There’s a lot happening this week, with season 6 on the way and the Game of Thrones DVD/Blu-ray coming out tomorrow.
HBO has just released two clips from the DVD/Blu-ray special features, one explaining the historical inspirations for the Red Wedding and the other other about the construction of the Hardhome set in Northern Ireland.
We have new interviews with Alfie Allen discussing Theon Greyjoy and fan interactions, and Game of Thrones cast members sharing how they’d spend their wealth if they were paid for every Jon Snow question they get.
We also received an update today from HBO providing more details about the event in New York City planned for tomorrow.
Though originally reported to be taking place in Union Square, it looks like fans in the New York area should head to Herald Square tomorrow evening for some exciting Game of Thrones action. The event will be promoting the Game of Thrones Season 5 DVD/Blu-ray.
NYC #GoT fans, arrive at Herald Square at 7:30PM tomorrow for an exclusive, animated Dance of Dragons screening & other surprises. #GOT5DVD
— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) March 14, 2016
It’s no news to anyone that George R.R Martin drew heavily on European history to create Westeros and A Song of Ice and Fire. It turns out, the Red Wedding was inspired by two specific events in Scottish history (“one of the most incredibly bloody histories of any country that I’ve ever studied,” he says): the Black Dinner and the Glencoe Massacre. In a clip from the DVD /Blu-ray special features, Martin and historians discuss the massacres that inspired one of the greatest upsets in literary fantasy and television history.
HBO has also released a featurette about the construction of Hardhome at Magheramorne Quarry in Northern Ireland.
Alfie Allen appeared on the Australian talk show, The Project, to promote the release of the season 5 DVD and Blu-ray. He talked about his off-screen rapport with Iwan Rheon and some of the feedback he’s received from survivors of abuse who connect with his character. Though he was evasive when asked about plot developments next season, he did promise “a lot more Greyjoy action.”
Alfie Allen chats about #GameofThrones, what’s ahead for Theon/Reek & speaking to survivors of abuse #TheProjectTVhttps://t.co/pTSW55TnDr
— #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) March 14, 2016
After over 10 months of being asked variations of the same question, the cast of Game of Thrones discuss how rich they’d be if they had a pound for every time they’ve been asked about Jon Snow’s fate and how they would spend their wealth – both Maisie Williams and Iwan Rheon say they’d buy a “massive” Jon Snow statue.
Hodor?
Edit: Yess, my first Hodor! 😀
Alfie seems so nice.
Sarcasm?
Can’t wait for season 6, i’m so hyped it’s not even funny.
🙂
Huge Alfie Allen fan here. Admittedly, I’m likely to watch interviews with him only. (Meaning I don’t know if the rest of the GoT actors get the same inane questions as he does but I’m sure they do.) But oh man, how stupid questions annoy me. Here he is portraying this multi-layered character with – probably – the most changing arch of them all and rocking his socks off while doing so and still, he has to deal with interviewers who refer to him as the dick-less baddie (more or less) or who either haven’t watched the show, really don’t know who Theon Greyjoy is, and haven’t actually bothered to do just a little bit of research. (Was watching this and listening to a radio interview with Alfie from Oz today too and well…. Kudos to Alfie for being nicer than me.)
Is anyone else a bit shocked at the change physically in Alfie? He has put on some weight, cut off his hair, looks totally “clean”. At the end of last season, the promos had him still very scrawny and rarely shaven and hair still all a wreck. He looks great all cleaned up and a bit sexeh!
Alfie is one of the few celebrities that I follow on Instagram. He seems so likeable, and his friendship with Iwan is fun to see.
I guess Theon and Loras are dead in season 6. The hair gives it away.
Did anyone notice in the GRRM Red Wedding interview that the portrait of James is the wrong James?? Isn’t that the Stuart King James the second of England and 7th of Scotland, not 2nd of Scotland? I mean I’m American so forgive me but that did not look like the 1400s..
Carice really feels the pressure from the fans to bring Jon back. You can tell every time she’s asked.
I enjoy seeing Liam Cunningham and Carice van Houten bantering together. Really looking forward to their interactions during this upcoming season. They could join Dolorous Edd and Wun Wun for some wacky adventures! 🙂
Tyrion Pimpslap,
Did you see Pilou Asbaek on the Oscar photos? He have short, platine blonde hair right now. Maybe Euron will die in season 6 as well? I don’t think so…neither Theon, but Loras maybe.
https://twitter.com/pilouasbaek
I live in New York City.
But I won’t be able to line up there and be one of the first 200 fans.
Yeah, hair really doesn’t give anything away at all. If Theon makes it to the Iron islands, it will be quite likely that he a. gets a bath, and b. gets a haircut 😉 Also I think he might wear a wig in the trailer. It sort of looks slightly off (but that might be me.)
Whatever will happen, I’m quite excited to see more of the Greyjoys and I’m especially looking forward to Euron (and yes, hopefully Theon.)
singedbylife,
I could not stand the character of Theon, but Alfie has won me over time and time again with his incredible acting skills. 🙂
Pilou is going to kill it this year!
Jaime’s girl,
You are right !!!! Is the portrait of James II of England not of Scotland !!!!
Alfie does seem like a nice guy. Hope Theon makes it through season 6! That look at the making of the Hardhome set is pretty cool also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ByBImoxCzw
More of Alfie Allen for y’all, 9:30 haha
Alfie is HOT.
Sullied by Knight,
Yes, me neither and me too 😉
Hmmmm…..
Why Meryn Trant’s actor is doing interviews? Could he come back in season 6 in a Syria related flashback…? Nah, probably he is just a nice guy that was no too expensive to pay for season 5 DVD promotion. But still…
It’s most likely some of the other actors were busy with other projects. And yeah he was cheap lol
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/03/14/game-of-thrones-whats-ahead-for-podrick-payne-and-brienne-of-tarth
Interview with Daniel Portman.
Too old.
Am happily going through the Season 5 Blu Ray right now
Alfie Allen has done a great job. A sign of a good actor is when they can be highly diverse, eg a diverse range of roles
This especially holds true when it is in the same show and relates to the transformation of the same character
Allen has so far done well in projecting cocky Theon in season 1, petulent Theon with Daddy acceptance issues in season 2 (that end of season speech just before he got knocked out by Dagmer was fantastically done) and of course the descent into Reek in season 3 as he’s broken down and the portrayal of Reek from season 4 onwards has been fantastic
In particular his portrayal of Reek pretending to be Theon and then portraying the Facade beginning to crack at Moat Cailin was great
I think they’re setting Euron as the next villain after Ramsay bites the dust (he has to at some point, 20 good men or not). Euron’s probably set for seasons 6 and 7 imo.
Yes. I think Loras is clearly a goner because he was cast in Iron Fist as the lead and that’s a pretty time consuming project. And the hair gives it away too.
I’m thinking Theon makes it at least till the second half of the season. He could be recovering from escaping Ramsay. I don’t know.
He’s one of the characters whose fate I can’t predict in season 6. Like Bronn, he’s a tertiary character that D&D can use to take over different roles or provide exposition when needed, if that makes sense.
LOL!! (Also a MUCH better interview!)
Not only was Meryn Trant in season 5, he had a somewhat memorable death. I don’t see any reason the actor who played him shouldn’t be involved in the season 5 dvd promotion.
As for the “Syria related flashback,” huh?
9.30
Ouww ???
The statement, “More Greyjoy action”, is like a ‘psychic’ reading.
That was a good Alfie Allen interview, I’ve never seen him looking quite so animated. Hopefully he’s excited ‘cos he knows he got a lot of screen-time this season…
Someone posted this on youtube a couple of days ago….some how they got there hands on the history and lore early..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzWo97BBeOs
FTW ..WTF,
The actor who plays Cat Stark is an excellent narrator.
Oooooh, excellent!! Thank you for the link.
I can’t see Alfie without picturing that creepy puppet from his sister’s music video about him
It’s a little late for new “villains.” The last two seasons really needs to focus on the Walker-R’hllor-Old Gods-Any-other-gods issues. Ideally, Season 7 should culminate on the unravelling of the “why” of these superhuman entities, and Season 8 should culminate on the final “Damned if you Do or Don’t” hooks that those create to wrap up the story.
As such, I really would not be surprised if Euron is a one season thing.
Looks like James VII of Scotland to me: but, then, those two always did look a bit alike. Clearly, one of them is a Blackfyre…..
Huh, maybe Wun Wun can take over for Stannis where those two are concerned: but now they can literally be on opposite shoulders!
😀
Wouldn’t it be just like GOT to have Reek became Theon again only to Kill him off.
For anyone who is a Kit Harington fan E Online is having a competition for the title of most favorite TV man. Kit made it into the top 16 and voting for the next round has started.
http://www.eonline.com/news/748290/alpha-male-madness-2016-vote-in-the-sweet-16-now
Funny quotes from Ian McShane about “spoiling” his role on GoT. (hint: Al Swearangen doesn’t care) http://www.vulture.com/2016/03/ian-mcshane-doesnt-care-about-spoiling-got.html
Wimsey,
I don’t really think so. They’ll need some small opposition for Dany when she arrives in Westeros. It would also put Sam (who will be in Oldtown and likely vulnerable because of Euron raiding The Reach) and her into contact and he can inform her about the WW. In my opinion he won’t be around as long as Joffrey and Ramsay, but he’ll be seen as an obstacle for some of our main characters. He’ll be introduced in season 6 and dispatched in early season 7 at the latest imo.
I’m personally not a fan of the Ironborn (except Theon and Asha/Yara), so I’d prefer them gone out of the picture soon, but I’m not so lucky.
JCDavis,
Well, you can argue about him being handsome (I do think he is), but I think he has always been sexyish, tbh.
I love his snearky but honest way of speak, too. Very fan of him.
I’m afraid so. I’ve watch&read many of Alfie’s interview and he’s quite open with spoilers actually ( remember when he already hinted us about rape scene early in the season), so when he said about his short hair might be a clue and he might not be in it, i kinda believe him.
It’s kinda sad, i really loves his acting. His skill really bring Theon’s arc to life.
Hmm, I think that it is going to take a bit more than a message! “Hey, welcome back to Westeros. And now that you are back, would you believe that the White Walkers are real AND back? AND… you have to go racing north to do something about it?” One gun that they have hung firmly on the Wall is that people take the White Walkers about as seriously as normal people take UFOs or Elvis sightings. What is going to be needed instead is something a bit more tangible.
That stated, one possible source of sowing seeds in Daeny’s mind is the Red Church. We have indications that they will be joining up with her side this season. They do have a tendency to correctly predict the future (even if it’s getting the general facts right and not the specific interpretations of them), and they could well be warning that “Winter is Coming” and that something wicked this way comes. Daeny might not believe or even understand that they are referring to White Walkers: but she might see enough from them that she’ll know that there is always smoke with their fires and that even if the Red Priests are wrong about the details, then they will be right that something is amiss.
I also suspect that Daeny will be the one who discovers (for the plot and for the audience) what the hell is up with this R’hllor thing. And if she has skepticism about it’s motives or the exactness of his servants messages, then that could be the narrative corridor for us to learn about these things.
Yeah, for all of my whining about how much worse Dorne was, the Iron Born stuff stunk to high heavens, too. Oh well, hopefully they serve some purpose in Winter that will look good on TV.
The DVD extras had me reading history. The man Eddard Stark is modeled after was married to the widow of Kit Harrington’s great * 8 or 9 grandfather Baron Harington. Kit’s uncle is the current Baron Harington. Just makes it all greater IMO. Loving RR’s creation.
Yeah I’m sure they’ll use that Kinvara lady (and whatever she wants to do to help Dany) as exposition. It makes me wonder if she’ll be shown some kind vision in that temple (like it happened in The House of the Undying).
It will definitely take more than a message. I don’t even expect her to take Sam seriously, let’s be real. She’ll probably need to come into contact with characters like
Sam can be a good link.
Regardless that the Boltons really are the biggest backstabbing murderous assholes in the books I’d be stupid enough to believe otherwise. I mean look at them in their cute little sweaters and glasses. I’d be totally knocking on the castle doors 24/7 asking for sugar. Just saying…
If he does, he’ll become just another poke on the wheel.
Trant’s face is available now. The actor could still have some work in the coming season.
Dany has nice ambition, but that part was so ridiculous.