It’s time once again for the TCA press tour- summer edition, when TV execs trot out their best lines for the gathered press, and we glean what we can about the future of our favorite shows! Casey Bloys, head of HBO Programming, was on hand this time to address questions about the Game of Thrones spinoff, the Emmys, and more.
According to Vanity Fair, Bloys states that spinoff showrunner Jane Goldman is “busy in the edit bay” now, since filming’s completed. Those who have been following the shooting of the new pilot are aware that filming finished mid-July in Italy, but the exec confirms it. “The only status I have for you right now,” Bloys said, “is that we finished shooting the prequel. [We’re] very excited by the footage we saw of the cast.”
He diplomatically addresses the Emmy nominations, and the fact that the network itself didn’t submit all the performers would up securing a nomination. According to him, the network is behind their actors whether or not they submitted them. He says, “Thrones is unique…because it has 20-something series regulars.” The gist of it is that, as many have assumed, the network doesn’t want their actors to cancel each other out. “There is some strategic thinking,” he said.
But he also noted that when it comes to those nominated- “we’ll help them out.”
Visit Vanity Fair to read how HBO reacted to that fan petition and more!
They don’t want their actors to cancel each other out because Alfie Allen would wipe out the others every single time okurr
Daya,
Lancel Lannisters ashes should have been nominated IMO.
Everything he said makes sense but I’m sure internet will loose mind about his words.
Academy had a stronger support for GoT than even HBO and D&D expected and predicted. That’s the reason why several actors were nominated even without HBO submission.
So HBO underestimated strength of GOT, but that’s hardly something they should be criticized about. I’m sure neither HBO nor D&D thought that Alfie, Gwen and Carice didn’t deserve nomination. They just thought they don’t stand a chance.
It is interesting to think that maybe even some other actors like Iain Glen and Liam could have been nominated. And I think Bryan Cogman would get that nomination for writing.
But as Bloys said nominations are nice, but victories are important. To have 4 actresses nominated in one category is great, but if that means they will split votes and no one wins, was it worth it from HBO’s perspective? What if Alfie costs Peter another record-breaking victory? Is what something HBO would want?
I’m personally happy that we can say that GoT had 12 Emmy nominated actors. Other than 10 that got nominations this year, Diana Rigg and Max von Sydow were also nominated for their work on GoT.
So spin off show will have female showruner, female director, and 3 main stars will be female characters.
HBO understands how this game is played lol
This will secure support for the show from the media at the very beginning, because, sadly, in 2019 to have female writer and director of big budget TV show is still rare thing and it deserves support.
GoT was to big to fall at the end, so even “politically incorrect” ending couldn’t stop the show’s domination, but this new show is vulnerable at the begging and it needs every support it can get.
mau,
Indeed, who would have though someone like Alfie or Carice would ever stand a chance of getting nominated.
Fact is though that these often overlooked actors deserve the recognition. I’d wager that is more important than the risk of splitting up votes and losing a win.
Obviously getting all the nominations and also a win is preferable, but oh well.
EDIT: Also I admire Bloys’ diplomatic answer about the silly petition. I definitely couldn’t hold myself together like that.
Why not?
Why should all the glory be reserved for Peter Dinklage? Alfie Allen could easily have won in earlier seasons, but was never given the opportunity.
TOIVA,
Petition is just another thing that makes GoT iconic. I know people who started watching GoT because of that petition. It’s free marketing. Controversy sells.
Grandmaester Flash,
I’m not saying that all glory should be reserved for Peter Dinklage, but I think that for HBO it’s more important that Peter gets his historic Emmy than Alfie’s nomination.
mau,
I think it would have been good for the show to have nominated different actors each season. That would have shown the breadth of excellence. PD is very good, but let’s not pretend there’s no PC element at play in HBO’s constantly singling him out. There, I’ve said it.
Grandmaester Flash,
Is it? Because the writing may have suffered for the characters but Peter always delivered his best IMO. And his best is outstanding. Whether it’s with Lena in season 7 or Kit or Flynn or NWC in season 8 in quieter scenes when Tyrion as a character is not exactly at his best.
I’m not denying Alfie’s incredible performance here, he SHOULD have been submitted to the Emmys for consideration every time he deserved it and yes, I don’t give a flying fuck about strategy. Look at how happy that nomination made him. A nod from the industry that his work was good enough to stand with the rest of the actors he’s in the same category with. It always was to be honest.
Anyway, I don’t see any political correctness for Peter. I think that he’s just consistently that good, to a point where being that good becomes the norm and many no longer see it as something Emmy worthy.
TormundsWoman,
Yes, he’s good, I’m not denying it. But he seemed to be an automatic choice from HBO, given that equally good performances from other actors were consistently ignored. He was even put forward in a season where he had very little to do.
mau,
What’s politically incorrect about a string of male leaders in the north being followed by a Queen in the North?
Dany was only one character of many- people get too hung up on her as the defining be-all-end-all of the endgame. There are many pieces of the finale, nothing is so simplistic as that.
Sue the Fury,
I don’t think that S8 was really politically incorrect but we know outrage about death of only female black character or as you said Daenerys’ fate. A lot of people ignored her dark side and thought she is great female role model.
And GoT for years was criticized for treatment o female characters or lack of diversity. Or the fact that all writers and directors in the last 4 seasons were male.
It doesn’t matter if you think this criticism has any merits or not, it existed. But GoT was just too big to care about online journalists. No matter what they wrote ratings went up and they were getting more and more Emmys.
But with this new show it’s clear that they will change a lot of things. Female writer and director are still extremely rare thing for big budget fantasy movie/TV. And the cast seems far more diverse than GoT’s.
TormundsWoman,
I agree that Peter is so good that he is taken for granted. He was the actor with biggest range. Tyrion was at the same time comic relief and tragic character.
I mean the way that character is written played big part. It’s not like Lena or Kit had many opportunities to show their comedic side.
Many things go into Peter’s many Emmys. He is very good, he is an American and he is well-liked in the industry.
Given the strength of the cast, it is a little lopsided that he has 3 acting Emmys and no-one else has any. This year it may become 4 to 0. But he did have a lot of good scenes in S8.
Dink is my favorite actor on GOT but I would not be unhappy if someone else who merits it gets recognized this year. It is usually hard for GOT to get more than one acting award as they dominate the CGI etc stuff and other shows also need recognition – but as it is the GOT final year let us see if we get a different result.
Charles Dance and many others merited recognition as well. I think the SAG Ensemble Award is such a good one as it recognizes the entire crew at once.
Well now, I guess I for one am more interested in information regarding the prequel at this point. Coulda, woulda, shoulda on award submissions for GoT… What’s done is done on that point I figure. I’ve wanted them all to win all the awards. I’ll have to accept just lots.
It’s nice to hear that Bloys is excited by what little he’s seen of the prequel. If they’re deep into the editing of the pilot, a single episode, it shouldn’t be too long before we get word if they’ve greenlit it for series.
From what I’ve been seeing around the internet, there’s some pretty strong buzz starting to build for the first two new fantasy entries, The Witcher after their comic-con teaser trailer, and His Dark Materials. I admit that while I’m excited for The Witcher the pics I’d seen from during filming weren’t inspiring. The footage looked fantastic though imo, and appears it could scratch that high fantasy itch pretty well. With that in mind you’d think HBO is thinking that they’ll have to “bring it” as hard with this series as they did GoT. Does that mean they’ll take more time on it? *shrug*
I’m hoping for GoT to win a jaw dropping unprecedented 3 way and 4 way tie for the supporting acting statuary. These actors earned it for their exemplary performances over the course of eight years, performing through grueling days and nights, week after week while delivering exceptional characterizations that will be remembered down through the decades in entertainment history.
mau,
Alfie killed it this season. Peter did not. Honestly I thought this last season was awful — especially the finale, but the absolute worst thing about it was how they essentially neutered the Cersei character. Love her or hate her, she was an amazing character until last season when she was relegated to standing in a window smirking. Lena Headey must be so pissed…
A note regarding ‘vote splitting’:
Since 1980 at the Emmy Awards, when three or more from the same show were nominated for supporting actor or actress, one of them won 13 times out of 17 occasions (5 for 8 actress, 8 for 9 actor).
There have also been several years with two or more from two separate shows and more individuals. Most of the time the winner was from a show with multiple.
I would say the past results could suggest that vote splitting isn’t a major factor at the Emmys… If anything, it seems that typically the best shows of their time earned more nominees and more often than not they won.
Basically, if the voters think someone stood out they should vote for that person, regardless of the program. To be fair and honest they should all be considered totally independently anyway.
Interesting. The vote splitting idea seems to be an accepted thing so I am surprised to see the 13 of 17.
It makes sense that better shows win more and that the better shows would want to have nominations in multiple sections but optimally with one person in each section (assuming vote splitting). You do not want 5 nominations all in one section and no noms in the others.
Your numbers suggest vote splitting is not as important as assumed. I wonder why HBO and the others seem to restrict the number of persons they put up in any section. Perhaps to control the promotional budget they want to put behind this campaign? I wonder if vote splitting is not a problem if two or three persons are put up (eg NCW and Dink) but occurs if 4 or 5 persons are put up – Meaning the vote-splitting effect kicks in at say 4 nominees from the same show.
Off topic:
Peter Dinklage is submitting The Iron Throne as his episode.
mau,
Yeah but don’t act like they hired Jane Goldman just because she’s a woman. She had the best credentials out of all the writers they hired to write pilots so not surprising she wrote the best script. And then she hired one of her friends to direct the pilot, who happens to be a woman. The pilot has a lot of women leads, but so did the show so that’s nothing new. I think you’re overthinking it here, the process was totally organic and they set out to hire the best person possible and that just happened to be a woman.
Also, protectionism of characters because of their gender, race, sexuality or whatever is terrible. It makes for predictable storytelling and no underrepresented person I ever talked to wants to have their head patted by some privileged white guy. All that matters is creating characters with depth. People need to stop whining whenever a character gets raped, killed or tortured in GoT. GoT and HBO ain’t Disney. Like there aren’t enough Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar movies every year?
I love Peter Dinklage. He’s one of my favorite actors on the planet. Even though I didn’t love his character as much these last two seasons, I still loved his acting.
I also love Alfie Allen and think it’s a great tragedy that he hasn’t won before. He’s a legend (he’s on Harlots right now and is hilarious).
But if I was on the Emmy voting panel, I would vote for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. While I don’t love his character’s ending, Nikolaj had several iconic moments this season that had a lifelong-memory kind of impact.
When Jaime first arrives at Winterfell, his stare down with Bran gave me chills to the bone. And when he hooked up with Brienne? I was cheering out loud.
But when Jaime knighted Brienne? Unbelievable. It was one of my top 3 highlights of this entire season, and probably in my top 10 for the entire series.
Nikolaj and Gwendoline Christie delivered. And they both deserve the win.
ThisGirlHasNoName,
“Nikolaj and Gwendoline Christie delivered. And they both deserve the win.”
I agree – I think both of them gave very special peformances.
Even by the very high standard of GOT.
Young Dragon,
huh, interesting. Wonder if its because he had more to do that episode or if it was to show support for the finale
ash,
I don’t know his reasoning, though I’m not surprised he chose the finale. He gave several tremendous performances in that episode. Finding Jaime and Cersei’s body, his speech to Jon, his speech in the dragon pit (regardless of how you thought the scene was written, Dinklage killed it), and his second scene with Jon. Even his exchange with Danerys, though brief, was incredibly acted. The only episode I would say he gave equally compelling performances was The Last of the Starks.
I’m not surprised Dinklage picked the last episode. He definitely had a number of dramatic moments that brought out his full range of acting skills.
As YD said, the scene where he finds his brother and sister dead, the scene when he resigns as Hand, the scenes with Jon, and that bizarre scene where he goes from being on trial for treason to suddenly hand-picking the next king of Westeros in a flash.
Honestly, I wish they could just give lifetime achievement awards to all the GoT regulars. Dinklage is one of the few actors who’s already received consistent accolades and recognition, and deservedly so, but they all deserve it.
I think this is common misconception. He wasn’t on trial. It was parley. I don’t think Sansa cared that Tyrion betrayed Daenerys.
mau,
In this case, the difference between a parley and a trial is rather minimal. Tyrion’s punishment/fate is being decided. This is exactly the purpose of a trial.
Sansa obviously didn’t care, but she wasn’t the only one there that had a say in the matter. Others there clearly cared that Dany was killed, so I’m not sure what that has to do with anything.
Mr Derp,
I’m not sure that anyone except Yara cared. When we speak about Westerosi lords. maybe that Dornish prince? Who knows.
mau,
That Dornish prince is a wildcard for sure.
Now that I think of it, I’m surprised that those at the parley/trial didn’t turn the tables around on Greyworm and ask him about his alleged war crimes for killing the unarmed Lannisters who surrendered.
Greyworm – “Let the Unsullied give Jon Snow what he deserves”
Sansa – “Wait, aren’t you accused of killing enemy combatants who surrendered? Perhaps we should talk about that…”
Greyworm – “Uh, nevermind. I’ve got a boat to Naath that I’ve got to catch.”
Mr Derp,
The Iron Throne an The Last of the Starks should have been devided into 2 episodes.
Daenerys’ death was perfect ending for penultimate episode..
mau,
Hypothetical Question: Right before Missandei was killed, she shouted “dracarys” to Dany. Viewers took this as an endorsement for Dany to go all fire and blood on Westeros. So that leaves me with the following question: If Missandei was still alive and saw Dany burn KL as she did in episode 5, would Missandei have approved? Would Dany even burn KL in the first place if Missandei were still alive, or was the burning of KL an inevitable conclusion either way?
Mr Derp,
I think Missandei’s death played a part, but death of dragon, Sansa’s schemes, Tyrion and Varys’ betrayal, Jon Snow’s rejection, Cersei’s betrayals,… I think all of that played a part. I think by the end she felt betrayed by everyone and hated the whole world.
Mr Derp,
They took away from her everything she ever held dear; her dragons, Jon, Jorah, Missandei (to be followed by Varys’ and Tyrion’s treason). It was a deliberate choice on the part of the producers to go with a personal story instead of a political one and it felt off. Or they could have retained the personal aspect, with or without Missandei dying, but they could have added a political layer to Daenerys’ arc in Westeros, e.g. ravens arriving showing the distrust of the lords to one more Targaryen. Sam could also have represented the Reach since his father died a Warden.
There’s a number of ways this could have happened even without Missandei dying, Dany realizing that she is not loved in Westeros in general, that she’s not wanted, no one cares about what she did in Essos etc, so in the end deciding to burn KL for making a political point, not because she snapped from too much grief.
However, the show’s choice to make it about the love of the people that she doesn’t have, because it has been established in 7 seasons that they don’t care who is governing, is also not a bad one even though rushed and rather awkwardly executed. I just doubt that many people understood it. What one keeps from it is that she is a girl who lost too much and she’s scorned by her lover.
This plot also stripped everybody else from a real role in season 8. It was all about Dany. How she feels, how she mourns, what she wants, what she desires. The story is terribly unbalanced and doesn’t explain anything other than what concerns Dany. Everybody else had a supportive role, framing Dany.
Now that I think about it, they could have called the last season “Dany’s throne”, because there was only one contestant for it, lol.
Gwendoline Christie is submitting The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms as her episode. Not really surprising. I figured it would either be this episode or The Last of the Starks.
I assume that Missandei meant to hurt Cersei and her crew – not to kill randomly in the city. Her calm characterization to that point reflected Naath that seems to be quite un-warlike. Missandei’s killing would be expected to trigger anger in Grey Worm and support his later conduct.
Young Dragon,
Do you know which episode Maisie Williams submitted?
https://www.cloudways.com/blog/add-ssl-certificates-to-custom-php-sites/
Ten Bears,
Not yet, the only GOT actors who submitted their episodes so far were Dinklage and Christie, but I’ll keep checking.
Young Dragon,
Hey thanks! I’m hoping Maisie Williams submits S8e5.
Sure, she was “The Hero of Winterfell” in S8e3. Yet, most of “The Long Night” consisted of jump cuts between action scenes involving different characters, including Arya vs. wights and Arya vs. NK. However, even though that episode featured Arya’s “signature” moment (leaping out of nowhere to pulverize NK), Maisie Williams didn’t do much “acting.”
On the other hand, S8e5 “The Bells” had Arya’s wonderful farewell scene with Sandor, and then the camera tracking Arya during her harrowing escape from Dany’s Inferno.
#ASNAWP
Ten Bears,
I have a feeling that ‘most’ of the voters were fans/watchers of the show already, so even with just a submitted episode they likely know what’s what beyond that. 😉
Well this aged well – for those of you who didn’t see the news, HBO cancelled the prequel last night. Interesting that the CEO here talks about his excitement and that Jane Goldman is in the editing room then the show gets cancelled.
Agree but all the more surprising with last nights news that it was cancelled. They must have had some pretty big concerns on the quality/appeal of the content.