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HBO's A Game of Thrones, based on the Song of Ice and Fire novel series by George RR Martin, enters production at the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast in October. The huge-budget production, which will be a lavish series on the scale of Rome, will be HBO's first out-and-out epic fantasy TV series. It is being co-funded by the BBC.
The book series consists of seven books (four written, the fifth just about done and due early next year, two more to come). HBO is adapting each book as a television season. Season 1 will consist of twelve 60-minute episodes. However, at the moment only a pilot has been confirmed. If HBO like what they see, a full season will be commissioned.
If the project goes to series, it will most likely air in early 2011.
The pilot is written by David Benioff (screenplays for Troy, The Kite Runner, The 25th Hour, the unused first draft of Wolverine and the recent novel City of Thieves) and D.B. Weiss (not a lot as yet) and will be directed by Thomas McCarthy, the BAFTA award-winning writer/director of The Station Agent and The Visitor. He is also an actor, best known for his turn as journalist Scott Templeton in the final season of The Wire.
The cast currently consists of:
Sean Bean
Bean, who needs no introduction, is playing Lord Eddard Stark, the lead character. Eddard is the Lord of the North, which he rules from the rambling, Gormenghast-esque castle of Winterfell. He is known for a strong sense of justice, honour and honesty, and mislikes politics. He is married to the Lady Catelyn of House Tully (casting not announced yet) and has five legitimate children and a bastard son, Jon Snow, whose presence in Winterfell Catelyn barely tolerates. Eddard is a close friend of the King, Robert Baratheon.
Peter Dinklage
Dinklage, recently seen in Threshold and as Trumpkin in Prince Caspian and the forthcoming Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is playing Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion is the youngest son of Lord Tywin, the strict and militaristic Lord of Casterly Rock and the Westerlands. Tyrion was born a misshapen dwarf, and his mother died in childbirth. Tywin hates and resents his son for these weaknesses. Tyrion paradoxically hates his father but remains anxious to please and impress him. Unable to win valour and glory in tournaments and battle, Tyrion has developed a taste for political intrigue and a sense of cunning and wit. He is probably the most popular character in the books.
Mark Addy
Known for more comedic roles such as in The Fully Monty and his turn in A Knight's Tale, Addy is playing King Robert Baratheon. Once a great warrior who led the rebellion against the Mad King Aerys, Robert has now gone to seed and is fat and indolent. When the King's Hand (essentially his prime minister who sees to the day-to-day running of the kingdom) dies, Robert asks his friend Eddard to step up to the role. Robert is married to Cersei Lannister (not cast yet), Tyrion's scheming sister, with whom Robert has three children.
Harry Lloyd
Lloyd will be familiar to Doctor Who fans from his turn as Jeremy Baines in Family of Blood and Human Nature. He also played Will Scarlett in Robin Hood and was Prince Rupert in The Devil's Whore. Lloyd is playing the role of Viserys Targaryen. Viserys is the son and legal heir of King Aerys, whom Robert Baratheon supplanted as King of Westeros. Viserys and his young sister Daenerys fled to the continent of Essos and were given sanctuary by a powerful merchant lord. As the series opens Viserys has arranged to sell his teenage sister in marriage to Khal Drogo, the leader of an immense army of Dothraki blood-riders, in return for his help in invading Westeros.
Jack Gleeson
Gleeson is a young actor whose only major role to date has been in Batman Begins (as 'Young Boy'). He will be playing Joffrey Baratheon, Robert's eldest son and heir. To strengthen the alliance between the Starks and Baratheons, Eddard agrees that his daughter Sansa should marry Joffrey. Joffrey is vain, arrogant and entirely lacking in martial ability, but likes to boast of his elite swordfighting skills. He is usually accompanied by his bodyguard, the scarred and threatening Sandor Clegane (uncast as yet).
Kit Harrington
Newcomer Harrington has done some theatre work but nothing on television yet. The producers were apparently blown away by his audition. Harrington will be playing the key role of Jon Snow, Eddard Stark's bastard son who finds his place at Winterfell increasingly uncomfortable due to the attitude of his step-mother and eventually decides to 'take the black' and join the sworn brotherhood of the Night's Watch. The Watch guards the Wall, a colossal fortification of ice stretching for 300 miles across Westeros' northern border built thousands of years ago to defend against an ancient threat. That threat has long since vanished (cough) but the Watch still has to guard against the wildlings or 'free folk' who live beyond and occasionally seek to cross the Wall and raid the lands beyond.
Further casting announcements, including some possibly more recognisable SF&F figures, are due shortly.
HBO's A Game of Thrones, based on the Song of Ice and Fire novel series by George RR Martin, enters production at the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast in October. The huge-budget production, which will be a lavish series on the scale of Rome, will be HBO's first out-and-out epic fantasy TV series. It is being co-funded by the BBC.
The book series consists of seven books (four written, the fifth just about done and due early next year, two more to come). HBO is adapting each book as a television season. Season 1 will consist of twelve 60-minute episodes. However, at the moment only a pilot has been confirmed. If HBO like what they see, a full season will be commissioned.
If the project goes to series, it will most likely air in early 2011.
The pilot is written by David Benioff (screenplays for Troy, The Kite Runner, The 25th Hour, the unused first draft of Wolverine and the recent novel City of Thieves) and D.B. Weiss (not a lot as yet) and will be directed by Thomas McCarthy, the BAFTA award-winning writer/director of The Station Agent and The Visitor. He is also an actor, best known for his turn as journalist Scott Templeton in the final season of The Wire.
The cast currently consists of:
Sean Bean
Bean, who needs no introduction, is playing Lord Eddard Stark, the lead character. Eddard is the Lord of the North, which he rules from the rambling, Gormenghast-esque castle of Winterfell. He is known for a strong sense of justice, honour and honesty, and mislikes politics. He is married to the Lady Catelyn of House Tully (casting not announced yet) and has five legitimate children and a bastard son, Jon Snow, whose presence in Winterfell Catelyn barely tolerates. Eddard is a close friend of the King, Robert Baratheon.Peter Dinklage
Dinklage, recently seen in Threshold and as Trumpkin in Prince Caspian and the forthcoming Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is playing Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion is...
Woohoo.... Finally....lets hope they give it a good play...along the lines of Rome and Deadwood
The air date depends on how quickly HBO decide to commission it. If they decide to say yes whilst the pilot is still in production (which they did for TREME), they could restart production on the next episode as early as the New Year. If they decide just a couple of weeks after production ends (as they did with BOARDWALK EMPIRE, the new Scorsese-produced TV series) then it might be later in the spring. In both cases transmission in November/December 2010 is not impossible.
If they give it a real long, hard think (and they might do, as GAME OF THRONES is a huge, ROME or BAND OF BROTHERS level of commitment, although thanks to more favourable shooting locations it won't cost as much as either) and don't commission it until the New Year, then shooting might not be possible until the summer with transmission in the New Year of 2011 (and maybe not until a bit later).
If this was a network show it would obviously happen a lot sooner, but HBO like to have the whole season written (at least in draft) before they shoot and they like to have the whole season shot and well into post-production before they start airing it.
Interestingly, both the producers and GRRM have said they think the best marketing tool will be to use the "WINTER IS COMING" phrase over various scenes, so airing it in the winter of 2010/11 then makes more sense ;-)
If the worst comes to the worst and the pilot is all that gets made, we won't see it at all (unless it gets leaked), as HBO never release their pilots :-(
They want to broadcast that? Tell me about HBO - can you just zap into that? I mean, if they want to do the books justice, it will have to be vicious.
Should be interesting, though!
Sean Bean is a great actor.
I'm sure I haven't ever mentioned how I saw him play the lead in the Scottish play in the West End.
;)
Its like they have me bugged--so far they've cast my exact choices for Tyrion and Eddard. Unreal. Can't wait for this.
So, what's the inside scoop for my favorite character, Robb Stark?
He should be cast and announced shortly. We're only about 11 weeks from shooting so I expect to see more announcements throughout the rest of July and August.
Most interesting part, who will play Tormund and Hodor.
Tormund won't show up until Season 2, so he's years away from being cast yet. IIRC, Hodor isn't mentioned in the script for Episode 1 so probably won't be cast for the pilot. That might change though.
Similarly, major characters like Edmure, Tywin, Barristan and Renly aren't in the first episode (the pilot), so they probably won't be cast or announced until early next year. I believe they've put Littlefinger and Lysa Arryn in a new scene in King's Landing at the start (when Jon Arryn dies), so they should be announced for the pilot as well.
Similarly, major characters like Edmure, Tywin, Barristan and Renly aren't in the first episode (the pilot), so they probably won't be cast or announced until early next year. I believe they've put Littlefinger and Lysa Arryn in a new scene in King's Landing at the start (when Jon Arryn dies), so they should be announced for the pilot as well.
Dang, where are you getting your info? I didn't know anyone had released what would be in the pilot.
I'm also excited about this. I will have to figure out a way to get access to HBO.
I've also never heard of the actor who is playing Jon Snow. What a way to launch a career.
Dang, where are you getting your info? I didn't know anyone had released what would be in the pilot.
I'm also excited about this. I will have to figure out a way to get access to HBO.
I've also never heard of the actor who is playing Jon Snow. What a way to launch a career.
The pilot script was leaked last year. It's probably still around online somewhere, although it is only the first draft.
The pilot starts with "We should start back," and ends with "The things I do for love," giving the first episode a killer cliffhanger.
There is a new sequence in King's Landing after the execution scene, where we hear the last words of Jon Arryn. Jaime then goes and fishes Tyrion out of Chataya's, telling him they're going to Winterfell. Later on there is an extension to the banquet scene, where Jaime starts talking down to Ned and wondering why Ned isn't more renowned as a swordsman as the guy who killed the Sword of the Morning. Ned isn't really impressed with this talk and walks off. Both these changes are meant to give a little bit more shading to Jaime and, more importantly, to establish the close relationship between him and Tyrion, and also the rivalry (although only Jaime thinks of it as such) between Jaime and Eddard.
They're going to need a hell of a good actor playing Jaime if he's going to stare down Sean Bean convincingly.
The other change is that the pilot contains Dany's first two chapters (including the marriage), the second being brought forward to emphasise her story more in the first episode.
Its like they have me bugged--so far they've cast my exact choices for Tyrion and Eddard. Unreal. Can't wait for this.So, what's the inside scoop for my favorite character, Robb Stark?
I think they'll cast an unknown just like they did with Jon Snow.
The pilot script was leaked last year. It's probably still around online somewhere, although it is only the first draft.
The pilot starts with "We should start back," and ends with "The things I do for love," giving the first episode a killer cliffhanger.
Thanks. All of those changes sound fairly reasonable. I agree that they do really need a good actor for Jaime, even to pull off scenes later in the series.
Now I'm wanting to read the series again, and generally geeking about where I think the stories are going.
Who are Jon Snow's parents?
Is Sandor Clegane really dead?
Will we see a Gregor Clegane/Frankenstein soon?
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why Ned isn't more renowned as a swordsman as the guy who killed the Sword of the Morning.
I also hope they show this dream/nightmare/back-story as well. It is one of my favorite parts of the book.
Well, I had the right actor, just wrong role..but have to repost from the games of thrones book thread:
Black Dougal (Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber), Wed, Sep 19, 2007, 06:43 PM Flag | Reply
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In all seriousness, Sean Bean would have been/likely still is perfect for the Jaime Lannister role.
that is the only one that immediately comes to mind.
Well, I had the right actor, just wrong role..but have to repost from the games of thrones book thread:
I wouldn't be surprised if casting Jaime and Cersei were giving them a the biggest headache on the project. They're twins, so they need to have a reasonable facial similarity, plus they need to be convincingly in the same age bracket, plus they both need to be damn good actors, plus they need to have a certain intense chemistry with one another.
Um so this looks badass enough for me to get a T.V.
Jennifer Ehle
Ehle is best known for playing Elizabeth Bennett in the BBC's multi-award-winning adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in 1996, opposite Colin Firth. She has since played a host of roles on stage and screen, garnering a strong reputation. She will be playing the role of Catelyn Stark, Eddard Stark's wife and mother to five of his six children. 'Cat', as she is affectionately known, is of House Tully and was supposed to marry Ned's elder brother Brandon. When he was brutally murdered by the Mad King, Aerys II, she married Ned instead to secure an alliance between the houses. She was initially unsure of the quiet, occasionally dour Ned compared to his elder, more flamboyant brother, but is now fiercely loyal to him. Although generally kind and generous, she has a strong and ruthless side, which unfortunately is easily provoked by Ned's bastard son Jon Snow, whom she has an intense hatred of.
Fans of the books will know that Cat is a major character across the series. It's quite impressive they got such a respected actress for such an extended commitment.
Further casting news expected in the next few weeks.
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Some additional news on the casting front: Martin has stated on his not-a-blog that six additional roles have been cast, including Jaime Lannister and Theon Greyjoy for sure. He didn't give any more information for certain, though it appears that Arya and Sansa Stark have been cast as well based on some clues he left on the site. No information on who will be playing the roles - he's leaving those announcements to HBO.
Apparently HBO were supposed to make the announcement last week but didn't for some reason. They've been unveiling a lot of other news about other series and projects and they got into the whole controversy about the Emmies in a big way, which probably delayed other announcements.
But yes, at the moment they are sitting on seven confirmed casting announcements. No word on when they'll be released. Jaime and Theon are the only two definitely known casting choices at this time, with very strong hints that Ser Jorah Mormont is one of the others.
In case you have not been checking GRRM's blog, some more roles have been announced.
Yeah, I stayed up for the casting announcement which came at 4.30am local time, so I wasn't really in a coherent state to post the news here ;-)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
A Danish actor who has won some attention in the west with performances in Kingdom of Heaven and Black Hawk Down, Coster-Waldau was most recently seen as the lead in both New Amsterdam and Ronald D. Moore's Virtuality. He is playing Jaime Lannister, a member of the Kingsguard who is called the 'Kingslayer', as he was the one who betrayed and murdered the Mad King, Aerys II, during the rebellion that brought King Robert to power. Robert granted him clemency, but many fear and distrust Jaime, despite his reputation as the finest knight in the Seven Kingdoms. For his part, Jaime is arrogant and self-centred, but has a fierce streak of loyalty to his family, particularly his younger, misshapen brother Tyrion and his twin sister Cersei (who is married to King Robert).
Tamzin Merchant as Princess Daenerys Targaryen
Merchant has been building her career up over the last few years, with major roles in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice and the BBC's My Family and Other Animals. She is currently filming her role as Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, in The Tudors, appearing in the season finale and playing a major role in the final season. Merchant will be playing Daenerys Targaryen, younger sister of Prince Viserys. Viserys and Daenerys are the only surviving children of the Mad King, and fled into exile on the eastern continent after he was overthrown. King Robert has sent assassins after them, but they have evaded them to gain refuge with the powerful merchant lord Ilyrio Mopatis in the Free City of Pentos. As the series opens, fifteen-year-old Daenerys has been sold by her brother into a marriage with Khal Drogo, the leader of a vast army of Dothraki bloodriders, in return for his support in an invasion of the Seven Kingdoms. Daenerys is arguably, alongside Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister, one of the central characters of the series.
Alfie Owen-Allen as Theon Greyjoy
Son of Keith and brother of Lily, Alfie Allen has been attracting tabloid attention for a while now and (apparently somewhat embarassingly) is the subject of a song on his sister's debut album. More recently he has gathered some acclaim for his performances on-stage, particularly after replacing Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role of Equus. Allen is playing Theon Greyjoy, a ward and hostage held by Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) for his family's good behaviour. A decade before the events of the series, House Greyjoy raised the flag of rebellion in an attempt to break its domain, the Iron Islands, away as an independant state. Robert and Eddard crushed the rebellion, killed Lord Balon's two eldest sons and took his surviving son as a hostage. Theon is sarcastic and arrogant, but has become good friends with Robb Stark. He has not seen his homeland since he was a young boy.
Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
Glen is a veteran character actor playing in many roles on stage and screen. He recently appeared as King Richard the Lionheart in Kingdom of Heaven. In the series he is playing Ser Jorah Mormont, a disgraced former lord of the remote Bear Island who inherited his father's lands when his father went off to take command of the Night's Watch (which guards the massive Wall against the wildlings beyond). However, Jorah got involved in slavery, which is illegal in Westeros, and fled to the eastern continent before he could be arrested and executed. In Pentos he meets Viserys and Daenerys and swears loyalty to them, agreeing to act as bodyguard and advisor on Westerosi affairs. He becomes Daenerys' most trusted advisor as the story progresses.
Richard Madden as Robb Stark
23-year-old Scottish actor Richard Madden has been named a 'hot actor to watch' by Esquire Magazine, despite only a few screen roles to his name. He has built up a sterling reputation for stage work. He will be playing Robb Stark, the eldest son and heir to Lord Eddard (Sean Bean). Robb is skilled in the arts of combat and strategy, learning from his father and his formidably capable advisors, and is also learning more diplomatic and administrative skills from his mother, Lady Catelyn (Jennifer Ehle). Robb is a popular boy who makes friends easily. His closest friends are his bastard half-brother Jon Snow and his father's Greyjoy hostage, Theon.
Sophie Turner & Maisie Williams as Sansa & Arya Stark
These two young actresses are newcomers who were found through auditioning. Both apparently blew away the casting directors, the producers and GRRM (especially Williams). Sophie Turner is playing Sansa Stark and Maisie Williams her sister, Arya. Sansa and Arya are the two daughters of Eddard and Catelyn and are very different: Sansa likes dresses, riding horses, listening to music and reading stories about handsome and gallant knights. Arya is a tomboy who enjoys playing with wooden swords and is interested in the lives of the commoners who live in and around Winterfell. Eddard takes both his daughters with him to the capital, where they have to grow up rather quickly.
That brings the current cast list to fourteen. HBO are assembling their largest-ever cast for the pilot, but that is most of the major roles to cast, with Cersei Lannister, Bran Stark and Khal Drogo arguably the most important out of those remaining. Expect those to be forthcoming soon.
On the production side of things, the production offices in Belfast have been opened and pre-production of sets, props and other elements are now underway ahead of the beginning of filming in late October.
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They want to broadcast that? Tell me about HBO - can you just zap into that? I mean, if they want to do the books justice, it will have to be vicious.
Should be interesting, though!
ohh... yes.. they can be vicious... check Rome... mostly the drama of roman life and politics... but when it comes to the vicious part of life... they did it like none other could :D
Actually, GAME OF THRONES is not 'quite' as hardcore as ROME. The insane body count and really ruthless moments are restrained to a few scenes here and there, whilst ROME had something hardcore and bloody happening every couple of episodes or so.
Apparently the blood and sex of ROME really put off viewers (especially in the UK, where they idiotically edited the first three episodes into two and cut out half the plot and character stuff in favour of the sex). Hopefully GAME OF THRONES can suck them in before the more outrageous stuff happens later on.
Another HBO problem is that sometimes they take a while to get going. ROME's first episode is okay but it's not must-watch TV until three or four eps in, same with THE WIRE and DEADWOOD. GoT should cut to the chase a hell of a lot faster. The first episode ends with the "The things I do for love," moment. Tell me people aren't going to be tuning back in after that :-)
Seems to me the bigger obstacle is that... person... who makes all the 'cancel this before I stop liking it' decisions. Not sure if he's still around, but he's the guy who pulled the plug on 'Deadwood', 'Rome' (though I read that was mostly budget), and 'Carnivale'. I read an interview with him where he was discussing all the hatemail he'd received over Deadwood's cancellation. The best curse he was sent simply read 'May you never take an easy dump again'. I concur.
He's gone :-) He was forced out a couple of years back, although thankfully not before he'd commissioned GAME OF THRONES. The new, incoming head was expected to cancel it (as new studio heads often do when they want a clean slate-start), but he turned out to be a big fan of the books. HBO is thus committed to doing the project justice.
Hmmm, what about the guy who plays Mr Locke on 'Lost' for Tywin? Dunno, just a thought.
A number of castmembers from LOST have apparently been considered for the pilot (by the fans, if no-one else), but most are unavailable for the pilot due to them shooting the final season of LOST from August 2009 through to March or April 2010.
Some might be free for Season 1 itself though, and I've been championing Alan Dale (Charles Widmore) as Tywin :-)
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I vote Michael Wincott for the Hound. He'd have to be made up a bit to fit my mental image (but then with half of his face burned off it shouldn't be a problem), but he has the demeanor and the VOICE down cold.Hmmm, what about the guy who plays Mr Locke on 'Lost' for Tywin? Dunno, just a thought.for some reason he comes to my mind more as The Hound, too soft speached maybe... but certianly i think he can give both an scary and soft interpretation to show the complex character the Hound really is
For some reason I always see Ray Stevenson as The Hound.
Based on GRRM's latest batch of clues, a Scottish actor named Rory McCann seems to be leading contender for the Hound. He was in ALEXANDER and in lots of British shows (including a great comedy-drama called THE BOOK GROUP and an excellent performance as a policeman in the original mini-series version of STATE OF PLAY). His highest-profile role was Lurch in HOT FUZZ, where his sole line of dialogue was "Yaaarp?" :-)
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
British actress Lena Headey is a bit of a hot property at the moment, following successful stints as Sarah Connor in the short-lived Terminator TV series and an eye-catching role as Queen Gorgo in 300. She will be playing Queen Cersei Lannister, married to King Robert Baratheon. Theirs was a political marriage, with Robert marrying Cersei after her father Tywin swapped sides in the civil war at the last moment, delivering the capital city to Robert's cause. However, there is little love lost between them. Cersei is devoted to her three children, Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella, and will do anything to protect them. She is also ruthless and skilled at intrigue, and is the one who coins the phrase "In the game of thrones you win or die". She is utterly loyal and devoted to her father and her twin brother Jaime, but loathes her misshapen younger brother Tyrion with a fierce passion, a feeling which is mutual.
Here's a clip of Headey from the 2002 movie POSSESSION in which she shares a scene with Jennifer Ehle, who is playing Cat Stark. Although I suspect that Cat and Cersei in the TV adaptation will not lez out. Possibly tragically :-)
Well there goes my hope of the Sarah Conner Chronicles being uncanceled :-(.Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
British actress Lena Headey is a bit of a hot property at the moment, following successful stints as Sarah Connor in the short-lived Terminator TV series
In fairness this went out the window last week when Summer Glau was cast in Season 2 of Dollhouse.
However, don't rule out TV movies or direct-to-DVD movies to round things off.
This is the...BEST...NEWS...EVER!
I didn't think this show was going to happen. I heard about it YEARS ago, so happy it is going into production!
That is an awesome casting. That's like an injection of pure awesome straight into the heart. She's also rather good looking too, so I can't wait to see her as Cersei. And her acting skills are pretty good too.
I liked her as Sarah Conner. I wonder if she'll be as good looking as a blond?
Steve
I liked her as Sarah Conner. I wonder if she'll be as good looking as a blond?
Affirmative :-)
And HBO's make-up people can do a lot better job than Photoshop.
All of this makes me happy!