If you were worried about rumors of a two-part season seven, you can put those to rest, now. According to Entertainment Weekly, HBO is in talks to bring Game of Thrones back for a complete seventh and eighth season.
HBO programming president, Michael Lombardo, announced these plans at a Television Critics’ Association press party on Thursday night.
The show had been speculated to conclude with a seventh season broken into two parts, an option pioneered by The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. Indeed, this development does appear to be a change of plans for the production.
David Benioff and D.B Weiss have referred in the past to a seven season run as their “goal.” Furthermore, the Game of Thrones cast are currently optioned for only seven seasons, so contract negotiations will likely be a part of the season eight renewal.
This announcement followed HBO’s confirmation that season 6 will premiere on April 24th.
What do you think of the plan for a seventh and eighth season? Tell us below.
Hodor!!!!
Huzzah!
~M.
Great news! 😀
Smiling Roose!!!! (Yikes at the picture above.)
Whoever survives to S8 will be the highest paid actors in TV history.
Surprised it hasn’t been renewed for a seventh season already. Season 6 is in 3 months.
As long as we don’t go beyond 8 seasons, I’m fine with it. Can’t wait for S6.
Good stuff. And I really think 8 seasons will be enough to tell the rest of the story. I don’t want them to stretch it out just to make more money.
sjwenings,
HBO is pretty good about ending series instead of stretching them out just to make more money. I’d say GoT ends with Season 8. A ninth season would be overkill.
I want them to tell the complete story, but it has to have an end. If not it will get lame and tiresome. I think eight will be adequate.
What does it matter to us if it is a 2 part 7th season of 20 episodes or 2 seasons of 10? It makes no difference. They’ve been saying for a year now that D&D think they have 2 more years in them after the 6th season.
As if there were any doubt they’d be renewed, as long as there’s story to tell.
I’m totally filming myself watching Thrones from here on out. I’ve often wondered what I looked like during key scenes in seasons past, after all the reaction videos started showing up online. There will be a lot of tears and sweat words.
They already ruined the plot, so what could be worse
80 hours is the perfect amount of time for the story. It is interesting however, that they went through AFFC and ADWD very fast yet they are doing 8 seasons. They have cut some characters and storylines that would have made up a good part of that time in S6 and beyond IMO. Will be interesting.
What great news, a season 7 and 8 is Music to my ears. I just heard that the Walking dead creators plan on making more seasons and they don’t have an ending in sight. so I was happy to hear this news. two more seasons should be plenty ^^ really can’t wait for season 6.
Morgoth,
Agree. The audience at large (maybe not the super fans) need to feel like they’re really moving towards a conclusion, not just spinning wheels and coming up with new ways to string/drag thing out. Eight sounds like a good number if The Wall falls at the end of this season and S7 is the bulk of the big war. Maybe S8 can then be a season long wrap up of all the characters in the aftermath.
Love the accompanying pic.
The writers started out identifying 80 hours as the time they wanted to run; there was a noticeable shift a few years ago to talking about seven seasons/seventy hours, and then they got more ambiguous on that point, and now we’re back to where it started. Fitting, I suppose.
Given what we know about this show’s productions schedule (though granted, the final season will probably involve much, much less shooting outside Northern Ireland), I’m not sure how doing a bigger seventh season and splitting it in two would have worked.
I’m not really sure that this is a good idea at this point. They really should’ve figured this out ages ago. I mean, they already rushed through a lot of the characters, which is fine and I can understand because of the whole 7 season arc, but now what? Are they going to be a lot of stretching out? I wonder if this has anything to do with GRRM not being able to release his book on time. Perhaps GRRM still needs more time for more concrete ideas for D+D to work with.
Oh god, please no. I prefer a tight seven-seasons-and-a-half to a slower eight-seasons. And the end, especially, is no place to slow things down.
I hope they go for 8, a lot of people just love to worry,
Wonderful! The more GOT the better, I say!
I had assumed it would be 2 full seasons, the split doesn’t seem like it would have worked as well.
I wonder if the actors would prefer this.
I imagine some of them want this to end to move on to other projects.
They’d get a lot of money when they renegotiate their contracts though.
ADOS is never going to be released, so I don’t think George is effecting this decision.
people just love to speculate don’t they XD
Yeah they do 🙂 I can’t wait for the trailer!
dany needs to pick up the pace if they are going to end up in season 7 or extended season 7….and dorne needs to make sense soon..If they are ending it on season 8 they have to slow the white walkers down. .coz…..seems like the grand finale will be dany vs the white walkers ….hardhome was the beginning of the end………
Matthew The Dragon knight,
That’s horrible news for TWD, damn it that show was good really but now it’s just a shell of itself. I’m still watching it though, guilty pleasure and Andrew Lincoln i guess.
I was always concerned that D&D would just rush through the ending after we spent so much quality time with these characters.
I think eight seasons gives them enough time to pace through the endgame so we can enjoy it and it won’t feel like such a slow steady build up to some kind of abrupt unsatisyfing ending.
I want to see interactions that span at least a few episodes between Dany and Jon… Between Cersie and Dany and all the other major PoV characters that are bound to cross paths and possibly kill each other.
It’s going to be so magical watching Dany on her dragon next to Jon Stark with Ghost leading an army against a white walker horde.
I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it!
Are you sure you came to the right site?
Well 8 season and 80 hours that seems fitting. Although last thing i want is for them to stretching the story out beyond its limits but how about them split the 8th season in two part with eight episode each? That makes it 86 in total.
Surprised nobody has said it yet. GoT and HbO gonna be makin the 8! “You ever make the 8 Selmy? Har har har, glug glug glug”
Well, 8 seasons has always been the sweet spot in my mind, anything less would be rushed. An early renewal would be welcome news even if everyone on planet Earth, Westeros and Essos (and probably Sothoryos ) all know that the show will run to its completion…
And to add to this good news…
HBO has green lit a Deadwood movie!
This has been one hell of a year so far and we are only one week into it!
Huzzah!
Eight seasons has always been my hope. 😀 Oh my gobrino, hyped.
God, I hope they won’t go on a killing spree, offing characters left, right and centre just to save money for the main actors in S8.
Agree 8 is best. I hope 8 means they can get back to the pacing of the early seasons with a more deliberate buildup to key events. The last two seasons has been more about shorter dramatic scenes which works fine at times but sometimes not so much.
Okay guys. Here it is. Trailer description:
(Dark, dramatic music. No song like in previous trailers)
Shot of Tommen sitting on the Iron Throne, with Kevan and Pycelle on each side of him. The High Sparrow with dozens of the faith militant standing in the Throne Room.
Joffrey: “My mother wishes me to let Lord Eddard join the Night’s Watch.”
Shot of Tormund staring down Aliser Throne at Castle Black.
“Stripped of all titles he would serve the realm in permanent exile.”
Shot of Tyrion standing on a balcony with hundreds of people shouting up at him. He looks back at a concerned Varys and Missendei.
“And my lady Sansa, has begged mercy for her father.”
Shot of Sansa shivering in the cold, huddled by a fire. She looks up in shock.
Shot of Brienne pulling out Oathkeeper as it snows.
Shot of Yara standing over the body of Balon. She looks up at Damphair who stands on the other side of the table.
Shot of Sam, Gilly, and little Sam sailing into Oldtown. Gilly looks in awe.
“But they have the soft hearts of women.”
Shot of Prince Doran looking angrily past the camera.
Shot of Obara and Elaria Sand sharing a glance in a tent.
Shot of Ramsay on horseback leading men through the snow.
“So long as I am king…”
Shot of Cersei embracing Tommen.
Shot of Jaime on horseback in King’s Landing. He raises his golden hand to silence a crowd in front of the Great Sept. The High Sparrow looks on with the Faith Militant. Margaery stands in tattered garments next to him.
“Treason…”
Shot of Lady Olenna rushing down a hallway angrily with Tyrell gaurds.
Shot of a very much blind Arya practicing with needle in the shadows.
Shot of Daenerys looking around a Dothraki encampment, looking very distraught.
Shot of Jorah and Daario close up in a field, looking around then back at each other.
Shot of Tyrion standing before a stone, Unsullied seemingly prepared to roll it away.
“Will never go unpunished.”
Shot of a tower, two horses approaching from past the camera.
Shot of Ned Stark being beheaded.
3 seconds of black. Three Eyed Raven: “The past is already written. The ink is dry.”
Shot of a White Walker slowly turning around. There’s a hooded figure on a horse. He removes the hood.
It’s Bran Stark.
Titles: Game of Thrones. Sixth Season. April 24th.
Last shot of Jon Snow standing as it snows. His eyes are blue. Melisande walks up next to him, half-smiling.
LOLOL. Oh, brother.
Hmm I expected Season 6 to be climax after climax (i.e. S4) to make up for the buildup that was Season 5, but maybe we can expect a lot of backtracking with
If so, that kinda kills my excitement for this year tbh but will be better for the show in the long run…
And with what we’ve read of TWOW so far, it seems GRRM is still creating more tangents instead of wrapping up ADWD’s arcs and moving forward into the actual ‘Winds of Winter’ part. Who knows, an 8th book could be possible if he again cuts off the climax to save for the next installment.
In other words there’s no way to know if D&D do end up stretching out the endgame lol cause even GRRM hasn’t written it out completely yet.
I contend that around half this season will be catching storylines up (i.e., Greyjoys, Riverlands) and histories (ToJ). There will still be a lot of story left to wrap this up –
On at least one occasion years ago, they even mentioned 90 hours.
GeekFurious,
It wouldn’t be a 20 episode season. More like 12 or 13
Yes. It would be impossible to do 20 episodes in a single year and only air them in two batches. A split seventh season would at best add 3-4 episodes, not 10. So, as far as I am concerned, Season 8 FTW.
Actors whose characters survive into S8 can expect one hell of a payday. Their negotiating powers will be immense; expect stratospheric $$$.
Darquemode,
Better get around to finishing season 3 then.
Lord Leaker,
Wishful thinking.
Why would Jon Snow have blue eyes? Surely red would be more appropriate. How about going for a morph from Dead Jon to Living Ghost?
If Season 8 goes back to tell the tale of what caused events to roll……. The thing I’d rather not have is an extended version of what can be wrapped in 7 seasons, of 10 episodes in each. It’s almost like saying to GRRM, “There! You’ve now got two more years to complete your book”.
Was there ever any doubt HBO would try and run the money making machine for as many seasons as possible? The only thing that shocks me is that we haven’t heard of preliminary work on GoTs successor.
I am glad as many shortcomings of the last season can be traced back to the fact that everything was rushed, so writers could be able to finish GoT in seven season if negotiations went wrong. Hopenfully the writers will use the screentime to proper characterization and build up of the story in next seasons and avoid awful storytelling like “50 best killers”, “20 good men”, “The longing for the candle”, “My Stannis GPS signal works fine” or “I am Obara Sand, daughter of Oberyn Martell, what a coincidence to meet you in the Water Gardens at this time Ser Jaime”.
I´m ok with 8 seasons, and i hope they don´t make the mistake of trying to have more. 🙂
So season 8 will be all white walkers vs. dragons. All CGI. And in the end a kiss of Jon and Dany that has been filmed ages ago. Problem solved.
This *applause*
If they planned it out from the very beginning, i think the show would have best been served with 10 seasons / 100 hours. They could have gone into a little more meat and fleshed out some stories /characters better.
That said, from their original goal, to what is left n the story, I am very happy GoT will get 8 seasons. Maybe if WoW and ADoS prove to be massive epic story telling, maybe D&D & HBO can agree to split season 8 in two. Like two 7 episodes halves?
The tangents worry me a little. I’m not saying the minor characters are not sometimes interesting but I felt the AFFC and ADWD took the long and winding road somewhat. I’m not afraid of reading long books – I’ve read some Robert Graves and Fyodor Dostoevsky books in my time – but I am not that much younger than GRRM and I don’t want to wait another 20 years – or even another 10 – to get an ending to this story.
Whether an eighth season is wise really depends on how much quality and actionable material they have for the final book. D&D did a brilliant job turning SoS into two seasons, but SoS had the most quality material for adaptation of any book in the series, by far. And D&D did a brilliant job of condensing the two weakest books of the series into one season. They’ve chosen wisely so far.
If the seventh book contains the climax of the series, which it likely will, then the seventh book should have at least as much quality and actionable material as SoS, a mid-series climax book. In that case, splitting the material over two seasons would likely be another brilliant move. But we face the conundrum that there is no 7th book yet. Or 6th, for that matter. Yes, D&D have the broad strokes, but are these strokes too broad to provide enough high quality, tightly written material for the last three seasons at the same level they had for the first five? It would be a shame to end the series weaker than it began.
GaiusB,
Waaaa
Whats the difference between a split seventh season and a season 7 & 8 (besides the # of episodes)??
I also happy to hear. As much as I love that D&D know where the story is going and know the end game – which makes for better story telling, I can watch GOT EVERYDAY OF MY LIFE and be happy 🙂 so the more the better 🙂
What a great day in GOT news! Now to get the trailer. Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeee
LOL at smiling Roose! Brilliant choice – wondering what future has in store for us…
Also staring, from time to time, at the countdown clock and not a single day has passed since my first glimpse yet 🙁
Sorry, I have to
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3389942/Games-Thrones-hunk-Kit-Harington-shows-impressive-six-pack-relaxes-poolside-Brazil.html
I Dream of Spring,
I agree with you, 8 seasons makes sense. Also, I just prefer to let the story-telling happen.
I guess that the HBO higher-ups told D&D about the 8-season plan last year.
For me, that’s the reason for all the catching up that is going to happen in season 6, either bringing new characters from previous books or putting the old ones back on their book storylines.
If they didn’t have any confirmation, they probably would use season 6 to start pushing through the plot for an ending next year.
Still at least 80 episodes too few 🙂
More than that, it’s going to depend on the quality of GRRM’s ultimate “gag.” One thing that I can tell you now: a lot of people will not like it. Even if M, B & W hit on the single most satisfying hook for the why of the Walkers and how Jon’s, Daeny’s, Tyrion’s, etc., personal evolution from Season 1 -> Season 8 sets them up to be the right people in the right place at the right time to understand that “why,” then there still will be a lot of people who will dislike the “why,” who will argue that it didn’t make sense (to them) for Jon, Daeny, etc., to make the choices that they did, etc. That will, of course, simply reflect a lot of people expecting a wide range of very different “whys” and “because” revelations.
That is the nature of this sort of beast.
OMG! Me too!! (Fingers crossed) Season 8? I’m happy!!
Hmmm I’m not actually seeing any six-pack 🙁
I can’t see the show dragging out beyond 8 seasons. At this point they know the end game so they can work towards it at their own pace (certainly can’t wait for the finished products of the books). I’m very pleased with the show. I’ve read the books but I’m not a purist and I can appreciate both separately. Now PLEASE we need a trailer. The countdown clock is going to kill me…lol.
CrowsEye,
So how do you feel about the show being the true ending for the series and not the books,oh yeah just wanted to remind you that the books will never be finished because your saint that you worship really doesn’t give a shit about you or any other sychophant that kisses his ass day in and day out .
Mr Fixit,
The Day’s King,
No and no .
Not true. The actor who plays Walder Frey confirmed in 2014, that he will return to the show, but not in S5. So they obviously knew that the Riverlands plot will be in S6 long ago.
Also the actress who plays Yara almost confirmed that she will return at some point. Bryan Cogman said during S4 that her failure to rescue Theon will have repercussions on her reputation on the Iron Islands. Obviously he was speaking about Kingsmoot, so they confirmed that they will write Iron Island’s storyline in 2014 as well.
I really don’t understand what people were expecting. Do they really believed that D&D have forgotten about Blackfish, Edmure, Freys, Greyjoys, Rickon, Osha,… and that they will never reappear again?
I don’t think that they really ever planned to end the show with 7 seasons. The way they wrote S5 says that. Maybe they were just afraid that the audience will lose interest if they told them after S4 that we were just half way through the story?
Sister Kisser,
Every time I hear someone talk about 8 seasons I hear Mark Addy’s voice saying :making the 8″ and see his big shiny belly in the breastplate stretcher scene 😛
mau,
And plus what catching up do they really have to do,i’m 100% sure Arya’s storyline will be mostly new stuff,there are only two flashbacks from the previous books and they will be done in 1 episode not to mention they won’t be the same as the books anyway,the Iron Islands stuff will be resolved very quickly plus as we know Theon is there so again it won’t the same stuff as the books, 70% of Sam’ story from AFFC was already done last season,and the northern plot will be vastly different too, Jaime’s Riverland’s stuff will be resolved very quick and once again with different results from the books because one character was cut,so i ask again,what catching up do they exactly have to do ?
It would be far, far worse if they ruined the story: after all, audiences are much more engaged to story than they are to plot. But so far B&W are telling the same stories each year that GRRM told in the corresponding book. (And that suggests that the book->TV driven adaptations to the plot(s) have served the stories.)
Seriano,
This is not true.
They’ve said that “somewhere between 70 and 80 hours feels about right” and that they would need “at least 70 hours” to properly tell they story. Obviously they’ve now decided it will be 80 hours.
My guess is that stuff from Crows will be the “intros” to the plotlines. However, I expect that Jaime’s Riverland material will largely be his Riverland material from Winter. Similarly, it looks like Arya’s Essos material (and possible Riverlands material, if she’s there in person and not seeing it through her wolf) is going to be largely material from Winter, too. I doubt that we’ll get Sam’s journey to Oldtown in much detail: he’ll probably be there almost immediately, and thus pickup at whatever he does in Winter. Daeny, Jon, Bran and Cersi obviously are into Winter territory, as they have exhausted their published material. Sansa probably will be doing parallels to her Winter book material in the North rather than in the Vale. And Tyrion is well ahead of where he is in the books.
Let-it-Snow,
hahaha
well there is a packkkkkkk, may not be six 😛
By the Smith’s hammer, this is good news!
Sounds good to me, two more years of GoT also means two more years for WotW! What will this site be about when the series is finished?
And the story will be quite different from the books anyway as long as these havn’t been written.
I don’t understand the reaction on the 8 seasons, we already knew it will not end on the seventh one. They wouldn’t be able to do 2 no published books, with much more pages than the previous ,in two seasons. The problem with the last books and Winds is that they take place in the same time. A book can go back and forth a movie/series can’t.
Let’s wait and watch the new season before we start commenting on it. From spoilers it seems really better than season 5 and we really have no idea what happens on episode 10 or what is supposed to happen in the books.
George RR Martin is ex producer on the show and he really knows better than all of us what ruins the story or not.
Can someone remember how long after date we got the trailer last year?
I know the contracts went out for 7 even if HBO has not ‘green lighted’ it yet, which must a hinging chad right now.
I thought it interesting that Lombardo says no split 7.
D&D would agree to a 7a and 7b and not to an 8?
I guess HBO could get other show runners!
They know the end. It wont go more than 8 seasons:
http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/game-of-thrones-ending-season-5-producers-interview-1201469516/
How many more seasons do you see this going?
Benioff: We’ve got a very definitive idea of how much longer it is, and we’re getting there. We’ve just started writing episodes for season six. I think we’re heading into the home stretch. Hopefully, we’ll have a clear answer soon.
We could go another four years — and we could come up with good stories — but the one thing that really got us excited when we pitched this to HBO was that this isn’t just a regular series. It’s a real story with a beginning, a middle and an end.
We know what the end is, and we’re barreling toward it. So the idea that we’re going to try and stretch it out by an extra couple years just because we’re all having a good time doing it and people are making money off it just feels like it would be a betrayal.
Weiss: It’s like sometimes you’ll be at a party, and you’re surrounded by people you love and you’re having a great time and it’s late and you’re like, “I should really go home, but man, this is a great party. I’m going to order one more beer, why not? When’s the next time I’m going to be in a party this great again?” And then you have another beer and you have a martini, and then it’s 6:30 in the morning, you’re like, “Why the f— am I still at this party?”
Benioff: You wake up ashamed and covered in your own feces.
Weiss: We want to go home before that happens.
I remember last year when people thought the Iron Islands were cut forever, but are back in S6.
Makes me think even before or during making of S5 show runners where rejiggering the teleplays for more than 7 seasons , the intro of the ‘Others’ in E8 may be a build not to be completed until 8.
It is obvious that this decision has been taken long ago but only now confirmed. And it makes sense. Introducing Euron in S6 for example for just one and a half seasons sounded very rushed. Then the return of previous characters would also have been rushed. I am actually intrigued now by the Rickon +Osha presence. Hope flares for LSH and one wonders what will be the time span for Boltons after that previous statement
that said that the Boltons will survive for the seasons to come (or sth similar). It also gives air for the Dorne plot incl the SS and Elaria and the scenario that Doran is behind the poisoning of Myrcella.
Sister Kisser,
I was JUST about to post that when I scrolled and read your post. Well played, Sir/Ma’am!
I hope I make it through season 8. It was interesting seeing the results of the #BryndenBFish poll for how old everyone is. The majority of folks who replied are between 15-25. It explains so much. But the more interesting thing was the 55 and over was only 3% of the respondents. O_O Now I really feel old. Please Mr. Martin, finish at least one of the books so we don’t have to read all the whinging. 😉
I am looking forward to whatever D & D bring. In D & D I trust!! A misstep here and there? That is called being human not bad writers.
THANK YOU for the countdown clock oh wizard of WotW!!!
One thing left to say to you whippersnappers….
GET OFF MY LAWN!! 😀
there are also other pictures where you can see that he has a sixpack, the lightning is not good in that picture;)
dothrakian raven,
It is interesting amidst all the characters in GRRM’s recent blog update about TWOW that
was not listed.
Hype!
Psssst…..I found out the same way, but sisterkisser is like a reference to Jaime….so “Sir” is correct. 😉
Zombies That Were Promised,
You people just aren’t going to stop are you ?
3 more seasons seems like the perfect way to end the show
wrapping up everything in 20 episodes seemed far-fetched
Makes sense to me. After all, most of the stuff that happened in the books about Sam’s journey to Oldtown, such as the death of Aegmon and the Sam/Gilly sex scene, already happened on the show in Castle Black. There’s really not much left to show, other than maybe … *NOTE: Book spoilers*
Although honestly, I think they’ll just skip that scene and we’ll open with either Sam already in Oldtown, or *NOTE: Filming spoilers*
Either way, I suspect the first time we see Sam and Gilly in Season 6, they’ll be getting off a boat.
I’m in the 35-45 range. But really, it doesn’t matter how old you are. We’ll never see “A Dream of Spring.” Of that much, I’m convinced. GoT is going to be the only ending of “A Song of Ice and Fire” we’ll ever get.
Just enjoy tWoW when it comes out in late 2018 after GoT wraps up, because that’s the last aSoIaF book we’ll ever get.
http://www.slashfilm.com/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-tease/
HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler was at HBO’s reception for the Television Critics Association last night and I was able to get a few minutes with him to talk about Game of Thrones. The network announced the premiere date for season six earlier in their sessions.
There’d long been talk about the show catching up to George R.R. Martin’s books, and even when season six and book six were looming, Martin shared information with series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss so that the show wouldn’t stall waiting for books. Now Martin has officially missed the deadline for The Winds of Winter, so it will be published after season six of the show. Plepler reflected on the long speculated moment actually occurring.
“You know, I was never sure but I always knew that given the relationship that David and Dan had with George and the closeness and respect that they have for each other that if they overtook the books or not, there would be a synchronic and organic conversation going on between them,” Plepler told /Film. “That they would never do anything that would violate George’s sense of the integrity of the story and I think that’s absolutely true. Their relationship is such a wonderful thing to observe, the mutual respect that they have for each other that I know George would say, ‘I trust these guys moving this arc forward.’”
Since precautionary steps were taken early on, this development shouldn’t change any of the plans for Game of Thrones’ seventh season. “I would only say that that’s going to be up to David and Dan to determine where they take the story in concert with George, but everyone is very excited about the continuum,” Plepler said. “I think when you see even the first episodes of the new season, you’ll see how much life and dynamism there is in this story.”
HBO has also mounted a tantalizing marketing campaign for the sixth season, with images of Jon Snow in teasers and billboards. Plepler approved of his team’s teasing.
“I give all the credit to our marketing team,” Plepler said. “Basically of course is always looking to remind the audience of how exciting and dynamic the programming is and I think that they felt correctly that this was a great titillation for the new season and it certainly is proven so as you see by the social traffic by the social traffic on that.”
Now, do those images of Kit Harington confirm that Jon Snow is alive? Plepler is still teasing. “I think it was just titillation in the purest sense and I wouldn’t confirm or deny anything, but it worked very well,” he said.
I had some questions about the network’s upcoming Westworld and third/final season of The Leftovers, but Plepler deferred to the individual show runners and wouldn’t speak on their behalf.
Game of Thrones returns April 24 on HBO.
Ok with 8 seasons as long as they can cover all the main plots (without rushing) of TWOW and ADOS.
After that, a spin-off covering the Dance Of Dragons Please!
dothrakian raven,
What makes you think that Euron is not just a single season character? We get those most years.
I will be interested to see how a complete contract re-negotiation with the entire cast goes for the 8th season. HBO does not have a positive history when it comes to this. The Sopranos, Oz, Sex and the City, Hung, The Wire are all examples of programs on their network that got bogged down in contract hell with the talent. This is their most successful show, yes. But their history is one of penny pinching the talent and not giving in to their demands. And unlike some of those shows where the negotiations were with 2 or 3 or 4 cast members, season 8 for Game of Thrones will be unique in that it’s the ENTIRE cast. And not just any entire cast either, but the largest cast in television history, by far. And each of these people (not to mention behind the scenes talent as well) will require a new contract, and you can bet your bottom dollar each person will want a substantial pay increase.
So, that will be interesting to say the least.
JCDavis,
Sorry – do you have a link for BFish poll? Would really like to take a peek. Thanks
They can only do 10 at a time. D&D said that 10 episodes take the max time to film and get ready to premiere for April.
Wimsey,
Bearing in mind that he is an important secondary /tertiary character in the books can you reasonably explain to me why and how could he be a half season character in GOT?
Cersei’s Brain,
https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/3zwrmq/spoilers_all_2015_asoiaf_theory_poll_results_part/
‘On some worlds the Smith is known as Thor, on some Hephaestus or Vulcan, on still others Grabthar.’ – footnote by some forgotten Maester or Septon from ‘The Seven-Pointed Star”
Lord Leaker,
Do it!
Man, you got me really excited reading this XD I wish a lot more people could make this, this was an awesome read, painted such a great picture in my head.
doug,
I think 8 years on the show could be problematic for HBO getting the cast to sign on for longer, particularly the ones who went from unknown to very famous from the show, who may want to branch out and look to play other characters. I guess it’s good that many of them get the chance in the off season to do this atm.
I think money is only gonna be problematic when it comes to the biggest stars on the show (providing their characters are still alive!) – the five who are paid the most – Peter, Lena, Nicolaj, Emilia and Kit and possibly Sophie and Maisie who are in the next pay bracket and are both seeing their star potential increase over the years.
That’s not true at all. This is not some random tv show, this is the biggest tv show in history of this planet and also probably the best show in history too. This is an opportunity once in a life time.
Also GOT is only filming 10 episodes per year and very, very limited amount of time for their characters is filmed because there are so many. As you can see this allow GOT actors to play in other big movies already with no problem. In fact being on the best and biggest show on the planet will help them to get movies contracts easier.
Good. Was struggling to see how they’d fit everything into two more seasons as they don’t even seem close to the end game yet!
It’s not the entire cast. Just a few are main characters. Also most of them were killed and even more will die and some are new.
Why are you pulling facts out of your ass again? Lol, I swear, you are the worst poster on this site. You always come up with some stupid shit.
Tywin of the Hill,
Thanks so much! Have a great 2016
So… after all the things said, this means they rushed all the plots/characters last season for nothing? Ugh.
And seriously, given the cash/audience/prizes/reputation the show is giving to the HBO since the beginning, why on hell they would stop just for seven seasons? (Screw the writers, writers can be changed randomly by executives’ wishes, we’re talking about God Almighty Money). I found shocking noone believed about the 8 (or more) seasons. *rolling eyes*
Whose to say they’d stretching it out beyond 8 seasons for more money? Personally i think it might need a even a little more breathing room still, i think 9 would be enough
Let people believe what they want to believe. you’ll be amazed what some people can come up with, pretty ridiculous and funny at the same time.
SlayerNina,
Like this person right here, pretty funny watching people lash out 🙂
Roose looks as though he heartily approves!
Yaaaaay!
Except Stannis nothing was rushed last season.
mau,
Nope, the Dorne plotline suffered the most because of the abbreviated version.
Cersei’s Brain,
But it wasn’t rushed.Characters there spend 6 episodes trying to kill/save Myrcella.
6 episodes about the life or death of a minor character is not rushed in my book.
And Dorne plot about Myrcella wasn’t really a material for 2 seasons. I don’t know what decision to have 8 seasons has to do with that storyline.
Blanche Holstein,
Petra seems to have a real knack for choosing the most perfect pictures to accompany her articles.
mau,
This
I didn’t really see Dorne as rushed, watching season 5 for the second time I liked it better then the first. I Think you need that bad pussy.
Cersei’s Brain,
I agree. I think just a bit more time with the new characters could have improved show-Dorne dramatically. As it stands, we got the one scene with Tyene, and a few other lines, the one monologue of Obara’s, and a couple of other lines, and almost nothing from Nymeria. We also, sadly, got very little time with Doran.
Instead of an extra season can’t we just get some 13 episode seasons? Or at least the opening and finale’s to be two hours long? That would solve a lot of problems.
I agree, after watching season 5 for a second time, I liked it better then my first viewing. But the only thing was it needed more development, which we will get in season 6, so i’m ok with where things stand.
mau,
The lord commander election felt rushed to me.
the election felt just fine, you just wanted it to drag out more. the election did what it needed to do without lingering on for to long.
Euron isn’t close to being an important character in the books. What does he have, one line in Crows? He might be responsible for some important plot points in Winter, and presumably that is what we are getting this season. However, for all we know, he’ll be an plot element that is rapidly solved by the end of the book.
Quite the opposite: Dorne was too slow to get to the point. In some ways, that was unavoidable: the big clinching moment for Jaime comes at the very end, and that is the way it had to be for them to preserve his storyline.
As for Doran, Ellaria and the SS, they are not important in and of themselves: they are just incidental characters there to create issues for the main characters. We got as much of them as we needed to understand Jaime’s plight, and perhaps more than enough.
At any rate, I strongly suspect that there are far more people who feel that the show leans towards dragging than feel that it leans towards rushing. In general, audiences like fast paces: and it’s been that way for a long time.
That is NOT the sort of thing on which you want to spend any more time than necessary on TV. Either you make an election central to the whole show (e.g., House of Cards), or you dispense with it as quickly as possible.
The plot against Jon and his murder was rushed..
Al Swearengen,
One, no: it takes them the full filming and production schedule to make 10 episodes. Two, given that many more people are going to have a problem with the 10 episode version dragging than with it being rushed, adding three hours would only exacerbate the problems, not solve them.
Tywin of the Hill,
No,if they woud have dragged it out longer it would have been boring and i’m also thankful that they god rid of that stupid plot with the stupid talking crow .
Wayne Gleeson,
How was it rushed,it was foreshadowed half the season that something will happen to Jon. I also found it funny how people complained that Ollys bvetrayal was heavy handed,but forget that Bowen Marsh was worse with him being in like every Jon chapter always knowing like yeah this motherfucker is up to no good .
I feel like either way someone isn’t going to be happy, if they do things one way and not the other someone either agrees or disagrees. well I guess it will always or almost always end up like this one way or the other. example being extending the election, some might be alright with it and other would think it dragged on.
Wimsey,
It’s pretty simple, hire more people. It’s not like HBO aren’t willing to give them the time or resources to do so.
Squeezing everything in to ten epsides is the reason the quality has declined drastically in the last two years.
It’s hilarious when people act like their opinion is the solid gold gospel truth
Wayne Gleeson,
That’s the pot calling the kettle .
Wayne Gleeson,
I don’t agree, but you are speaking about one scene, not the whole storyline.
You don need 10 more episodes for Jon’s death.
Al Swearengen,
Yeah it’s clearly you have no idea how tv is made dude,i suggest you stay at your position as a book purist,the other stuff can be a bit too much for your brain to handle .
Ummmm, not really, at least not to the same extent, there’s some pretty far fetched claims on here, in which some people seem dead cert about
Tywin of the Hill,
When you compare it to the books. But it was long enough scene for tv. (6 minutes)
One of the longest in s5.
Wimsey,
I agree. S5 was slow season. I don’t think that is a bad thing, but I really can’t undestand how someone can see it as rushed.
Yes, there were some rushed scenes like every year but overall in the was slowest season after s2.
Just like the books after all.
Lord Leaker,
I like everything but the finale. Super closeup shot of Jon’s face, it pans out slowly and you kinda see what looks like wood behind his hair. Black screen.
Too bad it will be completely different! Hehe but I want you to make a fan made trailer at the end of season 6! I’m counting on it now!
Hear, hear.
Brandon,
Or it may conceivably be that at least some of the stuff that people assume is “cut” may not be cut at all but rather shuffled around and shown is some fashion later ( assuming it pertains directly to the “endgame” that was discussed with D&D and George in their infamous ” story summit” in Santa Fe back in 2013.)
Tyrion the myrion,
I suggest you go and play infront of some traffic.
mau,
The pace of the books has become slower and slower… therefore, readers feel that the pace of the TV show should follow the equal trend…
Naming Ned Stark Hand and killing him in the same season wasn’t rushed in season 1 (because it was the same as in the books).
But electing Jon Snow as LC and killing him in the same season was considered rushed in season 5 (because in the books it takes it many more chapters).
I also agree with Wimsey that overall, most people would feel that the seasons tend to be slow-ish, not fast paced at all. In fact, even within the fandom, every season we have many episodes that are considered “slow” or “boring”, or “uneventful”. I fail to see how a longer season would help. Personally, I think not doing more than 10 episodes has more pros than cons.
You forget Dorne, Tyrion’s journey and Winterfell too
mau,
Stannis and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
The concept of rushed is subjective to people
I didn’t find season 5 rushed… I found it slow in a good way.
People forget this isn’t a book. It’s a ten hour season with 95737 characters!
The books.
Nope, the Dorne plotline suffered the most because garbage in garbage out.
Amen
And yes, the only way to redeem Dorne was to cut it entirely.
Tyrion’s journey? Are you serious? That subplot was highly praised by both critics and fans (and no, you book purists are not fans). Except for Young Griff, it covered most of the important plot points (Pentos, Arrival to Volantis, Tyrion being captured by ser Jorah, Valyria and the Stone Men, the Slave traders, Yezzan…) and it actually reached a proper climax (Tyrion meeting Daenerys). I’m glad that Penny’s dreadful character was cut from TV series.
And no, Dorne’s storyline was definitely not rushed. Like so many said above, they spend six episodes focusing on a minor character (Myrcella). Even in the books, the storyline was not particulary eventful (the chapters were mostly about world-building, especially Areo’s first and Arianne’s second chapter).
Seriously, why do you keep plaguing this site with your pointless ranting? You are just making fool of yourself.
I just want to say, kudos to the writers of this website for using the absolute *perfect* picture to go with this article/headline. I laugh every time I look at it. 😀
Roose has a smile that cuts like a knife 🙂
Seven seasons wouldn’t have been enough.
Let’s imagine that by the end of this forthcoming season the Wall is on the brink of or has collapsed, Daenerys has finally decided to set sail for Westeros, and Westeros itself is still in turmoil with the various factions still butting heads.
Is 10 episodes enough to reach a conclusion?
The War of the Five Kings continued for more than 2 seasons, yet the ultimate fate of Westeros is to be decided in 10 episodes?
No, we need an 8th season to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
I doubt it’d go on any longer. That’d either mean that the conclusion was too drawn out, or that they had to tag on a lot of unnecessary material after what should have been its natural conclusion.
Call time at 8 seasons, then in 10/15 years time if any of the surviving cast of characters are struggling for work, revive it with a new story arc.
Although, by the time we get to the end of this coming season, or the 7th, depending on where we’re at in the story I might change my mind about 8 seasons being enough.
you forgot about some spin off series or prequels a few years after the series ends :p
I don’t think that you understand what rushed means. I don’t mean quicker than the books. I was speaking about the pace of S5 compared to other seasons of GoT. If you compare it to AFFC/ADWD of cource it would seem rushed, almost anything compared to the last two books would be rushed.
Tyrion’s journey took 7 episodes. How that can be considered rushed? So he should have traveled for 2 seasons? The changes they made to Tyrion’s storyline were one of the best last year. A proper beginning, middle and an end.
The only thing that was rushed in Dorne’s plot was a set-up for the fight scene in E6. It happens too easily and too quickly. Everything else was at the normal pace for GoT standards. We got a long scene in E9 with Doran and Jaime, and everyone else where we find out that Myrcella will leave Dorne, also a long scene where they introduced poison they will use to kill Myrcella and another long scene where Myrcella leaves Dorne and dies.
And for Winterfell I also can’t see which scene there was rushed. We got many scenes with Theon and Sansa to develop their relationship which was the most important part of that storyline in the show. They dedicated a big part of E5 to show relations between characters there, Ramsay and Myranda, Ramsay and Roose, Sansa and Theon, Sansa and the Boltons, Sansa and Myranda,… They showed Theon’s struggles many times during the season. His shame, his grief and brief anger during Sansa’s rape, his conflicting feelings when Sansa asked for help, fading of Reek, especially in E8 where he confessed that Bran and Rickon are alive and finally his decision to kill Myranda.
Al Swearengen,
The quality has declined drastically? Hardhome wasn’t quality? Lol
mau,
Very well said mau
I see some comments that suggests more than eight seasons. During the emmy awards I believe, benioff was interviewed and asked if the show would go longer than eight years, he said essentially — definitely not and that they know the end game, and that dragging the story would not be a good idea. I looked for the interview but couldn’t find it. It may have been posted on this website.
Deesensfan,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/tvshowbiz/video-1215912/D-B-Weiss-David-Benioff-talk-future-Game-Thrones.html
Q: Can this last beyond 8 years, can this go a decade?
Benioff: No way in hell !
mau,
That was so easy for you to find! Thank you! I searched for a while earlier!! Lol
But it feels so right!
The Old Gods help me, did I really just quote a Bryan Adams song??? *facepalm*
Lord Parramandas,
I understand exactly what you’re saying about Dorne, and I agree there was plenty of time spent on the Myrcella plot, I just think if we could have gotten only a couple/few more minutes (total)with the characters to whom we were just being introduced, it would have felt more…complete.
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
I think that Dorne will feel complete only when we find out what purpose they serve in this story. After S5 you would think that the only reason was to kill Myrcella, but that is not enough.
We need a proper chain of events. Oberyn’s death —> Myrcella’s death —-> ???
mau,
What’s most interesting to me is what role Dorne will play in the show given the differences between the characters at play from the books.
If imdb is any indication, and, yes, I know it is not reliable, but I’ll put it under spoiler code because it involves season 6, if accurate:
I think the most important thing that came out of this announcement was that Deadwood is returning as a movie to wrap everything up. That is exciting.
House Shark will jump!!!
I wonder what they will do with the Valyrian steel sword Widow’s Wail, Tommen will probably never use it, so do you think he might give it to Jaime or maybe it will just pass to Jaime when/if Tommen dies.
Al Swearengen,
Wow,that really hurt my feelings,i guess i must of touched one of your sensible cords there,haven’t i ?
Wow the amount of theories people brew out of nothing. …
Is it that difficult to find a reasonable answer for why the need for 8th season…if you ask me showrunners after started writing for season 6 must have come to the conclusion they can’t tell the remaining story within seven season and since they can’t do an extended season or split season they decided to go with season 8 ..
If theyincluded everything in the last two books then we would have been having ten to twelve season …which would be a way of spoiling this series ….
I wont be surprised if the last season only having eight episodes …
The real question should be can GRRM finish this series in seven books….
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
No. Imdb often lists an actor appearing in a show at all as appearing in the first episode. So, first episode listing are unreliable.
mau,
The Southern War. There has to be one more war in Westeros before Dany arrives.
Also, currently, there is at least one region of the 7k untouched by war. And something needs to keep us occupied in the next year.
I just hope it doesn’t end up like the novel; that is full of parallel plots and no visible ending. And I have to admit it scares me a little not to have something solid (=a book) to rely on for the plot.
Sou,
That’s why the show killed Stannis! And Mance, and Barristan, and Talisa… And this season, it seems like we’ll be down several plots and locations as well.
The show is more like the wheel that Dany mentioned (known in our reality as the Wheel of Fortune): some plots go down, others rise. And Dany’s coming will break them all. ?
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
I certainly agree with you. I think Doran should have gotten more screentime (maybe the actor was too busy?) and some additional SS scenes would help as well, especialy to flesh out Nymeria, who had barely any lines.
I suspect some of Doran’s plot just got pushed to later seasons? For example, I expect a show version of Doran’s “Fire & Blood” speech at some point…You’d figure than Dorne must be somehow important to D&D’s all important “end game” in some manner, otherwise they simply would have cut it (other than the Tower of Joy incident, that is) rather than spend all those resources showing it (and again this year.)
One thing is quick. Another thing is erasing fully or give just a glimpse of things that actually, are important, for this season and for future seasons.
Tyrion’s journey was dull on the books, but there were only two important things of that: Tyrion mourning his father/accepting what he did and Griff. Both of them just dissapeared and were changed by… I don’t know exactly what, sold as slaves but without digging in the fact about how it sucks to be a slave? And why people are so sure about Tyrion being the Hand of the Queen? What if she just kill him with a dragon or he ended fighting against her since she’s becoming
. And he just ended as ruler just because! Why? He’s fallen in disgrace just seven episodes, when other characters are fallen for full seasons and ended in a position better than he had previously? Seriously?
And, you know, having another pretender (Griff) who in fact, has more claim than any of the actual pretenders/kings is a huge deal. If in the end it turns out he’s sitting on the Iron Throne, introducing him in the last season will look even more rushed and coming from nowhere. By the way, erasing him was a huge mistake regarding Dany’s storyline: people complain a lot about Dany’s uneventful plot. A conflict with a pretender is something much more interesting to view than Arpies killing random Unsullied, Dany killing random nobles, Grey-Worm/Missandei love scenes or Dany/Daario’s love story.
In Dorne plot, Myrcella was the excuse, the plot driver and she’s in two scenes for herself. But really? Her character is bland and unimaginative, even when she’s supposed to be the important one, the reason of all. The two battle scenes where very time consuming. Change the battles with some character development of the new dornish characters (I think Nym said like three lines!) and maybe, just maybe, you had the idea that you are viewing a story.
Winterfell was just for Ramsay’s sake and torture porn, nothing else. There’s no Ghost of Winterfell, no rescue plan, no Bran the Wood, no Northern Rebellion and Jon didn’t save his sister. Ramsay is the only character developed there, the only one who did stuff, emotionally and physically. Sansa seemed that she didn’t learn anything at all from her time in KL, not even to shut her mouth; Theon just have an epiphany in the last second. Even Myranda was given more deep and motivations in one scene than the two latter, and they are supposed to be the main characters of this storyline. And for develop this, they had to change Brienne, LF and Stannis’ plots.
Lord Leaker,
Sounds legit
I was expecting the Fire and Blood revelation (the point of ALL Dorne plot) in the scene with Ellaria, in which she was crying and kissing his hand.
And it turns out to be… nothing at all. Doran whas the guy sitting on a chair unable to control the Stupids of Sand. Argh.
SlayerNina,
You completely missed the point. You are just listing everything that was different from the books and everything that was cut, but has nothing to do with your original statement that those storylines in the show were rushed.
They weren’t. They spend the same amount of time on some developments as the previous seasons, in some cases even more.
How Tyrion’s plot can be consider rushed because of YG? He wasn’t part of the show at all. I can’t think about any Tyrion’s scene that was rushed in S5. Quite the opposite, his journey was rather slow.
S5 had the slowest pace after S2.
SlayerNina,
The pinacle of rage and book-purism. Going on a fan-site of a show you hate and no longer watch just too rant.
What’s the point?
I would like to address some things you mentioned in your post.
Tyrion mentioned his father and Shae in almost every episode he appeared in S5, So I really can’t understand what you are talking about.
Because maybe Tyrion’s story and character is not about how it sucks to be a slave? That was just a plot device to get him to Dany.
Just like in AGOT/S1 in Tyrion’s storyline GRRM didn’t digg in fact about how it sucks to be captured by barbarians? Back in those times GRRM cared about his pace and story, not about unimportant filler.
Because it happened in the show and because the show and the books will have the same story for every main character.
Because he is a member of Dany’s council together with Daario, Grey Worm and Missandei. And her council is ruling the city while she is absent.
Who said that YG will be introduced in the show at all?
Are you kidding me?
You are describing the unwritten hypothetical storyline as more interesting that what we got. You don’t know anything about YG’s faith in the books, you don’t know how interesting that will be, you don’t even know that Dany and YG will have a conflict in the books at all.
But one thing we know is that Dany’s storyline in Meereen was much more dynamic than in the books.
The Fire and Blood speech led to Quentyn Martell and he led to nothing. Complete waste of time. Just proving that Dorne plot has no point in the books. Or the show. Yet.
There was a Ghost of Winterfell storyline (Theon’s transformation), there was s sense that the North is not happy with the Boltons (we will see more of that in S6).
There are many other important plot points from that storyline. Sansa finding out that her brothers are alive and that Jon is LC, early stages of conflict between Ramsay and Roose, death of Stannis.
Typical book purist’s rant and rave with no evidence in reality whatsoever. We spend most of the season on developing Sansa’s and Theon’s relationship and on Theon’s struggles as I mentioned before.
They showed his shame when he saw Sansa, his grief and brief anger during Sansa’s rape, his conflicting feelings when Sansa asked for help, fading of Reek, especially in E8 where he confessed that Bran and Rickon are alive and finally his decision to kill Myranda.
mau,
Rewatching I saw a lot of subtleties in Sansa, how she observes that the prospect of a Roose Jnr unnerves Ramsay, how she uses that against him later to undermine him emotionally, if even for a moment (it’s like a game of wills between the two), how, if you watch, she is looking to escape even without Theon’s help (she ain’t on her way back to her chambers in the finale when Myranda catches up), and more.
Honestly, people were just pissed she was in Winterfell in the first place. Ditto for Barristan dying. They had their knee-jerk reaction and it’s become an entrenched habit by this point. They’ll always look at the show in the shallowest way they can.
Valaquen,
I agree. The criteria for what “makes sense” in the show is extremely high for book purists. If they applied the same standards for the books, everything there would fall apart.
Doran’s plan, Varys and his plan, LF’ shames,…
But the point of our discussion isn’t whether you find WF’s storyline to be bad or good. The question was “Is WF plot in S5 rushed?”.
And I really can’t see it as rushed. We got many interactions with the characters there, many scenes with Theon and Sansa, Theon’s struggles,..
My “favourite” doesn’t-make-sense thing is Tyrion murdering Tywin where some book readers insist that the whole thing is nonsensical just because of Tysha’s omission. Without her, apparently, Tyrion has no reason in the whole wide world to kill his otherwise illustrious doting father. I mean, other than hating Tyrion his whole life, blaming him for the death of his wife/Tyrion’s mother, gang raping his first love, sending him to die on the front lines in Season 1 and finally sentencing him to death in a mockery of a trial… aside from all that, why the hell would Tyrion kill his father? Right?
Glad for this news, less concerned for a rush to finish which often harms the overall story being told. Not a fan of two part seasons, usually means just 12-14 episodes split over two years, whereas two full 10 episode seasons can better tell a story more succinctly. D&D might even gift us a two hour 10th episode finale, fingers crossed.
Mr Fixit,
It doesn’t make sense precisely because of that. Tyrion’s always known his father hated him. He always has and always will. Tywin even told him in Season 3 he had wanted to kill him. If Tyrion didn’t kill him after that, why would he in the finale of Season 4, when his main priority should be escaping? He should have figured out by now.
Imagine that, in Season 2, Jaime escapes his cell, sees Catelyn and decides too kill her instead of escaping. It just wouldn’t make sense. His priority is getting back with Cersei. If he decided to throw that away in order to kill someone like Cat, his whole characterisation would fall apart.
And this is another problem, characterisation. Tyrion’s always been a cynic who didn’t care about his father, his sister or his nephew loathing him. The only treasons he couldn’t forget where Tysha’s (which didn’t turn out to be a treason) and his brother’s, since he was the only one Tyrion trusted. Just like he didn’t care about Varys confessing against him in the trial or Bronn not defending him, he didn’t care about Tywin’s feelings. IMO, Tyrion becomes a lot less interesting if he’s just a crybaby willing to risk his life in order to get a pat in the back from his father or to get an answer to a question he’s known for a long time.
If you think both things are the same, OK, but I think the two situations can’t be used to explain the same thing. Imagine that, instead of hating Ned for marrying Catelyn, Baelish hated him because he owed him a lot of money. Would it be the same?
The exclusion of Tysha (which they had already mentioned in Seasons 1 and 3) seemed gratuitous. It made the story a lot less interesting and seemed like their biggest mistake in the adaptation.
And before you call me “butthurt book-reader” or something like that, you should know that, at the time of watching season 4, I hadn’t read book 3, and I remember thinking “Something’s not right”. I couldn’t tell what, but I felt it.
tl;dr: They won nothing by omiting Tysha, and they lost a lot in plot and characterisation.
In the books, maybe, but in the show he cared.
Everything Tyrion has done during his brief tenure as Hand was to impress Tywin. At the beginning of S3 he is disappointed that Tywin didn’t come to see him. When he became Master of Coin he worked really hard, again, to impress Tywin.
During their scene in S3E1 he was really hurt when Tywin insulted him and refused to give him CR. Again in S3E10 he is shocked by his father’s hatred towards him.
When Oberyn told him how Cersei treated him as a baby in S4E7, he cried, so he obviously cared.
And he was not indifferent when Varys appeared to testify against him in S4E6, like he was with Trant and Pycelle.
And there are many other examples. The whole relationship between Tyrion and Tywin had completely different dynamics in the show. Tyrion is constantly trying to prove himself in Tywin’s eyes.
And this isn’t something I made up, because I’m a show apoligist. In their last scene, Tywin several times repeated to Tyrion that he is his son, that he is a Lannister. Tywin was trying to give Tyrion something he wanted his entire life. Recognition!
That does not exist in that scene in the books.
So, D&D were aware of the changed situation in their relationship, they created their dynamic that way in the show intentionally and they were consistent with that until the very last scene between Tywin and Tyrion.
I am your son. I have always been your son.
Because he still had something to lose then. He was a Lannister and lived a lifestyle most people could only dream of. Being convicted of Joffrey’s murder means that he lost everything. Killing his father then couldn’t have affected his life anymore because he had nothing left to lose.
Mr Fixit,
This. And not only that, he was sleeping with his “girlfriend” and had her testify against him at his trial. As a primary show-watcher, believe me, the impetus for Tyrion to kill Tywin was there, in spades. The Tysha reveal would not have worked on the show.
It wouldn’t. The only similar thing they could have done is to have Jaime confess to Tyrion that Shae was forced to testify against him and that Tywin had her raped and killed by his soldiers after that.
Why?
Tywin of the Hill,
Many reasons, but it all boils down to the fact that Tysha is not a real character in the show.
Luka Nieto,
According to that, Elia Martell, Lyanna, the Mad King and Rhaegar shouldn’t have been mentioned either.
Tywin of the Hill,
They’re, however, not cuttable. But it should tell you a lot that many show-only people don’t really have a clear idea of the background history of the show —people mixing up Aerys and Rhaegar is a thing that only happens to show-watchers, who don’t have the advantage of flashbacks.
Tywin of the Hill,
Firstly, for precisely the reason I already said – the motivation was there already for Tyrion to kill Tywin. It was enough. It was more than enough.
Secondly, cinematically it would have been such a strange moment. Far better to have the brothers part on good terms, only for one them to realize much later on what the other had done, and deal with the guilt of being responsible for that in that respect.
Finally, to be totally honest with you, I’ve been reading summaries of Tysha’s role and analysis of Tysha/Tyrion for a long time now, and I still can’t fully wrap my brain around how it fits in with the Tyrion/Jaime/Tywin dynamic as depicted on TV. It’s the type of thing that works just fine and dandy when you have the benefit of a lot of internal monologue (on both Jaime and Tyrion’s ends) but on TV they would have had to have more than one speech about Tysha prior to S4, and I mean, why if it isn’t necessary? Might as well consolidate Tysha/Shae’s characters together a bit since Shae is a character we physically know.
I also find it kind of interesting that D&D felt it unnecessary to the plot to have Tyrion be angry at Jaime when he leaves KL, but did find it necessary to express that Jaime is angry at Tyrion. This could be evidence of two possibilities: 1) that it doesn’t matter who is angry at who since they are never going to see each other again, or, more interestingly 2) it’s actually more necessary to some future storyline (perhaps for the purpose of creating tension) that Jaime be upset with Tyrion rather than the other way around.
That would be exactly why I included “yes, I know it is not reliable,” “if accurate,” and “If that’s legit.” I’m well aware imdb is not reliable. In fact, I would have never even mentioned it had it not been for the fact she had it linked on her twitter “bio,” she seems somewhat active on said twitter, so there’s a higher probability she actually checks it, and thus would remove anything inaccurate. Furthermore, it would be logical if, after what happened in the final episode of season 5, they chose to pick up that string at the start of season 6. All that said, I’m certainly not treating her appearing in the first episode as anywhere near a certainty, more like just a possibility. We’ll find out in April. 🙂
Trystane is the only cast member not spotted during filming I believe. Kind of weird…
Jack Bauer 24,
And Meera Reed.
Meera wasn’t spotted either, IIRC. Maybe they both had only indoor scenes in Belfast to shoot and I suppose they’ll also have very little screentime.
But yeah, a little photo would have been nice just to confirm their presence in S6…
Yeah forgot about Meera. Toby (Trystane) should have had at least the one outdoor scene in Dubrovnik though. The one Lena was spotted at with Jaime returning from Dorne. Actually, was Bronn not spotted either?
Jack Bauer 24,
Neither Jaime nor Bronn were spotted there.
Thanks for the info. I know Nikolaj was spotted elsewhere filming this year, but were there any Jerome (Bronn) sightings anywhere?
Don’t forget Gendry!
Yeah, I know we haven’t had a single word about him other than “still rowing” a while back, but a girl can hope.
We know there were things filmed for which we had no photos, or anything. I mean, if Ian McShane can shoot, but no one spotted him, who is to say Joe Dempsie didn’t shoot something, too, but just wasn’t spotted.
Jack Bauer 24,
I mean in Dubrovnik.
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
I think we will see him in S7, but not before.
mau,
*In as whiny a tone as I will allow myself*
But I don’t wanna wait ’til season 7!!!
We Want Gendry!
We Want Gendry!
We Want Gendry!
(yeah, the caffeine seems to be kicking in)
I hope they don’t wait until the end of February to release a trailer like they did with Season 3.
They sureare releasing a lot of trailers lately, really hope we get one this month. unless my theory is correct and they add it with the super bowl…
Sadly that could be the case, as the show has never premiered as late as it will this year. I’m gonna expect February —yet secretly hope for this month.
To piss off you, obviously
Lyanna_Targaryen,
Lol the breastplate stretcher.
Who named you? Some halfwit with a studder???
edit: More Wine!
Anguissette1979,
Right on.
JCDavis,
Thank you. Also, my fellow NWester- I have no doubts you will make it loooong past season 8. Your heart is young, and will keep you strong.
Like I said, you are only making a fool of yourself.
First trailer for Season 5 was January 30th and it premeired April 12th. Season 6 is premiering 2 weeks later on April 24th and 2 weeks later from January 30th is February 14th…Vinyl’s premeire. I really could see them launching the trailer then.
Jack Bauer 24,
Oh, fuck.
mau,
Even if it isn’t until the 14th, and I can’t imagine it being any later, that’s still just over a month away.
…………….:( they surprised up with an early teaser before, they might do it again XD
Imho the whole trial, Shae’s testimony and her finding in Tywin’s bed – the very same man who seems to despise his son (also) for his whore affairs – are reasons enough for Tyrion to kill his father. Yes, I was horrified when I read about the Tysha reveal in the book, but I think the show managed to do it all right without it. No offense, but I don’t think the non-readers remembered her from a single mention in season 1 (no matter how tragic the story was).
Here’s Nathalie at the BAFTA’s http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYURbE-UAAEy2pP.jpg
And Emilia http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYUE95AUEAAy7e8.jpg
SlayerNina,
Shows how much of a life you have,joke’s on you darling .
Off topic, but this conversation (?) was going downhill fast anyway. I was looking up the cast of a movie I was watching and noticed that Pilou Asbæk was in it. (the movie was Lucy, btw, not a bad movie really, I enjoyed it.) I went to Pilou’s IMBd site to see if it listed him as Euron yet. It does, but only for episode 6.1. I thought he was supposed to be some big deal character throughout the season. Is IMBd wrong, not updated, or what? Any thoughts?
aaacck, that should have read IMDb site. Oh well, it’s late.
But really, wasn’t Euron supposed to be in more than one episode? The way everyone was talking about his character, I thought he’d be a major player, a possible replacement for Ramsay in the most heinous villain category. Looks like we’re going to be stuck with Ramsay longer than I hoped. I think Iwan is great, but I’m so over Ramsay. I was looking forward to a new villain.
I wouldn’t trust that. In fact, I don’t even think he’ll be in the premiere, but he’ll definitely be in more than one episode.
don’t trust that, your better off just waiting for the season 6, they say he is the biggest new character, so just sit back and relax.
Actually, I comment on the show. He only comments on the comments I made XD
But it seems you don’t understand sarcasm anyway
About the unspotted actors… There’s some pic about Trystane hanging out with Sophie and Maisie at night or it was another actor? (Can’t remember) I remember something like that from Twitter (and posted somewhere in the comments of another post from here).
But probably they just have indoor scenes, they had to “close” Myrcella’s murder with something. I don’t believe Cersei or Jaime will admit Trystane at the court just like that.
Golden Globes tonight guys XD
Game of Thrones is up for Best Drama if you’ve forgotten.
Lord Leaker,
To good to be truth. I diubt if HBO is going to make a trailer that good. ?
Thronetender,
Hi TT *waves*
IMDB can be edited by anyone and with previous series of GoT fans have added cast members as details about them have surfaced. They usually all get put in episode 1. Although some of the info is accurate, it’s really not very reliable for unaired episodes.
And talking of unreliable info, she segued seemlessly: There’s a GoT quiz mentioned in one of the tweets on the right of the page, which I clicked on. Only glanced at the tweet and hadn’t realised it’s a guess whose bum this is photo quiz. Anyway, they’ve got Olyvar – of Loras and – fame listed as Olyvar Frey. I thought we hadn’t ever heard his last name? If he is one of them that’s even more reason to hate him 🙁
Also, don’t know about the rest of the world, but Feb 14 is Valentine’s Day here in the UK. What a delightful, romantic gesture to have the trailer that day *heavy sarcasm alert!* 😉
Geeee.. ya think ?
Dorne would have been better if The Mountain’s skull would have showed up.
I’m assuming it’s from S5 given how dark af it is.
Rygritte,
S3 EP10. Roose talking with Walder Frey.
The moutains skull is something that simply can’t be done in TV.
They can’t hide the actors face entirely, so they kept the head on frankengregor.
(alltough I would love to be proven wrong, that was the only scenes in Dorne I liked.)
Jaime returning from Dorne should be an outside scene and Trystane is on that ship.
Hi Lulus Mum – *waves back*
Thanks to you and the others who answered about IMDB. Ok, that solves that. I’ll be looking forward to seeing Pilou in many episodes. I want to see what D&D will do with Euron; whether they will give him an air of suave sophistication to temper his nastiness, or whether he’ll just be down-in-the-dirt mean. I don’t know how he was portrayed in the books, but I’m figuring he’ll be somewhat of a composite of other characters you readers were talking about that were written but won’t be shown.
Thronetender,
Without giving anything specific away, I’ll be very interested to see how closely they stick with his book characterization. If they include even a bit of his attitude toward women, no matter how faithful to the books, we’ll need earplugs to get through all the screaming.
mau,
I don’t remember Roose being spotted anywhere either.
Or Aiden Gillen.
January 2015 WotW had 40 articles. We have only 10 so far and we are a third of the way through the month. Weird.
That’s interesting – not quite sure if you mean that he is horrible to women and the audience will be protesting or if he’s a great lover. I’m getting the feeling he’s just generally nasty to everyone. How long til April?
Thronetender,
I would say go with your feeling.
Jack Bauer 24,
Yeah, I was hoping that they would go out and get high together again.
There was a trailer with Aiden Gillen’s name on it at the Winterfell set. I think it was the guys over at IrishThrones who took a photo of it…
Well if they are referencing shows like breaking bad, you’d get maybe 16 episodes instead of 20 split in to two “half” seasons of 8 episodes each.. If they are going to go for it, I say just make it 20 powerful episodes..
It could be done it would just be very expensive and would depend on how much screen time the mountain gets.. That’s why they said they diddn’t make Tyrion lose his nose.. with as much screen time as he gets it would have been both very time consuming and very frustrating for the actor to have to deal with..
And the same thing goes for a show on another network.. an actor that was supposed to lose a hand is keeping it because the cost would be too high to green screen it out and it would hinder the actor’s performance..
So .. Can it be done? sure … will it be done? nope.. a movie could get away with it because they have a limited shooting schedule and a set budget.. GoT is 10 hours of footage per season rather than a one time set of footage that’s 1.5 to 2 hours 🙂