As the media circuit for Game of Thrones season 7 finally begins, word’s getting out that season 7 is gonna be good … like, really good. Iain Glen spoke to EW about the upcoming season and had nothing but praise for the highly anticipated installment.
“I wrote to Dan and David and I said I thought they were the best seven episodes they’ve ever written,” he told EW. “The story is going toward a conclusion. There’s no sense of treading water. You have storylines colliding. And the evolving drama and relationships are as good as they have ever been. It definitely feels like the beginning of the end game.”
It’s a sentiment that’s been articulated by other cast members. Earlier this year, Maisie Williams told Time Out that in season 7 the story will be “tumbling” and “rolling down to the end.” Whatever happens next season 7, all reports point towards a truly breakneck (perhaps literally?) and tightly written 7 episodes of dragons and drama.
As for Jorah Mormont’s subplot specifically, Glen hinted at an intrinsically motivated quest for redemption.
He said that Jorah’s season 7 story “is all about whether he will survive this horrendous sickness he’s contracted.” Except … it might not actually be about survival at all, when we get right down to it. Glen also said that overcoming greyscale is secondary to earning Daenerys’ forgiveness.
“My feeling is Jorah would die a happy man if he could get forgiveness from Daenerys,” he said. “He’s been in that mental territory half his life. He’s always been willing to sacrifices his life for her. His loss of life is not as big for him as seeking her redemption.”
This thread will become a D&D bashing blood bath so Im gonna just leave this here:
I can’t wait for the season. Beyond excited.
I personally think D&D have done an excellent job condensing such a massive story into an adaptation that’s not only exciting to watch but also not containing too much unnecessary side stories and fillers that can bog down television programs.
People talked about how great Season 5 would be, even how “fast” it would be.
I’ve never seen much of substance based on actor comments about the scripts; it’s always “wow it’s so great”. And I don’t want spoilers, but anything “substantive” like “still dealing with issues from last season” or “trying to move forward”.
It feels like that Keye & Peele comedy skit about the football player post-game interview.
“Do you have any thoughts on the game?”
“Well, we gave it 100 percent, came here to execute, have some fun.”
“Well what strategy were you trying to use”
“Well we just came here to have some fun, execute, give it 100 percent.”
“Uh…well how about that big tackle play you made?”
“Well, I just went out there to give it 100 percent, execute, execution-wise, 100 percent.”
“……What did you have for dinner last night?!”
“Well, I wanted to give it 100 percent, and -”
“Can you make any original observations about the game at all?”
“Oh, 100 percent.”
HelloThere,
HT, part of me thinks Iain Glen has been quite brave sticking his head above the parapet but then again if he says he likes D&D’s writing for the show I don’t think any disagreement that might be expressed by people who dislike their adaptation will affect IG’s luck in getting work. Obviously, as an individual I can’t judge the writing of Season 7 as I haven’t yet seen it.
Nothing to contribute to the bloodbath from me … Nothing but praise for D&D!!
Bring on season seven!!
Well, at the least, it’s not a perfect record in that respect.
They chose to add in their own, heavily modified, Dorne side-plot, which used up 40 minutes that could have gone to other storylines….and it was a subplot they added at the last minute, as they were filming the rest of SEason 5…and later abandoned it in Season 6, an admission of failure.
And we’ve also had a lot of “filler” scenes of Tyrion making jokes and such. Or yet another Olly scene, etc.
In terms of “cutting down on sideplots” we can’t really say they’ve done the best.
Also I don’t consider Sansa’s Vale arc to be “filler” material we’d need to cut – it would have taken 10 minutes of screentime.
When Jorah gets to die a happy man, that’ll be as good an ending as it could get. Rather he live a happy man for awhile first, though. ☺
people can bash D&D all they want about their work of game of thrones, They did something fantastic with this Adaption.
I Honestly think people don’t give D&D enough credit for all their hard work on the show.
Beyond excited for Season 7, now give me a trailer for Season 7:D
The Dragon Demands,
It is not unexpected for you specifically to tear into them so I’ll let you have your way.
I personally think George’s inclusion of nearly everything Dorne in the books was a failure, unwise and unnecessary. So, the little bit that D&D installed is an acceptable sacrifice. Besides, those characters appear to be of some use in some other storylines moving forward so introducing them even in the manner they did seems to have some pay off.
Oh I want for Jorah and Jon to finally meet! I’m really curious to see Jorah’s reaction to Jon’s sword that once belonged to himself. Scene like that would be amazing!
What arc?? So far there is no Sansa “arc” in Feast. There’s a hint that maybe she’ll be forced by LF to marry some asshole, and maybe they’ll try to poison SR (though that’s vague enough that fans disagree to what extent either LF or Sansa are trying to kill SR versus just weaken him). And for future possible arcs, we have no idea what GRRM actually is planning to do with her, so saying that it would take 10 min of screen time to follow the book arc is complete speculation on your part.
I read the first 4 books mostly back to back, and was surprised when I finally got to rereading Sansa’s chapters in order that literally everything interesting that happened in the Vale occurred in Storm. I had wrongly remembered that LF kissing Sansa and Lysa’s subsequent revelatory death occurred in Feast. Turns out I was giving Feast way too much credit…
People shit all over D&D for going off the reservation, but if that pisses you off, then blame George R.R. Martin for not getting his books completed in a reasonable amount if time.
At some point, D&D had to move forward without any source material to guide them. It’s not easy to do that. I had some issues with the writing for Season 6 and I thought most of the characters/plots they introduced in Season 5 were not very interesting, but there is much more positive and good things to focus on rather than the negative.
Pigeon,
I thought Jorah got his redemption when he threw the spear into the Harpy sneaking up behind Daeny et al. at Daznak’s Pit.
And for someone in the Friend Zone, moving a woman to tears and extracting a command “heal yourself …and come back to me” is as close to a declaration of affection as one could ever hope for.
Having said that, I hope Khaleesi can see her way clear to giving him one night of carnal fulfillment so he can die a happy man.
The last episode that aired, Winds of Winter, is widely praised as one of the best episodes that GoT has ever done. Does D&D get credit for that? No, but they certainly hear about all the grief when they do something that pisses off the hardcore fandom.
In other words, if you want to shit all over D&D, then go ahead, but you should be just as motivated to praise the good things as you are to shit on the bad things.
For me D&D will always be better than GRRM, because they never lost the focus of what is important for the story. GRRM just lost the story 17 years ago.
That’s the reason why the show will have an ending and the books will not.
D&D are the best at writing the final scene of each episode…
the final scene is usually epic and makes me wanting more…
and I can’t wait for the next episode!!!!
mau,
Not sure I want to weigh in on definitively saying TV version is better, but I do definitely agree with statement that GRRM just lost where he was going a long time ago. The books went from being a fairly straightforward, although sprawling, story; to the later books feeling like sets of Westeros short stories that he wanted to tell about characters that he thought were cool. Not saying that’s what was intended, but that’s how they come off sounding. Still time to get everything back on track for ending, but we have wandered far afield.
I don’t think so. Did you read 11 chapters from TWOW? It’s the same mess like AFFC/ADWD.
I choose to assume those were leftovers from previous two books and not indicative of real conclusion to story. And I am well aware of the fact that father time is undefeated and coming for us all, GRRM included. I was purposely trying to be optimistic!
Even thought I’ve been spoiled by the leaks I’m looking forward to this season. Seeing all that great action and drama is gonna be wild ride for sure.
And season 8. The final for this story. Six episodes and it’s gonna be some crazy epic. It’s just so wild to think how those six episodes are going to make this all end.
lol k
The Dragon Demands,
Oh well, guess they better return all those Emmys. /s
Oh this is going to one of ‘those’ threads. I agree D&D don’t get nearly enough credit for the work they’ve already put into the adaptation. You guys should take a walk over to r/asoif – it’s a giant tinfoil party over there, which while entertaining ends up in soup temperature examinations. The paranoid Russians don’t have anything on that fan base.
Why is it I wonder that mediocre writing invites so much speculation? I mean Martin’s writing – aside from the gardener type of writing process – which is an incredibly lazy way to write – is middling at best, the books are the logical conclusion of the death of the author taken to its extreme. It’s not just that the work is sprawling, it’s that Martin himself as the author, has lost himself in his creation. He would like to be every character, rather than applying critical distance; it’s that he would like to do nothing more than meander around in this work he created, tasting everything while forgetting that it is his creation and he has control over it – in some ways the story is no longer his not only because 2 writers and snowmakers have found a coherent way to tell his story, but because he’s placed readers in a position such that we’re all in search for Martin and keep running into a version of Martin that he himself doesn’t realize he’s created. – and so in search of the author, we find the author lost, and we’re left to face ourselves as readers in search for a search – it’s a literary tautology -n that there’s nothing but the work devoid of the author’s critical distance and control, sprawling away in the distance while we look under stones to read the stars.
Really D&D do not get enough credit from this fan base for the work they’ve done to bring this story to life, and now to conclude it, and they don’t have to. The highest compliment they can get, is one from their peers who know the commitment it takes to make something, produce it, writer it, direct it in some cases, and to manage it, and they have plenty of appreciation from their peers. So it’s a moot point at the end of the day, what any of us think of the show – it will exist far longer than the unfinished series it was originally based on.
I’m sure the season will be good but what did you expect him to say?
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
So…… he could have just said nothing on the matter. 🙂
I completely agree with you. it’s so frustrating to see some people focusing only on the bad things, saying the show has become “a joke”, and nitpicking for anything. It’s almost like hating on popular and well done things has become a trend, and kind of the “cool” thing to do, because that makes them look so different and rational… they totally forget about the great acting, the sets, the special effects, the costume, the music, the very solid screenplay. Everything that makes this show so special, and on par (and even above, in my opinion) of the greatness of Breaking Bad, The Wire, The Sopranos, The Twilight Zone, and others.
Also, the amount of people i find on youtube and other pages hating on characters like Dany, and saying that she is a “Mary Sue”, while they love Jon, despite the fact that they are almost the same character, makes me think this “fanbase” it’s full of misogynists and sexists who feel threatened by a strong/independent women that is a huge and fundamental part of the ASoIaF world.
By the way, I’m glad I am bilingual, as my first language it’s spanish, and the only good fan-page that exists on that language it’s “Los Siete Reinos” and I absolutely hate that website because of the reasons I listed above. I mean, I can take constructive criticism any day, but the people on that page are never satisified by anything.
God damn, Iain Glen is handsome.
The Juan and only, Juan Snow,
I find the commenters on Youtube to just be straight up batshit crazy. It’s mostly full of trolls trying to piss other people off.
Now that I think of it, aren’t the vast majority of comment sections in any article these days nothing but trolls and internet know-it-alls trying to force their personal opinion down other people’s throats? It’s amazing how many anonymous geniuses and Captain Hind-sights there are on the internet. It takes maybe 1-2 comments before all hell breaks loose.
I’m very glad that this site in particular is normally above that and the majority of commenters give respectful, well-thought-out opinions without forcing them on others.
Mr Derp,
Yes, totally. I don’t use to leave a comment on here, but I read a lot of comments on this threads, and I almost never see someone being offensive or disrespectful towards the fanbase and the work done by all the GoT crew. This is why I love watchers on the wall so much.
Off-topic: I was hoping a trailer would be released today, but I lost my faith now 🙁 it’s too late for that. I guess we will have to wait at least one more week. Ugh, I thought the real marketing would start earlier this year, as everything is coming to an end now. I guess not.
The Juan and only, Juan Snow,
Yea, I hear ya. I’m waiting for a trailer too. At this point though, it’s not doing me any good to keep waiting for it. When it comes, it comes.
Once the trailer comes out, the same people who were anxiously waiting for a trailer all this time will then start impatiently tapping their feet for Season 7 to start. At some point, we all need to relax and be patient. It’s a long wait this year, but I think it’ll be worth it.
Keep the faith
One thing to possibly help the wait:
We’re about 58 days away from the season premiere. If you watch 1 GoT episode per day, it’ll take you right to season 7 with a couple of episodes to spare!
This is an EXCELLENT point. I may start my marathon tonight! How delightful.
D&D’s writing is great and GoT is a really incredible piece of TV, currently my second favorite TV show. I’m on rewatch at the moment, just finished watching “The Rains of Castamere” and the show really gives me “feelings” this time.
The Dragon Demands,
Honestly, are you even able to write a comment without complaining or bashing the show? But again, what else to expect from someone who turned GoT Wikia into his personal blog, a site that openly criticizes TV series and pays more attention to the novels instead of trying to present GoT to fans in best light possible.
QueenofThrones,
Haha, I started my rewatch somewhere in February but I was really moving at snail’s pace with S1 at first, mainly due to my exams and my LOST rewatch which is happening this year. I picked up the pace in April with S2 and now, I’m at the end of S3, having just watched “The Rains of Castamere”. And there is of course my personal rule “One episode a day”.
I personally love all the work D&D has done, without them we wouldn’t have this show, we’d still just be waiting on all the books to finish if they ever are. I think they’ve done a amazing job, it’s been a hard one too, sifting through what GRRM’s massive plot lines and characters are important and which ones to forgo. Then having to carry on without the books as a guide and just relying on GRRM’s spoken outline on what needs to happen while filling in all the gaps themselves without taking away the spirit of the show.
I love the relationship between Jorah and Dany it definitely is one of my all time favorites on the show.
I also think Dany has forgiven him, to me the moment she put her hand in his hand in S5EP10 she forgave him but I do think they need to sit down together and hash out everything so they can start fresh on a new page without any secrets between them.
Oh and I love Iain Glen so so much, even if he barely gives anything away about the upcoming season I still think his awesome.
This is what I meant when I said that fans want a conclusion (any conclusion) that GRRM has devised. Whatever GRRM says is the ending is the ending. Therefore ASoIaF is capable of being concluded sooner rather than never.
Mr Derp,
Well said!!!
People easily shit on D&D for everything and at the same time forgive GRRM for his mistakes. The latest two books were not as good as the ones before. GRRM really seemed to lost the focus altogether. The two latest books were meant to be one divided to two. But still there has not been a conclusion/climax. How long has it been since AFFC?
There is time for worldbuilding: at the start of the story, and little at the middle if absolutely needed, but no more than that. He claims to be a gardener but seems to have no idea what it means. A gardener needs to know what they are doing, what plants they are planting, how long they’ll grow, what color they are, what soil they’ll need etc. It’s not just planting a seed and seeing what will come out of it. That is something an amateur would do. And that is something that GRRM seems to be: an amateur gardener. A professional is not that different from an architect.
D&D have a lot of constraints, such as time and money. They’ll have to give new episodes every year, and they have managed to make GoT the most successful show in TV history. Still, almost everyone will always bring up Dorne as an example of how they’ve done such a poor job after they run out of source material, forgetting how bad the source material was in the first place (and who’s fault it is that there is not more of it). Had they continued to follow the books as they were, the show would’ve probably been cancelled because everyone were too bored to watch it. No one cares about turtles or boiled leather or the zillions of quinary characters that the books are riddled with.
I know you probably meant to write “showmakers” and not “snowmakers,” but I must say: That’s the best, um, Freudian typo? ever.
Unlike GRRM, D&D have finally brought us winter!
I praise Iain Glen for a lot of things, especially accepting this role and using that voice.
Comments like these from actors before a season are like athletes or coaches before a sports season. No one says “nah, this season won’t be as good.” Every team talks like they’ll be in the playoffs, and every actor says it’s better than last season. It might be, and I’m looking forward to it, but I’m certainly not taking Ser Jorah’s word for it
Can’t. The Faith done got burnt up.
That was pretty much my understanding as well – when he offered his hand to her in the chaos and she accepted it, that seemed like trust returned. I suppose you could argue that it was her only choice, but I doubt they would have lingered on the look between them, plus he really did make it her decision, he didn’t just grab her and steer her away. Their farewell scene in Season 6 was some of Emilia’s best acting. Iain is my #1 of course. 😉
That said, I really doubt they’ll be getting down with each other, it just doesn’t seem to fit with the story. I mean, I’d be fine with that, but I just don’t think they have that kind of bond.
I love Jorah’s character in the show and the scenes between him and Dany are very touching. It’s funny she showed more emotion towards him when he was leaving whereas with Dario it was like flicking an annoying fly off your shoulder when she left him.
I hope he’s one of the characters that make it to the end. I also can’t wait to see if he meets up with Lyanna!
The version of ASOIAF by GRRM is a sloppily written draft, especially the last two completed books.
D&D’s GOT is the finished product.
Mr Derp,
Oh good, I meant to figure that out, so thanks for doing it for me! Will start tomorrow!
Sometimes when I read these comments I wonder when the fanbase got so much hate installed into it. I have never seen such a mean spirited book vs show trollfest in any other franchise.
Neither writer has been perfect but if you point out a flaw in D&D or GRRM you get one half or the other jumping down your throat.
Why can’t people like and dislike somethings. Arya’s faceless man plot was kind of dumb and Book 4 and 5 did have some pointless overly long plots but that doesn’t make either BAD just because one part of something was weaker then the rest doesn’t make the rest shit.
I like the books AND the show which apparently seems to be a controversial opinion on any GOT/ASOIAF Message board.
Wolfish,
Heh realised that much later! Definitely a Freudian slip there!
Marlana,
I see what you mean, but that’s not what I meant. It’s easy to forget that he has creative control when the author is so close to the work that there’s no critical distance. At some level it’s a question of executing on a disciplined process.
double_trouble,
Oh I love the idea of Jorah and Jon meeting! Would make a fantastic scene with Longclaw as the conversation piece. 😁
mau,
While I disagree with some of your comments, I do agree that GRRM has lost his interest in finishing the saga until after D&D made a tv show interpretation of it. The TV show’s successes is what I think catapult GRRM interest to write again. Unfortunately, he’s too slow. All of us could old and decrepit by the time world of Ice and Fire story came into conclusion. LOL!
Jorah is one of my favorite secondary characters, in no small amount because of Iain Glen’s soulful portrayal. His scenes with Peter Dinklage were some of the better quiet moments in the entire series.
I hope Mr. Glen’s comments augur well for some meaty scenes with Jorah in the upcoming season.
I think Benioff and Weiss are excellent writers, and I’m grateful for everything they’ve done to shepherd Game of Thrones into the global phenomenon it’s become. I believe Iain Glen’s enthusiasm is entirely sincere, and so I’m very happy to hear that he thinks so highly of what David and Dan have in store for us in Season 7. I can’t wait to see it unfold!
Yikes, Jorah’s crush on Dany sounds even bigger and more unrequited than the one I had on my eleventh grade English teacher who looked more like Marilyn Monroe than Marilyn herself, and whose eyes were as blue as Iain Glen’s.
https://twitter.com/moyzarella/status/864888352251752449
What’s he going to say? “This is some of the worst writing ever!”
Past 2 seasons have had a handful of really good episodes… and it is difficult to argue 6.10 wasn’t one of the best episodes of the series (and one of the best episodes of television ever), but there is so much in the middle of the amazing that is weak. And they used to be more consistent. I think it would benefit them to have more writers on the show. But hey, we’ll see.
With only 7 episodes in season 7…
there is better chance that all of the season 7 episodes will be… 10/10!!!
Iain Glen – be still my heart!
Every time an actor praises the writing or directing ability of a person (or two in this case) in charge, the audience should be alerted. Look at the awful dorne (season5) and aria (season6) plotlines for example. Got has dumb down in a way nobody could have imagined before those episodes aired. The bigger g.o.thrones became, the more lazy and stupid decisions D&D made. Its the same phenomenon as with all the cgi heavy pictures. In season 2 a major battle (Lannisters vs Starks) was completely off screen, nobody needed to see it and did someone cry therefore? – No, it felt right. And in season 6 the most talked about thing was the BoB – that is very sad. (and by the way, did anyone!!! except me shake the head over the 20m high pile of bodys? The most idiotic decision to bring a medieval battle to live ever). Bigger is not better.
So, you’re comparing a non-important battle in S2 between the Lannister and Stark forces that didn’t impact the plot or characters in any meaningful way to a major battle to decide the fate of the North involving most of the major characters and with 3 and a half episodes of build up that was a technical breakthrough on TV? I agree that BotB might have its issues but that’s a terrible example to make your argument of.
HT, part of me thinks Iain Glen has been quite brave sticking his head above the parapet but then again if he says he likes D&D’s writing for the show I don’t think any disagreement that might be expressed by people who dislike their adaptation will affect IG’s luck in getting work. Obviously, as an individual I can’t judge the writing of Season 7 as I haven’t yet seen it.
Rygar,
Yes he is…
Not sure what point you’re making. Are you saying the show is “dumbed down” because they’ve been able to do things on a larger scale due to a higher budget in later seasons? Are you saying that we didn’t need to see the BotB and that would have been okay since we didn’t see the Battle of the Green Fork? As a correction, there were MANY people that were upset here (pre-WotW version) and elsewhere when that battle wasn’t shown. Tyrion getting knocked out and waking up afterward, Jaime being captured at a separate battle and all we saw was is him being delivered to Robb… Some were pissed that they skipped over the fighting. I personally wasn’t bothered by it. At the time they didn’t have the budget for adequate battle scenes and if they don’t have the resources they’d just be cheesy. People loved the BotB because it felt real and it put us inside the battle. Yes, the giant pile of bodies was a tad absurd, but everything was done so well I think most ignored it.
I agree, bigger is not always better. However, when there are supposedly 32,000 men in a battle it shouldn’t feel like there are only about 200. BotB had less than half the numbers of the Battle of the Green Fork (numbers stated on the show) but they were able to do what they did due to a higher budget. The BotGF had nearly 40k in the books. Had they shown that battle at the time it probably would have looked awful in comparison to BotB due to budget constraints. They wanted to do it but they just couldn’t.
Beyond any of that budget talk and all I find it a little humorous to see people ripping D&D for their writing of the story covering the last couple of books and beyond. How about we stop comparing that writing to George’s writing of the first three books. His later writing hasn’t been on par either as things have gone side-tracked, meandering, lost focus. D&D are trying to adapt a story that’s gotten really bloated into a focused story for a program that’s entertaining. There are some occasional missteps but I think they’re trying to limit the problem areas as much as possible, like all things Dorne. They don’t have the luxury of sitting on the scripts until something comes to them as George appears to be doing with his books.
WOW!
So many people complaining about people who bash D&D and yet they,themselves are bashing GRRM!!
As someone who loves both the books and the show, I respect both and agree it’s not the show writers’ fault that they don’t have enough source material, however there are decisions that they could have made in better ways, like season 6 Tyrion and his awkward pointless conversations with Missandei and Grey worm..and if you don’t get what the Dorne plot in the books are about that doesn’t mean no one else does and it definitely doesn’t make it pointless. GRRM’s writing isn’t perfect or flawless, I know that, but the books and all the storylines and rich characters are the reason we have this amazing TV show.
Rygar,
You should see pictures of young Ian! He was so pretty he looked like a girl…..
Is their an email subscription ??