News from Westeros was coming at us fast today, from a new interview with Liam Cunningham to some rather distressing news about a furry friend from the cast. Let’s dive in!
First of all, not to be a downer, but…well, Game of Thrones is pretty good at killing off characters, so the news that Tommen‘s beloved Ser Pounce didn’t survive long after being seen hopping into Margaery‘s lap in Season 4 is par for the course.
David Benioff recently told EW that “Cersei hated the name ‘Ser Pounce’ so much she could not allow him to survive … So she came up with her most diabolical [execution]. Ser Pounce’s death was so horrible we couldn’t even put it on the air.”
“If you buy the super-extended, super-charged Game of Thrones box set that comes out, the death of Ser Pounce will be in there,” Dan Weiss added. “Just one whole episode devoted to the death of Ser Pounce.”
This probably (definitely) isn’t true and D&D were just having a bit of fun, but they were serious about the fact that the cat who played Ser Pounce was “really not fun to work with,” according to Benioff. Weiss agreed, noting that “Cats have their own agenda.”
Meanwhile, HBO posted a new installment in its #ForTheThrone marketing campaign. Changing up the tagline from the first #ForTheThrone post, this one celebrates the impact the series has had on the lives of its fans by highlighting everything from Thrones-themed weddings and tattoos to cosplays, original works of art and covers of its music:
Every song.
Every shot.
Every look.
Every celebration.
Every masterpiece.
What will you do #ForTheThrone? pic.twitter.com/y4FWnFTAYh— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) February 11, 2019
Although it’s not a trailer (yet), it’s a touching compilation video that represents the fandom’s love of Thrones and what they do for it. It’s worth a watch!
At the Television Critics Association winter conference, our favorite Onion Knight Liam Cunningham talked about the decision to end the show after 8 seasons when people believe it could “run forever.”
“If you want to stay cool, and the show is cool, the best way to stay cool is to not overstay your welcome,” Cunningham told IGN. “It would be dishonorable to stay on longer than we should. There’s a portion of me that will miss it dearly, and it will probably read Liam ‘Game of Thrones’ Cunnigham on my headstone. But it was time to get out and wrap up that story… People deserve the end of that story and to not drag it out just because there’s a book to be made. I think it’s very honorable what they’re doing.”
Also at the winter TCA conference, it was announced that Season 3 of Hulu’s original series The Handmaid’s Tale, starring Elisabeth Moss, will premiere this June, which is two months later than its first two seasons premiered — and also, coincidentally, after Season 8 of Thrones has wrapped.
This immediately sparked rumors that Hulu is holding off on the third season so that it doesn’t have to compete with Thrones, and The Wrap reported that Hulu’s Senior Vice President of Originals, Craig Erwich, was asked point-blank if that was the case.
“No, um, it doesn’t,” he said. “You’re gonna watch the final season of ‘Game of Thrones,’ as well.” Damn right we will!
Thursday will be exactly 2 months to go. We’ll soon be under 60 days and hopefully getting into trailer territory. Season 6 trailer was 48 days from premiere and Season 7 was 51 days from premiere. That’s 11 days from now, which is also about the time True Detective will be having its Season 3 finale. Still going with early March though.
Smart move delaying The Handmaid’s Tale. Also 1 less series tk worry about at the Emmy.
Oh, HBO. You know us so well!
Agree with Liam; it feels like the right time to end it. Painful as that may be.
Goodnight, sweet Ser Pounce…as if I needed another reason to hate Cersei. If there’s any justice to be had in Westeros at all, kitty, she shall get what’s coming to her!
And yeah, probably wise to delay Handmaid’s…not that I’ve got any interest in that show.
Don’t think I know anybody who watches it.
SO The Handmaids tale didnt want to compete with GoT this year in Emmys… last year they lost to GoT… 2 of nowdays best shows. Stranger things and handmaids tale will air during summer and thus wont be eligable for Emmys.. I think GoT will surely win all drama categories doing the best wrap off all time!!!
Onedon,
Anyway GoT would have win this year too.. last year I geared for GoT having weak season 7 … but that didnt stop GoT doing rather good job… as long as GoT is there it is a big treat for other shows …. even the handmaids tale stranger things and crown
Looks like HBO will be airing The Case Against Adnen Syed documentary in the Sunday 9pm timeslot in March for those of us wondering what was going to air between True Detective and GoT. It’s a 4 episode documentary airing March 10th-31st. So looks like nothing on April 7th and then GoT premiere April 14th.
Liam is always right. 😁
Pounce did not die. Else Cersei would have had her pretty little throat cut in her sleep, I guarantee it. 😼
Why is HBO determined to scrape the bottom of the barrel with Bud Light tie-ins and videos with Trisha Paytas? Seriously????
Jack Bauer 24,
And now it begins…
Pigeon,
One word: Money
—
A lion killing a Cat, what’s next a Wolf killing a Hound. Let’s hope not.
Hovo,
I am hoping it will be much easier to win every nomination and end the series on an high.
With no Americans, Crown, Stranger Things, and Handmaid’s it might be Killing Eve becoming the new Emmy Darling to compete with GoT and This Is Us.
They may do very better in the awards if they put Tyrion into the Lead section. He was won three as supporting already. Leave NCW in supporting – or at least find a way to separate the Lannister boys.
Put Lena in lead or supporting depending on what the field looks like. they may even be able to get Maisie in somewhere.
Kit and Emilia can be nominated any year because of their roles and popularity but they are too weak as actors to be expected to win unless the other shows also put up weak candidates.
I think that is less true now than in the beginning. Neither had much experience when they were cast but they’ve both shown professional growth as actors IMHO. Plus, their roles are more two- dimensional, less nuanced, than the others you mentioned, particularly Kit. He’s playing a straight-forward, WYSIWYG fantasy hero – it wouldn’t be true to the role if Kit played Jon with mysterious or suspect motivations.
https://twitter.com/JamesHibberd/status/1095382232078925824
Looks like the Red Carpet will be at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Omaze is doing a campaign to see the premiere with Emilia. It still just says April, no exact date. Looks like Mamoa was probably right when he said the “third”. Should be April 3rd.
LadyGoodman,
Yes, this is very true. I have never thought of it like that.
I also should say that there are moments that Kit has been outstanding. He is not a terrible actor at all.
Of course, Jack Gleason delivered his role (also not that complex) with consistently better results I think.
Looking into it a little more, Omaze website says the winner will be announced “on or around April 3rd”. That’s super late if the premiere is actually the 3rd, so maybe the premiere is on April 10th, 4 days before the regular premiere?
Hmmm, I’m not so sure about that. I saw Kit in True West a couple of weeks ago performing alongside three actors with Shakespeare on their CV. He was just as good as they were. He’s very convincing as Jon Snow, nothing weak about his acting at all, in my view. He’s a very good actor. Kit in other roles is totally different to his Jon Snow character.
Dyanna,
Kit is fine. You should see my comment at 3:19 pm to Lady Goodman.
Anyway, doesn’t every actor have Skakespeare on their CV? Even high school?
Another reason why GOT does not get many acting awards is that it wins so many of the production/technical awards – the industry has to give prizes to some of the other shows that have fewer investments in stunts, make-up, score, sounds etc.
Anyway, awards are not always an indicator of quality. The “Wire” tells us that. The popularity of the actors with their peers and the public really helps. American and British talent have the best chances especially those living in LA that socialise with others in the business.
Oh, I am so sick of #s! I need a trailer! Why does it seem each day is a week now that the beginning of the end is so near????
Sorry, Liam, but the show deserved a longer run. Downton Abbey deserved a longer run. We later found out Maggie Smith did not want to do her role anymore and Julian Fellows felt she could not be replaced and decided to end it prematurely. I disagreed with this, as I feel Diana Rigg could have replaced Smith perfectly. We will probably discover at a future date that GOT ended not for fear of wearing out Its welcome, but for other less interesting decisions.
Ser Pounce is dearly missed and so are Margaery and Tommen. RIP
Jack Hamm,
Well the main less interesting decision is D&D have been solely devoted to bringing this show to life for over a decade. They deserve to go off and try their hand at Star Wars now. I don’t think Dinklage/Headey/Clarke/Harington would have continued with the series after their contracts were up. One or two of them might have eventually regret those decisions. Peter and Lena were stars, albeit on a much smaller scale, before and they will be stars after.
Let’s say none of the above is true, well then you’ve got the GRRM problem. While they have flown almost blind on the series for the last 2-3 seasons, there was still the outline and major plot points to work off of. How are they supposed to continue the series for let’s say 3 more years when we’re behind by 2 books and a lot of stuff is still unwritten? This would require not only getting GRRM to make sense of what’s left of the story that’s still a part of the show and then getting him to put all his other projects on the back burner while he devotes time to fleshing out his story in a way that will be enjoyable for the audience and not just a cash grab for all involved?
I think that if you’re a fan of this show since the beginning, you know that there’s been a change in the relationship between author and show runners. While I do think there is respect on all sides, I also believe that never in D&Ds wildest dreams did they expect to find themselves passing the books and flying solo for the back third of the series. I think that GRRM is likely very difficult to work with, as is his right, as this is his world and he’s protective of it. I won’t speculate any further but the tide turned once GRRM stopped writing scripts for the show, imo. I think they’re all probably happy to get a break from each other and go off in different directions now and I thank all of them for the gift of the books and the show and can’t possibly ask or expect anything else, especially from D&D. What a monumental task they have had. They haven’t always been perfect, lord knows (someone greenlit that “bad pussy” script!) but this show turned out far better than any of us had a right to expect. And, no matter what else happens after June 2019, they will give us what may be the only ending to this saga we will ever see. I will forgive a lot to get that chance!
Laura,
I do realize that their are limits in all regards concerning a TV serial. Martin’s books contained material enough for 10 possibly 12 seasons. In fact he has stated this. Most show runners, producers and writers would give anything to be lucky enough to work a serial show with so much richness and depth of material as ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ provide.
While it is a good idea to always leave a great party standing, I also remember the old adage in football concerning play running: Run it until they stop it, then move on to something else. Game of Thrones is at Its zenith. I just feel it tragic the show is ending too soon.
I don’t think I would want to watch it for 12 seasons. With the last 2 books I really had to force myself to keep on reading because there were too many unimportant plots and persons. I wouldn’t want this to happen with the show. Now in the show you have clearly a structure with 3 acts: begin, middle and end. While the books got somewhere struck in the middle with no ending in sight.
Jack Hamm,
“I just feel it tragic the show is ending too soon.”
——–
You don’t like endings.
https://goo.gl/images/KLsihw
Au contraire cheri. I adore great endings. WBTYM is always a bad ending.
How cool would it have been for everyone to end up dead at the end and the final image of the show be one of Ser Pounce curling up on the Iron Throne and cleaning his paw?
The premiere also allows critics to provide their reviews rather than sharing screeners (a space where leaks have come previously). Therefore I cannot imagine they’d wait until four days before the TV premiere to do the red carpet and allow critics to get their reviews out on social media and written print. Can you not sleuth the lead between other red carpet premieres and network premieres for prior seasons?
Sorry Jack but if they adapted ADWD and AFFC in the same way they did the first two books we could have had 3-4 seasons but it would have made for terrible TV and likely seen ratings drop. Those books were below part vs the previous three at least in my opinion.
To be fair, there were some amazing artists in there. But after seeing the first few, I could have sworn they would work in a clip of this fantastic gentleman: https://youtu.be/dPZ8wA1rh7U. 5 videos overall plus hours and hours of blood, sweat and tears were put into this and no nod? Instead we get Trisha? Not that I mind her contribution, but I would have given the nod to Alec Steele if I had to choose.