HBO's Game of Thrones

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Grand Master

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According to the website of Tim Plester, the English actor and playwright will be taking on the role of Black Walder in season three of Game of Thrones.

A veteran of British film and television, Plester will be appearing next year in the historical heist film Closer to the Moon and the Nick Frost comedy Cuban Fury. In 2011, he wrote and co-directed the documentary, Way of the Morris, about the English folk art of Morris dancing. Plester also had a brief but memorable role in Kickass, as the criminal who had an unfortunate encounter with an industrial microwave.

In A Song of Ice and Fire, his character is the great-grandson of Lord Walder Frey. He is called ?Black? Walder on account of his hot temper and frightening demeanor, intimidating even his own family.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Grand Master

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Entertainment Weekly is reporting that episodes for the third season of HBO's "Game of Thrones" will run a few minutes longer compared to the first two seasons.

The magazine says: With showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss tackling content from the first half (roughly) of author George R.R. Martin?s largest Song of Ice and Fire novel (the 973-page fan-favorite A Storm of Swords), the writer-producer duo are delivering slightly longer episodes to the network. There?s still 10, but you?ll get a little more each week than previous seasons.

?There's almost another full episode's worth of extra minutes spread across the season,? Weiss says. ?One of the great liberties with HBO is we're not forced to come in at a specific time. We can?t be under 50 minutes or over 60, but that gives us a lot of flexibility."

"A super-sized season, as befitting Storm of Swords," Benioff adds. "Last year we had a lot of 52-minute episodes. This year is a lot of 56, 57."

The magazine says that the third season finale is expected to run more than an hour.

[x]

Grand Master

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Most likely. They said that these next seasons would be a little slower paced as to build everything up correctly.

It means waiting another year for the event everyone is waiting to see.

I was worried that they would catch up to what Martin has written, so I guess if they start doing 2 seasons a book it gives him 6 - 8 years to finish.

Grand Master

shakey

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It means waiting another year for the event everyone is waiting to see.

I was worried that they would catch up to what Martin has written, so I guess if they start doing 2 seasons a book it gives him 6 - 8 years to finish.

Ya, I expect to be about 35 by the time this show ends. I'm 30 now :p

Grand Master

Syanide

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I think you're under-estimating. To have it done by then, he would have to finish the final two books the fastest he's ever written for the series.

He wrote the first three in the span of 10 years, so I hope he can squeeze the last two in around 7. I applaud anyone who's waited for ADWD for ten years and still sticks with the books, I finished the entire series this year and I still feel cheated by the amount of cliffhangers. The setup from AFFC and ADWD better pay off big time in The Winds of Winter.

Regarding the pacing, this season is going to cover approximately 2/3 of ASOS, so it will actually end with you know what.

After this, they stop following the 'book per season' rule and just develop stories for characters, which makes sense, especially since the events of AFFC and ADWD happen around the same time.

They'll also probably keep changing bits here and there to keep it interesting for the TV format.

Spoilers ahead:

They've already prolonged some character introduction to keep the character count more approachable (Ramsay and the Reeds for instance), they've also shifted bits of the story to keep some characters around on screen as opposed to the books which keep a character on standby every now and then for very long periods of time. Case in point, Rickon and Osha will be featured in Season 3 (as seen in the production clips), which is understandable as they haven't been seen since ACOK in the books and TV doesn't work that way. They'll also most likely show Theon and Ramsay's torture porn business in order to keep Theon on screen a bit longer.

All in all, I'm more interested in the pacing of the last two book adaptations, slowing down is unavoidable, but I'm interested how it will translate to the show as they're more character than plot driven, to say the least.

  • 3 weeks later...
Grand Master

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Game of Thrones actor and Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

The 65-year-old's manager Robert Hoy confirmed the news following a story in Southend local paper Echo, revealing that Johnson has chosen not to have any treatment.

"I am very sad to announce that Wilko has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas," Hoy's statement read.

"He has chosen not to receive any chemotherapy. He is currently in good spirits, is not yet suffering any physical effects and can expect to enjoy at least another few months of reasonable health and activity."

Johnson aims to complete a new CD, tour France and perform a series of farewell gigs in the UK once he returns from a trip to Japan.

Hoy added: "Wilko wishes to offer his sincere thanks for all the support he has had over his long career, from those who have worked with him to, above all, those devoted fans and admirers who have attended his live gigs, bought his recordings and generally made his life such an extraordinarily full and eventful experience. Thank you."

Johnson played mute executioner Ilyn Payne in the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. Before acting, he was part of the original line-up of Dr Feelgood until 1977, during which time they achieved a UK number one album with live recording Stupidity.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/s151/game-of-thrones/news/a449805/game-of-thrones-dr-feelgood-star-wilko-johnson-has-terminal-cancer.html

:(

Grand Master

episode

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Nothing we can do about it. They'll either have to write him out or recast him if worst comes to worst.

And? He asked if he still had a role to play in the series. I simply stated that he did. Couldn't care less about anything else, to be completely honest. Notice I said Ilyn Payne, not Bob Humperdink or whatever the dying guy's name is.

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