the castmembers at the signing in Easons in Belfast on Tuesday:

LINK

From left to right that's Ron Donachie (Ser Rodrik Cassel), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark), with GRRM seated. More photos of the signing and the evening party can be found here.

The signing was packed. Someone at the bookstore said they weren't expecting too many people and for it not to take too long. My estimate was well upwards of 100 people showed up and it took well over an hour to clear the queue. GRRM introduced himself and Matt Hughes, who wrote an excellent story in Songs of the Dying Earth, and they mostly signed copies of that book, although many copies of ASoIaF were also presented for signing. George also introduced the castmembers who had arrived: all of the above plus Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane) who was on his way to the studio so could only stay for a few minutes.

GRRM took great delight in telling everyone that Richard Madden (Robb) had just won the 'Best-Dressed Man in Scotland' competition, whilst Alfie Allen (Theon) jumped the queue to get his own copies of the books signed.

As for the castmembers, Richard had read all of Book 1 but no further (though he knows his character's eventual fate); Kit Harington (Jon) had reached Book 4 and was happy with all the stuff Jon gets to do in the third book; Maisie Williams (Arya) and Sophie Turner (Sansa) had not read the books at all but were being fed edited highlights by their mothers; Alfie Allen had reached Book 2 and was happy to see Theon become a much bigger character; and Ron Donachie (Rodrik Cassel) had 'devoured' all four books in just a few days and was now bugging George by asking when the fifth book is out.

Everyone was brilliant. The actors weren't behind a desk, they just milled around in the back corner of the store, chatting to fans, signing books and posing for pictures. They were all really relaxed. I get the impression Alfie was very happy to be talking about himself and his job rather than fielding tedious journalist questions about his celebrity dad/girlfriend/sister. He told me he liked boats and was looking forward to those parts in Book/Season 2. I'd previously been skeptical over his casting as he doesn't look anything at all like I'd imagined Theon, but his attitude and good humour won me over. I think he'll be great. He and Richard Madden had a great double-act going which seemed appropriate given their characters are best friends.

If GoT goes to series, Richard Madden is going to be its biggest break-out star, I think I can comfortably predict. I can see the fansites going up already. He was tremendously outgoing, tried to make sure he had a word with every fan who stopped by, joked around with 'his little sisters' and so on. All my female friends seemed very taken with him (at least there was much giggling and requests for photos with him). He seemed convincing as Sean Bean's son and I think he's going to be a great Robb Stark.

Kit Harington was quite quiet and subdued, as he'd just come off three 17-hour days in a row. He was shattered, but posed for pics, talked to the fans and was happy to talk about the filming of the scenes with the direwolf pups, which were apparently very small and cute. The girls hadn't acted with them (no scenes of them and their pups in the pilot) but were looking forward to it in the series.

Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams were awesome. They were very convincing as sisters and both seemed to embody their characters: Sophie was doing great PR work, talking to fans, signing yet more books and being as diplomatic and friendly as Sansa is in the books, whilst Maisie seemed to take great delight in tormenting the boys (Alfie in particular). She turned very serious when discussing her character and interestingly said to another fan that whilst Sansa cried on the outside a lot in the first book, she thought Arya did her crying on the inside, which was a very astute observation (especially as she only had limited info to go on: the girls' mums thought the books a little too adult for them to read in full just yet). She also did a "Stick them with the pointy end!" for another fan, which was excellent.

Ron Donachie was very laidback and professional, full of excellent actors' stories, including some about filming Titanic with James Cameron which were very funny, such as one time where the cameramen thought they didn't have the right lighting to film a scene in the water, so Cameron got annoyed, grabbed a handheld and just waded out to do it himself. I was going to ask him about his recent appearance on Doctor Who, but erm, forgot. He was the most experienced actor present and I thought would be more reserved, but seemed to enjoy the experience of meeting the fans very much. He thought the books were excellent and wanted the chance to tell Rodrik's full story across the first two books/seasons.

GRRM himself was his normal friendly self, signing the books people brought in, assuring them that ADWD is looking good at the moment (more than that in another post) and so on.

Picking up where I left off before, we returned from the signing to the hostel to freshen up before heading to McHughes, the pub where the party was to be held. Despite a slight signage hiccup ("GRRF AND FRIENDS") it was great. We got the large basement bar to ourselves, which comfortably fitted the 60-70+ people who showed up.

The attendance was similar to that at the signing: we lost Kit and Alfie, who were too worn out by filming, but gained Esme Bianco, who plays 'Ros', a lady of negotiable affection in King's Landing. Esme did some autographs and photos for fans eager to 'get the full set' and explained her role in the series to some book fans who hadn't been keeping up to date on the casting news. I think we settled on the idea being to give Tyrion a 'more HBO introduction' than he had in the books.

An American fan from Kentucky who'd been visiting Ireland took advantage of the occasion to propose to his girlfriend (she said yes), and they promptly were congratulated by GRRM and the castmembers, which was very cool.

I spent some time talking to Maisie and Sophie's parents, who were almost as enthusiastic and excited about the show as their daughters. They'd attended the cast read-through and reported that the rest of the actors are all terrific as well, taking time to especially praise Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys who obviously has a very challenging role but did a great job at the read-through.

George worked the room, sitting with each table of fans in turn, talking to everyone and discussing the books, the TV show and his other projects. He confirmed that ADWD is now well over 1100 pages long in manuscript and more is required. He didn't want to give out any dates, but indicated he didn't see the book getting as long as ASoS (almost 1600 MS pages). He also indicated that getting events to happen at the right time and in the right order to make sense compared to AFFC and the following books is part of the 'Meereenese Knot' problem, but he is working away at it. Someone asked if his blog post about his sword bouncing off the knot and cutting his nose off was a reference to Tyrion and he laughed and said that fans read way too much into every little thing he says.

It may be worth bearing that in mind during the next bit of news: at one point, whilst talking to everyone from the stage bit at the front of the pub, GRRM said the show was not greenlit yet, it's just a pilot and a lot of pilots don't make it to series, but he also said that HBO might give them a one-season order or maybe even a two-season order. He also expects to hear about the series by March. Whether that's HBO saying they'll make the decision in March or that's merely the latest time they'll decide (I was thinking January myself, based on some recent pick-ups they have given, but obviously GRRM is far better-informed) wasn't clear, but that was the first indication of a timescale involved.

The actors were great, continuing to sign books for people who'd missed the signing earlier that day and chatting to people. Ron Donachie turned out to be a fan of the New York Jets which GRRM was taken aback by (American football has a following in the UK, but not a very large one) before promptly jumping into a detailed American football discussion with Ron.

The actors had a 5am call the next day, so left reasonably early. Because it had been a fairly early start to the meet, we were left in the highly unusual state (for SoIaF fans anyway) of everyone deflating at around 10pm. Luckily, we were buoyed up by the arrival of Julia Frey, who is an effects supervisor on the project. Julia had (somewhat briefly and quickly edited) blogged about some very early work on the show, bringing her to the attention of the fans of Winter is Coming and Westeros.org, but she was diplomatically circumspect on her current work on the show (seriously, she has a terrific poker face). Eventually we gave up trying to get intel on the show and ended up listening to Julia's great stories about working on Alien 3 and other projects. Very cool stuff. She also has a funny website on safety graphics here.

And then it was time for everyone to go home. It was an excellent trip, some new friends were met and made, the cast were universally excellent and the buzz about the production was palpable. Nothing is set in stone and the series may not yet be commissioned, but I am firmly convinced that the the series is in great hands.

Filming of the pilot episode of GAME OF THRONES wrapped yesterday. The last few days of filming took place at Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate, Morocco and nearby locations, including the massive Jerusalem set erected for Ridley Scott's KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, which is standing in for the city of Pentos.

The scenes involving Daenerys, Viserys, Ilyrio, Drogo and Jorah Mormont, including Dany and Drogo's wedding, were filmed at this location.

The pilot took three weeks to shoot and involved a cast of almost thirty speaking roles and over a hundred extras, making it one of HBO's biggest pilots. No word on the budget, except it was very substantial. Behind the scenes they had a multiple award-winning director (Tom McCarthy), one of the hottest screenwriters in Hollywood (David Benioff) and have now signed up a strong VFX guy, Robert Stromberg, hot off post-production on Jim Cameron's AVATAR, to oversee the visual effects process.

The timeline going forward seems to be that editing and mixing of the pilot episode will begin in a few days (presumably back in the States) and continue for a while, with a break for Christmas. From the sound of it, one of the FX houses involved doesn't expect to be working on it until February. According to George RR Martin, HBO have said they will have a yay or nay decision for the pilot going to series by the end of March at the latest.

Assuming the series gets picked-up, and all the indications are that something will have to go astronomically wrong in editing for that not to happen, filming of the remaining 11 episodes should resume around April or May for about thirty weeks, taking them into the autumn. The show would then air on HBO and hopefully BBC-1 in early 2011.