Ellie Kendrick, who we’ll see again in season 7 as Meera Reed, talks to The Telegraph this week about her role on Game of Thrones, her new theater gig in the play Gloria, and much more. While talking Thrones, Kendrick confirms that the show is just as secretive as we’ve heard.
“Normally you get the sides [the portion of the script that they’re currently shooting] at the beginning of the day. But on Game of Thrones hardly anyone is allowed the pages and even then you have to sign an agreement before they give them to you and you have to hand them back at the end of the day.”
As for the ever-present question of who should rule on the Iron Throne at the story’s end?
“For me, it’s always been about a reunion of the Stark children. I think they’d be pretty great rulers,” Kendrick tells The Telegraph. “Well, maybe a bit questionable, but I think a coalition of power is the only way forward.”
Major League Baseball continues to turn it out in the Game of Thrones department. Last night, it was the Washington Nationals’ turn to focus on Thrones for a night, and their mascot Screech the bald eagle went the extra mile.
Hey, if your mascot is a bird, you might as well go for it.
If you’re a data nerd, you’re sure to enjoy the info Looker has come up with by combing through Game of Thrones‘ stats on screen time (from data.world) and death (from Kaggle).
Unsurprisingly, they note that Tyrion is definitely the star, with the most screen time, following after a sizable gap by Jon Snow and Daenerys. In the next cluster you’ll find Cersei, Sansa and Arya. Looker seemed surprised by Sansa’s presence, but frankly anyone who has read the books wouldn’t be since she’s an original POV character and it would be strange if she didn’t have a lot of screen time.
I will say that using an IMDB fan-made list as your source of anything as data.world/Looker does is imperfect, and indicates all of this should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, it’s fun!
H/T to io9 for the find!
She’s so beautiful in that photo. I love Ellie Kendrick and Meera, I hope she gets to smile this season. She’s been so faithful.
Ah, but they really need to make an additional correction regarding Tyrion, because he shares so much more screen time with other main characters than do Jon or Daenerys. Tyrion is constantly on screen with Catelyn, Sansa, Jaime and Cersei: like a band in which different members take turns singing lead and backing vocals, Tyrion alternates between lead and supporting character in different scenes. Jon shares some screentime with other Starks, Tyrion and then Sam in Season 1. However, he then does not share screentime with any main character (with “main character” = “character who is the center of scenes on his/her own at some point) other than Sam until the end of Season 4. Moreover, Jon’s almost always the lead. It’s not until Season 6 that Jon is constantly sharing screentime with other main characters (Sansa & Davos).
Daenerys has it even worse: until her scenes with Tyrion in Series 5, she never has any scenes with another main character! It is always Daenerys + Supporting cast.
This also is true for Bran & Arya. Arya has almost no screen time with another main character after Series 1. (I am not counting the Hound as a main character because he basically got a “one-off” PoV episode after being absent for a year.) Bran has had no screen time with another main character since Series 2.
So, if you took the screen minutes for the main characters and divided them for each scene by the number of main characters (i.e., any that also feature “solo” screen time in that season), then I would bet that Tyrion would fall behind Jon, Daeny and Arya.
By the way, I love the Eagle. Did they have the Presidents in GoT regalia? (They have a “Presidents Race” partway through each game.)
https://io9.gizmodo.com/cersei-got-the-biggest-upgrade-from-page-to-screen-on-g-1796369860
I found this article particularly interesting.
I forgot that Cersei really isn’t as visible a character on page as on screen. Though she remains just as pivotal.
Though it remains to be seen whether or not she will sit the Iron throne in the books.
I don’t think she will.
Wimsey,
I don’t remember where I read it, could’ve been on r/gameofthrones, but someone had done a tremendous job of compiling the screentime for the characters. I don’t know how s/he counted, but Jon has been in the lead for the past two-three seasons. I remember I was surprised that was still the case in season 6 since he was just an active character for 6 episodes. But as you said, Jon is on his own and the story revolves around him most of the time, plus he’s in this big episodes with huge segments that gives him more and more screentime.
I also remember that I was surprised that Dany was not as high on that list as I was expecting, but looking back, her scenes are often on the shorter side (with some exceptions of course).
But….. Jon Snow isn’t a main character…. (just kidding)
No one of note has died in Episode 6 in the last three seasons
Lol I’m sure that will change now that we have fewer episodes (o hai Stannis 😉 ) per season.
HelloThere,
I think she might tbh. People think she’s going to get killed by fAegon, but I don’t see Cersei going down at the hands of a stranger bitch introduced in book 5.
Wimsey,
That’s interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tyrion will be eventually overtaken by Jon. With focus shifting to the War for the Dawn, I expect Jon will have lots of sword-fighting and action scenes to do. And Dany will of course also be hot on Tyrion’s trail.
Someone(from my alma mater, in fact!) did a network analysis of Game of Thrones and found that Sansa scored second highest in several measures of Centrality (following only Tyrion). This makes sense if you compare her to someone like Arya (who is a much less public figure and thought dead by most), or Jon or Dany (who are geographically separated from most characters). It doesn’t have much to do with the books vs show IMO – she simply is a PoV character who overlaps with a lot of other characters, hence the long screentime. In most of S2-4 (books 2-3), if you had a KL scene, it probably had Sansa or Tyrion in it… no matter who else was there.
Anyway it’s interesting that analysis in both mediums generally come to the same overall conclusions about the importance of characters.
Sundae,
I saw that too on the same subreddit. There, someone also did a count of the number of lines each character had and the results were surprising, considering a certain bastard played a corpse for two episodes lol.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/4qxs69/s6_characters_with_the_most_lines_in_game_of/
Jaime’s number made me extremely happy btw!
Flayed Potatoes,
This was the most surprising thing not only because he was dead but you know he isn’t the most talkative lol.
Anyway the girl doing the analysis of the screentime was so perplexed.It’s not that deep my friend lol.Tyrion has the most screentime not only because he is a main character but cause he shares it with other important character and King’s Landing was the main place for the first four season.Cersei and Sansa benefit greatly from this.Jon,Dany and Arya had to mostly carry their own storylines for a long time.Jorah for example has a lot of screentime not cause he is a main character but because he was there whenever Dany was.
That said shout out to my man Ned who is still nr.12.Gone but not surpassed.I also love that the baby got the 30s screentime for Jon.Good job baby great acting.
Flayed Potatoes,
Yes, I read that one too! Amazing for someone known to be quiet and sullen to come out on top on that list, lol.
I am however more impressed with Ned still being top 15 in the compilation of characters screen time, he’s in 12th place right now, 5 seasons after he died 🙂
HelloThere,
Thought-provoking article, though I’m not sure I’d agree that the show has made Cersei a more ‘interesting’ character by giving her both more screentime and more power. Nor do I agree with the popular argument that she’s a one-dimensional villain in the books.
The books make a much better case for her feeling passed over simply because she’s the female offspring. Her determination to make her mark in spite of the sexism of the society in which she must function is what makes her most relatable, to me. Her tragic flaw is her overestimation of her own cleverness. And the one person who could have given her unbiased feedback on that, could have helped her make her way in that world based on a sense of realism without totally caving in to ‘woman’s lot in life,’ is the little brother she spitefully pushes away from infancy onward.
I find it fascinating to be able to see inside Cersei’s head, how dysfunctional she is, despite her exterior ability to ‘get things done’ (up to a point). I can’t help thinking that she might have become a decent (if not particularly gifted) leader, if anyone had taken her seriously enough to give her real guidance in her girlhood – if she’d had a strong female role model like Olenna.
TV Cersei comes to a different sort of life, thanks mainly to Lena Headey’s strengths as an actress. She always owns the screen when she’s on it. But as written, I don’t find her part more complex than book!Cersei – just more voluminous.
Sundae,
Jenny,
I remember after season 4 Ned still had more screentime than the likes of Robb, Tywin, Catelyn and Littlefinger (all of whom had clearly had more seasons than him). It’s pretty remarkable.
Also Theon was second place for screentime in season 2 on a list I saw. Which is kind of amazing.
@ Jenny: Totally agree about Jorah. After all, Dany needs to interact with other characters too and he was/is a major character in her life. And Edd hung out with Jon a lot, so his screentime received a significant bump. Sam’s screentime also gets reduced considerably when he’s not sharing a story with Jon and Davos’ increased since joining him. I need to check on Missandei.
Flayed Potatoes,
I hope she does too.
It gives new meaning to the prophecy “You will be queen for a time”….
And honestly, as shocked as I was by her taking the throne in 6×10… Something about it seemed like we’ve been building up to it since season 1.
Firannion,
The character in the books is more fiery and quick tempered, whereas the show character is more somber and calculating. I find that show Cersei’s anger seems to stem more from a place of pain and sadness… whereas book Cersei’s anger seems to stem more from vanity and a lack of validation from people she feels should value her more.
Two different takes on the same character.
I wish GRRM had made her a Viewpoint character earlier on, because I highly enjoyed her AFFC chapters .
HelloThere,
Yes it goes well with how GRRM perceives prophecies. “Queen you will be for a time” made us think she’ll be Robert’s queen because that’s how we’ve been introduced to her in season 1 and seemed very obvious and straightforward. Most of us never really thought she’d reign on her own. And I think Cersei didn’t think so either when she married Robert. So now when it’s happening we’re all having this “aha” moment and we’re noticing that maybe the hints to Cersei ruling by herself (and taking power by force) have been there for a while.
Flayed Potatoes,
Wow, someone has waaaay too much time on his/her hands!
ash,
Cersie in the books was so much more paranoid and coniving than the show- tho to be honest it might just be that you can read her inner thoughts and oh man, I kept shaking my head at how off the rails she had gone. She’s conniving in the show too, and Headley does a good job of showing her feelings in her face, but I don’t think she is as certified as book one is. And FWIW, during the walk of shame in the book, I was smiling coz i thought she had it coming. In the show, I was horrified for her and wanted it all to stop.
Wimsey,
Yep, my initial thought as well. There’s obviously going to be a skew that happens between characters that have spent a lot of time with multiple higher focus characters, such as the conglomeration at KL, compared to those with separate arcs or arcs with a smaller number of characters.
NOW, we need to know the name of the episodes, i hope we get the premiere name next week. its about time.
I will be really surprised if all three characters do not share substantial screentime this year and next. I’ll be really shocked if there are not at least a couple of them with all three characters!
In a way, it will be a little odd. I remember feeling that there was almost a “fan-fiction” feel to the final chapters of Swords simply because it seemed so strange to be reading Stannis & Co. in Jon’s chapters. (I don’t know if we used the “fan-fiction” in 2001!) Ditto that for the Daenerys & Tyrion scenes on the show in Series 5. Obviously, I had been expecting these scenes or ones like them before I read/saw them: but it was almost like a “cross-over” with characters from different books/shows meeting! (The Jon & Sansa scenes last year were like that, too.)
On the otherhand, this is part of the “payoff” for the whole series, too.
My suspicion is that she was always that far off of the rails! But it is hard to say: we never read her thoughts prior to Crows. Still, what it reminded me of most are some Simpson’s episodes where they show Homer’s version of events: everyone else is an idiot, Homer has a lot more hair and a much better physique, etc. All of those reactions that Cersei mistook for awe, cowardice, etc., really were all “Is she really this stupid???”
Still, my thought is that Cersei was always on the left side of the Dunning-Kruger curve, at least up until the High Sparrow marched her through the streets. Like Jon, Cersei was a much more “brittle” character last season: her smug conviction that she actually was a lot wiser and more innately powerful than everyone else was shattered by how easily the High Sparrow played her. The phoenixes that rose from Jon’s, Daeny’s, Tyrion’s, Arya’s, Bran’s and Sansa’s ashes all seem to be greater than the birds that got burned: but Cersei’s seems to actually be diminished into more of a mangy vulture.
Wimsey,
Oh yeah I’m sure D&D won’t miss the opportunity to give us Dany/Tyrion/Jon scenes and the books will eventually head in that direction too. We didn’t have Jon and Tyrion becoming friendly with each other in season 1/book 1 for nothing 😀 I also hope they don’t miss the opportunity to give me a scene with all 4 Starks together. *prays*
I was definitely reading and googling fanfiction in 2001, so I was 100% using that word.
So what’s going on with the red carpet premiere?
HelloThere,
.
Yes, I definitely see the pain and sadness in the show that i don’t see in the book. There, she’s a spoiled brat who hasn’t grown up.
Wimsey,
?”
Hee, yeah.
I believe tyrion is safe at number 1 position… If Jon passes him it will not be this season ..
I do wonder whether those two are the only ones that is going to cross 300 minutes …
Maybe dany can just reach it but I wouldn’t count on it and will be surprised if she manages to do that..
However tyrion’s position on number of episodes will never be surpassed by anyone ..
I do hope Jon and dany surpass cersei in season 8 ..
Sansa screentime is not high because she is a main POV character but D&D choosing to make her as a face of the show and increase her importance..
Up until season 3 and season 4 it used to be tyrion ,Jon ,dany and Arya..
Dany and arya fell back in screentime from season 4 …
Both had less screentime than oberyn ,tywin and Sandor in season 4…
Dany’s screentime especially in season 4 and 6 is so low compared to other characters ..arya’s understandable because she gets isolated and not so many secondary characters for her to interact ..
In season 6 Arya who only appears in 6 episodes and sansa who appear at 7 episodes beats dany 8 episodes ( it should really be 7 episodes ) in what was said to be a dany centric season where she had two major scenes ( burning of Khals ,Battle of meereen) and three if you count her starting her journey towards westeros..
The trend would have happened in season 5 too but I guess one should thank jorah and his gift Tyrion for dany having more screentime in season 5…
In season 6 dany is supposed to have spoken 90 lines and take the lines where she says her name and titles and repeating Khal Drogo’s speech ..there wouldn’t be anything much for her..I can see how much they must be sweating while writing for dany ..
With all that said you know what’s the most common complaints are in this fandom ..makes you wonder whether people are watching the same show
Ah, thanks! Memory can be anachronistic, and mine is no exception.
Tyrion is definitely important to the show and he’s also Martin’s favourite character. I don’t have any links but Martin has said in several interviews that Tyrion is his favourite and he never has any problem writing Tyrion’s chapters. It’s surprising that Cersei comes in fourth. Martin has also said that he considers the main characters to be Tyrion, Jon, Dany, Bran and Arya.
Wimsey,
Don’t get me started on The Hound. You cannot give up on The Hound!
With such tight security measures, how did that guy leak the entire season? (And not get caught)
About the Ellie Kendrick interview:
The cast must be tired of the “ever-present” trite question of who should be on the Iron Throne at the end of the story. I know I am.
That question, along with “if you could play smother charscter, who would it be?” and s host of other silly questions, should be prohibited at all cast interviews.
There’s so much an interviewer could ask Ellie K about, including Meera’s interactions with Bran, “The Door”, playing the uncommon role of a strong woman protecting a physically vulnerable guy, or how she thinks the dynamic between Bran and Meera has changed now that both actors are young adults.
Is it just me? I hear the same tired questions being asked at cons and interviews, and tbe same rote answers each time.
Ten Bears,
I agree. I also hate the ones like “oh how good of a kisser is Richard Madden?”
Now that we know the main characters are getting way more screentime this season, I hope HBO submits some of them as main actors for Emmys. I think they’d be smart to submit Emilia and Kit under main actors, and Lena and Peter under supporting, so they don’t compete with each other.
Jane,
Well nobody can argue that Bran is a main character in the show. Not talking of his end game importance but overall he barlely has a presence anymore
Ten Bears,
Yeah but there isn’t much more that can be asked about a fictional character who isn’t a main one and also is not allowed to spoil anything future.
Really weird there’s no premiere episode title or red carpet premiere info yet.
It’s cute that the cast is still talking about the “tight security” on set, especially about how careful they are with handing out scripts lol..
Gina,
That’s kind of what I’m wondering. If she is 100% accurate in her statement in this interview and I have no reason to think she isn’t, it’s perplexing how someone could know every arc for every character including what scenes are in what episodes. If they really only get their portion of the script and turn it back in by days end, than it would have to be someone who has access to the scripts all of the time who did the leaking.
I still don’t know why someone with that type of access would leak it. They can’t say who they are, so is it really just for the attention? What did they get out of doing that? Especially since they’re paid a salary and whatnot. It’s weird.
orange,
That is exactly why I think it is so highly suspicious. Basically nobody could have access to EVERYTHING. I could see if an accurate description of an episode came out but other than that, it doesn’t make any sense. One of the reasons why I think it was Hbo trying to mislead fans into thinking they know what’s going to happen when they don’t (it worked)
ash,
S5 aired while I had an internship in DC, and I watched it with my four summer roommates (all GoT fans… how lucky can a woman get?). Everyone wanted it to stop; as much as we loved to hate Cersei, it was the sort of humiliation that really ought never happen to anyone. I’m glad D&D followed up on it with Jaime later on, when he questioned why he wasn’t punished for the same “crimes.”
In short: Cersei’s done a lot of terrible shite that she should be punished for, but was humiliated for all the wrong things. Alas, that’s the way it has been, all too often, throughout human history… especially for women.
Literally every spoiler mentioned here on Wotw, the scenes shown in trailers everything supports the leaks, with not a single scene/ info being contradictory. The leaks are legit, I don’t think that can be denied at this point. Besides it was not just one leaker – Lads, some dude on 4chan leaked details of the Lannister vs Dothraki battle and the north of the Wall sequence. These leaks seem more or less legit as well, based on the trailers.
HBO has a problem imo, the only question is will they be able to fix it before S8 production starts.
Is the premiere title going to be “Winter Is Here”?
All those script precautions and yet still we had the whole season leaked on Reddit. 🙄
HelloThere,
Submitting them under main actors would not be wise at all. It is a very competitive category. Supporting is where it’s at and GoT is an ensemble.
ghost of winterfell,
Lmao I know right?
Apollo,
For some reason many of the Reddit crowd think
leaked it lol. Why, I have no clue.
Flayed Potatoes,
Neither is allowing all your actors to compete together in one category.
Lena would have 2 emmys to her name.
Friends comes to mind. The first time Jennifer Anniston won an emmy was when they decided to put her up as lead actress. And thats very much an Ensemble cast
orange,
Agreed and also it would render every NDA worthless as now you’ve basically said ‘go ahead and spill, we won’t hold you to the terms of what you signed’. I mean, you have a person posting on Reddit claiming he has all the scripts in his possession and he’s answering questions from ‘fans’ and – yet HBO has taken no action against the person. I mean how hard can it be to find them, amateur sleuths pinpointed his location just based on his IP address so surely HBO knows who he is given they have the means to hire people to find him/her. The whole thing is highly suspicious to me. Last year when the Spanish guy was on You Tube spilling secrets, they shut him down in no time and yet this alleged leaker is left to go on posting with no repercussions.
ygritte,
But it’s the job of a journalist or interviewer to compose incisive questions that elicit interesting information from her/his subject.
There’s plenty to ask an actress about without seeking “spoilers.”
I wish I had it accessible, but a few months ago a fellow WoW commenter recommended to me a lengthy, two-part interview of Benioff and Weiss conducted by a well-prepared, knowledgeable interviewer for (I think) a local public TV station in conjunction with an Iowa writers conference the showrunners were attending.
Not once did she have to ask any of the tired old dumb questions. She asked about their backgrounds, the creative process and the unique challenges of bringing GoT to life. Benioff and Weiss were engaged, interested, and seemed to enjoy having an intelligent discussion for once.
I only bring this up to point out that lazy, empty questions and the boring stock answers they produce are neither informative nor necessary.
Does anyone really care about whether members of a con panel prefer direwolves or dragons?
By the way, the vacuous question posed to actors about which character should sit the Iron Throne is particurly laughable: In the show itself, Jeor Mormont asked Jon Snow the rhetorical question [paraphrasing] “Does it matter who sits the Iron Throne when the dead – and worse – come for us in the night?”
I think that’s echoed by Jon or Davos in the recent trailer (something about it won’t matter whose skeleton winds up on the throne).
If the show itself is emphasizing that the contest for the Iron Throne is no longer important, why should interviewers keep asking about it?
I’d bet that a WoW post inviting the submission of suggested interview questions for any GoT actress would
generate within an hour at least fifty intelligent, engaging questions.
Is it really asking too much for a professional journalist or reporter to prepare for an interview and actually think about what to ask?
It’s just as frustrating when, for example, a reporter has the opportunity to ask an Academy Award nominee about her role, and he wastes her time and ours with the dumb question: “So, what are you wearing tonight?” As if I care about the designer of Cate Blanchett’s gown. May as well ask her who she thinks should sit the Iron Throne. ..
I did not mean to ramble on.
Apollo,
All the “script precautions” in the world won’t do much good if a trusted staff member betrays his colleagues, and his accomplices rush to post his dumbed-down summary of the stolen scripts on the internet.
I do not understand their motives, but I guess they get the same kind of demented thrill that a jerk at the beach gets by kicking over little kids’ sand castles.
Wolfish,
Allow me to chime in about the discriminatory (mis)treatment of Cersei:
Alhough Cersei’s farce of a “trial” by seven cronies of the HS was all rendered moot by her brilliant surgical preemptive strike,
I was willing to bet on the outcome:
• Cersei would be found innocent of incest, thus preserving Tommen’s legitimacy and allowing the HS to complete his power grab with his spineless puppet on the throne.
• Cersei would be found guilty and executed for adultery with Lancel, while Lancel got off scot-free (well, actually he’d get to continue being a pompous jackass captain in the HS’s army of forehead-carving idiots).
I’m glad Cersei dispensed her own brand of justice. Everybody who got vaporized had it coming, or should’ve known better than to tangle with her. Sad to say, that includes Margaery.*
* (Oh Margaery, what WERE you thinking? Bragging about bagging Tommen? Asking Cersei if she was now called “Queen Mother” or “Dowager Queen”? The first time you met her she swore she’d “have you strangled in your sleep” if you ever tried to call her “sister.” How did you think you’d get away with “Dowager Queen”, not to mention the “a bit too early for us” snark about not offering wine?)
Ten Bears,
Ive been complaining about these for years, not just on GOT. You see it in news stories, sporting events, even in congressional hearings. ; it takes some skill and intelligence to be able to ask good questions or make comments to bring out information from the interviewee. Most of these people don’t seem to have that.
Ten Bears,
Yeah I ask the same question every time one of the neighborhood kids pulls out plants from our school garden, and defaces playground equipment. They are just mean, selfish, insecure idiots who get a kick of spoiling other people’s fun. And they do it because most of the time they don’t get caught. My only hope is that karma will catch up to them. In the meantime I do hope HBO is indeed looking for this person, and is making it harder for someone to do this.
Hee, I just had a thought, maybe its GRRM! its his way of telling the story first 🙂
kathy,
What did they do last year when the same thing happened?Nothing the guys account is still there and I think that guy even works at HBO,this new one doesn’t.How much can they even do legally?In any case they probably don’t want to invoke the streisand effect.This doesn’t even harm them in any way.Only the hardcore fans will read those leaks and they are gonna watch the show anyways.They won’t waste any time or effort to fool less than 2% of the audience.There is no conspiracy theory just some guy who got his hands on a script and spilled it online.
You might be underestimating the extent to which the culture of Reddit/4chan/etc gets into people’s heads. To me and you it doesn’t make sense as to why someone would care about imaginary points on the internet… but to some of these people the attention they get online is very real – in many cases more real than anything IRL.
And to do something that garners reactions (many of them very positive) from literally thousands or millions of people… and even media coverage… that’s the biggest power trip they are ever going to get in life. And furthermore by being anonymous, they get to avoid any negative consequences.
Now i don’t know what kind of access this person had or has. Maybe they very low on the totem pole and their job was just to photocopy or they were an IT person so they had root access to all of the data on HBO. Perhaps they don’t even work for the show/HBO anymore because they were just contracted for a job of some kind.
In any case, it’s not that hard to imagine that there are people who will unethically steal data and send it out for attention. Especially if they believe that no one will be able to figure out it was them. For some people the power that they express by doing something to screw over those who are put above them is just irresistable.
So, according to the reddit post “A line is any uninterrupted dialogue until someone else talks or the scene or conversation changes; the number of times each person talks.”
So if Cersei gets a 30min soliloquy in S7 that expounds/laments on wine, swamps, wildfire, prophesy, Lannister love, paranoia, Jaime, Lancel, Orson and why it is snowing in KL, that is only one line? That’s a statistical manipulation! I cry foul.
At least count the sentences and the average number of syllables/words used per sentence. Then we can perform some real analysis! 😉
kathy,
It is curious to me as well why HBO hasn’t ferreted out the weasel, along with his subreddit co-conspirators.
It doesn’t seem right that they should continue to skulk about in anonymity. (If HBO sought their identities from the reddit site, wouldn’t it be interesting if they try to claim there’s a non-disclosure provision in reddit user agreements that prohibits disclosure?)
I can’t accept that HBO is okay with a faithless employee and nameless enablers diluting the impact of its flagship show. If “the leaker” and his accomplices contend there was nothing wrong with stealing and spreading stolen information throughout the internet, shouldn’t their identities and photographs be disclosed and broadcast with the same fervor? It only seems fair.
Because of the worldwide popularity of GoT, HBO wouldn’t really have to investigate or litigate to find out the real names of the “leaker” and other culpable subreddit “users.” Offering a modest reward of say $25,000 for their names and addresses would induce devoted fans to identify them.
Hell, HBO could make it part of its S7 marketing campaign, and offer a cameo in S8 to the lucky fan who finds them first: A worldwide scavenger hunt that’d surely be more exciting than watching an ice block melt.
They could even offer a GoT coloring book or Tyrion bottle opener as a prize and still get an overwhelming response from the fandom, and achieves the desired result within 24 hours.
For the perpetretors, dealing with their public notoriety or infamy is something they should have foreseen. Beyond their online microculture, I don’t think
they’ll be hailed as heroes.
It would be fitting if a “leaked” synopsis of the leaker’s personal and private life, along with a detailed account of his perfidy, to circulate throughout the web.
For there to be no repercussions only emboldens the next wave of hackers and leakers. That can’t really be happening. Can it?
…. Now back to substantive discussions about the show!
I’m trying to remember: Has there been any (non-spoiler) indication that Howland Reed will appear on the show?
During last season’s Tower of Joy first flashback scene, the 3ER specifically pointed out young Howland Reed, Jojen’s and Meera’s father.
As far as I recall, 3ER didn’t identify any of the other four guys on Team Ned.
I thought this might mean we should expect Howland’s appearance, msybe to meet up with Meera. I know there had been speculation that Howland Reed, the last living witness to the events at ToJ, would have to show up to reveal Jon’s parentage; but the reveal of that information to “Avatar Bran” in the concluding ToJ dcene on S6e10 arguably renders Howland redundant.
I wonder if Howland’s still in possession of other importent secrets he learned at ToJ that Bran didn’t see or overhear when he witnessed the brief “Promise me, Ned” scene.
I also hope Meera’s role going forward isn’t just playing Hodor 2.0, i.e., dragging Bran around on a sled or pushing his wheelchair.
I mean, aa far as we know, Meera is the only who’s ever killed a WW, and one of only three humans to have done so.
Ten Bears,
It’s certainly annoying when “set security” fails this epically, but there are a couple of inaccurate assumptions here about this particular instance. There are no “accomplices” or “enablers.” It’s just one individual, who doesn’t work for HBO but has a source tied to the Thrones production and ended up in possession of scripts through them. HBO can take down any script pages they post, but there’s no action they can take against this person giving out second-hand details from those scripts. It’s not the same as when an extra breaks their NDA online and then eventually deletes the original post out of fear of being caught, or when someone posts a video on YouTube containing “copyrighted materials.” The YouTuber actually continued posting thinly veiled spoiler videos after the first three were taken down, but dressed them up as “theories” based on internet leaks, and HBO made no move to take any of them down once the “copyright infringement” excuse was gone.
Also recall what happened when the season five screeners leaked the day before the season premiered: Nothing. No move to take them down, and no word on the culprit. There was no witch hunt over the person who leaked the entirety of Season 6 on reddit after three episodes either. There’s very little they can do when the responsible party isn’t bound by an NDA and all the info is second-hand. Once it’s out there, it spreads, and there’s no stopping it. This very site confirmed most of the leaked information through set report articles, which HBO can’t be happy about, yet there they are. Some redditors maintain that this points to an HBO conspiracy that WotW is in on, because anything is easier than just admitting that maybe HBO has never really put much effort into stopping leaks and that some of the GoT crew members are just that sloppy.
Not that I think it matters as much with Season 7 just around the corner anyway. Hopefully we get another promotional ramp up this week to provide additional discussion fodder. I’ll be avoiding comment sections like the plague once the Season 8 scripts are distributed to the cast and crew, though. No way in hell I’m learning the ending of this story via choppily-written fragments posted on social media.
elybe,
It’s also a fan issue. Shows & films with fanbases run into this problem: whereas most viewers are content to wait for the film/season, the fanbases include people who go out of their way to get the information. Some projects (e.g., Doctor Who) go out of their way to plant false information. As a result, Doctor Who fans know everything that is going to happen AND a lot of things that won’t happen. (“Spoilers” became a running joke on the show, in resigned mocking of the real-world phenomenon.) I know that the Star Trek and Harry Potter franchises had similar problems with leaks. Heck, Lord of the Rings had this problem nearly two decades ago.
I know that fans always ask “Why is it only our franchise???” but it’s not. It is just that most fans of one franchise are only viewers of another franchise, and viewers miss all of this.
Jenny,
Never heard of this, explain pls (I loved her as a kid and growing up; lately not so much) You do have a point, it is the nerds like us that probably care the most, and make the most noise about it. But you’d think HBO, knowing that, would want to help us more by keeping something like this under wraps.
I get that; think its whats behind a lot of the leaks and viruses. Builds up their little egos and yeah probably gives them more thrill than anything they have in RL. That doesn’t make what they do right and there does need to be some conseqeunce
Ten Bears,
No. I have seen this happen way too many times, this social shaming that, while sometimes i am pleased by it, causes people’s lives totally destroyed by something someone else didn’t like. It would be fitting, but suspect there are less onious ways to go about it.
Hell, HBO could make it part of its S7 marketing campaign, and offer a cameo in S8 to the lucky fan who finds them first: A worldwide scavenger hunt that’d surely be more exciting than watching an ice block melt.
They could even offer a GoT coloring book or Tyrion bottle opener as a prize and still get an overwhelming response from the fandom, and achieves the desired result within 24 hours.
Hee, yeah, that would work.
Tidbit about Telegraph’s Ellie Kendrick interview…
The primary focus of thr Telegraph’s interview of EK is her starring role in the play “Gloria,” though it does move on to GoT.
Curiously, the Telegraph article contains a photograph of EK with her co-star in “Gloria”, Kae Alexander — without mentioning that Kae Alexander played Leaf in three S6 episodes of GoT, along with EK as Meera.
Oh, the article also mentioned that EK just turned 27 this month.
To me, she looks younger, and because of Isaac H-W’s growth spurt while spending S5 on the sidelines, he now looks older than his age. That’s probably one of the reasons why I thought the Meera-Bran dynamics had changed – for the better – in S6: Bran was no longer a little boy but a young adult, and Meera looked like his contemporary instead of his babysitter.
I really hope Meera’s got a meaty role this season. I liked EK’s performance in S6, and with Team Bran down to just the two of them Meera should have room to shine.
#RIP Summer
#RIP 3ER
#RIP Leaf
# Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
# Hold the Door!
# Hodor
(Nope. Still too soon.)
😥😢😩
# RIP Speared White Walker
Ten Bears,
The Walk of Shame was Cersei’s “atonement” for adultery with Lancel. If anything, they might have found her guilty of regicide against Robert, in which case Lancel still would have gotten away scot-free (on account of being brainwashed and sporting that killer speed-freak forehead tattoo).
Agreed about Margaery, whose pluck I always loved—but whose judgment in regards to Cersei was terribly lacking.
ash,
Your reply made me realize what I wrote came out wrong (as online “shaming”). I intended it more as a “how would he like it if the shoe were on the other foot” hypothetical.
Sorry about that. I’m a big proponent of personal privacy; the internet’s already been abused enough to invade it. It’s also fostered invasions of “creative privacy”, but sometimes I sense an attitude from some people that once a hacker has breached, downloaded, stolen and posted someone else’s work online, it’s fair game, and that hacking and copying are part of the internet so just “deal with it.”
3 weeks to go! Anyone doing a rewatch? 3 episodes a day will lead into the premiere.
HelloThere,
The show would have fewer nominations as a whole if actors are pushed to the lead categories. Lead is simply way too competitive. There is more room in supporting.
ash,
Well long story short: The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.
In any case the truth probably is that HBO doesn’t care that much.Tbh for me the claims in interviews that security is so high,the HBO snipers etc are a bit of a pr strategy.It ramps up excitement and gives the notion that big and important things must be happening.The truth probably is that there are always scripts circulating on set or even easier people talking.In this day and age leaks always for big franchises.The plot of The Force Awakens was out there before the movie.This year it was a bit different because it came so early and it was very thorough but nothing unheard of.
I have three questions for people in the know with the leaks….
Jack Bauer 24,
Do you really want to know??If so proceed at your own discretion:
Thanks a lot. One more question
Jack Bauer 24,
Okay here you go:Leaks
Wolfish,
• Yeah, you’re right. My “what if” speculation about the probable results of Cersei’s preempted sham trial WAS that she’d be found guilty of regicide.* My original version of that comment got zapped during transmission; I tried to recreate it and condense it, and messed it up the second time. But it was obvious to me what the verdict would be.
• Some other replies to you on that 500+ monster thread for the trailer breakdown got zapped too. I had first saved the text, so I can re-submit them, but probably not in that monster thread. (One of them – naturally – is about Sandor’s “No fire!” scene,) I’ll probsbly post them here later; this thread isn’t freezing snd crashing like the other.
* Such a convoluted “murder-by-wine” plan that depended on the fortuitous appearance of a horned boar would be laughed out of a real court. A drunk drunkard would more likely pass out, or pull a Dick Cheney and spear a member of his own hunting party, than suffer a fatal wound. (“OMG, I’m so sorry Lancel! With that costume and silly red cap, you looked like a wild turkey”)
About twenty variables had to play out just right for the “murder” to succeed. Plus, when the guy who says he wielded the murder weapon is getting off scot-free, who’d believe his “testimony”?
One other thing has always confused me: I thought Cersei decided she had to whack Robert after Ned confronted her with his duscovery that Cersei’s kids were Jaime’s incest bastards.
But by then, Robert and his band had already left on the hunt.
Maybe I missed something. In any event, that murder “plan” had aboit 1 in 100 chance of succeeding.
You’re awesome. Appreciate it. Going to be insane! Spoilers don’t really bother me because it’s always fascinating seeing it play out on screen. I’m assuming you don’t mind spoilers either lol?
Jack Bauer 24,
No problem.I agree it’s gonna be great.And spoilers not only don’t bother me ,they keep me sane lol.I don’t think I have ever watched anything unspoiled.I also always read the last page of a book.It’s just the kind of person I am,it doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of a thing at all.
Agreed- I hope they catch this person (I’ve a suspicion it’s only one person but hey, I know nothing). If there’s even the slightest hint of leaks for S8, I’m not gonna come near this site. Which would be a real shame, as I love the pre-season scoops and unvalidated theories.
Jenny,
But the plot of The Force Awakens was a carbon copy of the first Star Wars. Except it made no sense. (Captain Brienne! Let us in to blow up your Death Star and kill everyone on your side, or we’ll shoot you! A: “Okay. I give up.”) Henchman 101 teaches that the correct response is “You’ll just have to shoot me then”; or swallow suicide pill and drop dead.
Apollo,
With one minor exception when I got suckered by a malicious troll’s Trojan Horse (seemingly legitimate comment about Germanic mythology -just to inject a S7 “leak” at the end), I’ve been able to remain uncontaminated.
But for me, the enjoyment of the show comes from the dialog and the actors’ delivery. CGI and production design are a bonus.
The plof points themselves (which I gather are summarized by “the leaks”) don’t mean much without the performances and production.
Who’d want to read the Cliff’s Notes version of a good book if you’re not in high school cramming for a final? I don’t get it.
Ten Bears,
Whatever I liked it.The plot might not have been original but I liked the new main characters.
Ten Bears,
If I’m writing a long comment or something I want to save for any demented reason whatsoever, I click “Quote,” copy-and-paste into Word, and then edit and write to my heart’s content. However, I’m a rather old-fashioned sort and I never look at WotW on my cell phone; I do it in the comfort of my own home, on my laptop, with a bottle of Arbor gold or Dornish red or the distilled product of the blue agave close by…
Looking forward to reading your responses to me sometime. 🙂
Ten Bears:
If you can’t post them here because the opportunity doesn’t arise or the forums don’t get re-opened, feel free to email them to braziliangog-at-yahoo-dot-com. I’m down with pen pals, and the only other WotW with whom I communicate in person is a splendid human being.
Ten Bears,
Thanks for your clarification; the whole ‘what do you think if this happened to you’ lecture is one I give on occassion to my students; they are young enough for it to be effective for a time. I suspect that adults who don’t give a sh’t about others would shrug their shoulders. Might stop some, tho, you never know
Jenny,
Oh ok, so like banning a book or a movie just publicizes it more. See that a lot. (then there is the very old song from the very old musical The Fantastiks: why did the kids put beans in their ears? They did it coz you said no! 🙂
Hee sounds like me (tho I usually wait to read the ending of a book until Im really getting nervouse, or want to see if a humdrum read is worth it in the end. And like Ten Bears said, depending on spoilers would be like reading cliffnotes instead of a great book. I want to see how the story is presented, acted and how it pans out so if I get spoiled fine. But I will protect anyone who doesn’t want to be, if at all possible, from seeing me writing about them.
You know how bands, specifically the management, leak some of their songs off an album hours/days before the actual release? They do it to keep the fans hyped up and make some noise. Maybe GoT did the same? It’s been gone for more than a year so maybe they feared the ratings would slip off so they decided to drop some of the scenes to rattle the fandom, keep everyone interested.
Bands do not “leak” their music: they deliberately put their songs online. However, they do it for the reasons that you mention: bands have discovered that they can actually increase sales this way. If bands thought that it would hurt sales (as they once did), then they would not do this. Record companies have already shown how aggressive they can be about shutting down unlicensed streaming.
This is quite a bit different: it is like the band posting the lyrics and guitar chords for the songs rather than the songs themselves. That doesn’t give you the complete “feel” for the song: indeed, if they don’t provide something for the rhythm, then you could play it as a ballad or a rocker. However, if there is some great melodic hook or really cool lyric, then those would get spoiled for the people.
At any rate, leaks for these shows are known to a much smaller proportion of the market than are online releases of music. I took a few months off from here due to a very hectic life and I was (like most viewers) completely unaware of the leaks. I still don’t know what they are. Now, if they had started streaming the episodes already, then I’m sure that I would have learned: and I would have (of course) started watching! (Alas! I’ll be traveling all of July and most of August, so I won’t be seeing the series until it’s done….)
Wimsey:
Wait, whaaattt??? We’re going to be breathlessly engaging in heated commentary about the penultimate season without you?
This is totally unacceptable. I demand that you watch each episode in real time on HBO Go, even if you need to do it on a tiny screen only visible to people under the age of 30. If you do not accede to this demand, I’ll create a change.org petition.
Gina,
He/she didn’t leak the entire season just the outline, they must have seen it somewhere between the scripts being concluded and filming location planning would be my guess.
I think Luka Neto knew where the leak came from (without explicitly stating it) so I would assume that aspect will be tightened for S8.