hbo HBO's Game of Thrones

[Rappy Veteran]

[Lannister]

Can't wait for this.

Easily the best fantasy books out there at the moment and being on HBO guarantees they won't be watered down (the pilot script is out-and-about on the net if you've read the books and worry).

BBC is co-producing, as they did with Rome.

[mattmatik]

Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage. Sweet!

Never read the books but maybe I will now.

[Sethos]

A Danish actor, woot!

[jelli]

I have had these books for a year or two and each time I try and read them I lose interest. Might give it another go once I have finished the David Gemmell book I am reading. Looking forward to it though.

[Lannister]

Teaser Trailer (20 seconds) is up on the newly launched Games of Thrones site at HBO now.

HERE

[Rappy Veteran]

[Sparrowmonk]

I haven't read the books myself, I've been planning to, but I never get around to it.

[Rappy Veteran]

[Sparrowmonk]

Hopefully this time, he won't want the ring. :p

[thefonz]

George RR Martin is by far my favourite writer - yes even moreso than Tolstoy and Tolkien. I remember I devoured all the Song of Ice and Fire books over 6 months and have been waiting eagerly for A Dance With Dragons (due for release circa 2100.

Then I read them again - then I read his short stories including The Hedge Knight, and then I read his two volumes of short stories - yes even Sandkings which left me with a rather nasty nightmare.

Everything I see from this attempt by HBO fills me with excitement and I am very very happy with the cast. Heck Sean Bean looks the part and I'm looking forward to seeing how the icy and brutal Ned Stark is blended with Bean's typically gung-ho acting.

Does anyone know how many episodes we get with this and each book/season? Presumably they're an hour long and given how much is in GoT that must be a good 24 episodes?

[Rappy Veteran]

Does anyone know how many episodes we get with this and each book/season? Presumably they're an hour long and given how much is in GoT that must be a good 24 episodes?

around 13 HBO don't do more then 13 a season.

[Sparrowmonk]

around 13 HBO don't do more then 13 a season.

Which is almost like how they do it in Britain, correct?

[Rappy Veteran]

Which is almost like how they do it in Britain, correct?

any primetime tv show is either played out over 5 nights or 5/6 episodes a series...we suck for series length

[Lannister]

George RR Martin is by far my favourite writer - yes even moreso than Tolstoy and Tolkien. I remember I devoured all the Song of Ice and Fire books over 6 months and have been waiting eagerly for A Dance With Dragons (due for release circa 2100.

Then I read them again - then I read his short stories including The Hedge Knight, and then I read his two volumes of short stories - yes even Sandkings which left me with a rather nasty nightmare.

Everything I see from this attempt by HBO fills me with excitement and I am very very happy with the cast. Heck Sean Bean looks the part and I'm looking forward to seeing how the icy and brutal Ned Stark is blended with Bean's typically gung-ho acting.

Does anyone know how many episodes we get with this and each book/season? Presumably they're an hour long and given how much is in GoT that must be a good 24 episodes?

First Season is going to be 10 one-hour Episodes long. GRRM has just recently handed in the first draft of the episode he is writing, which is nhumber 8.

BTW, the casting topic in the OP is out of date now, as two main cast memebers have been replaced.

New Daenerys

New Catelyn

[arrrgh]

early Martin is one of my favorite authors, lately his books have gone down the path Robert Jordan mastered. The books are getting longer and longer and getting filled with insignificant details while the story is limping along almost forgotten.

Really looking forward to this series :)

[Lannister]

early Martin is one of my favorite authors, lately his books have gone down the path Robert Jordan mastered. The books are getting longer and longer and getting filled with insignificant details while the story is limping along almost forgotten.

It was originally intended to be a trilogy, but GRRM has always been pretty honest about how he's been having trouble fitting what he's wanted to write into his books without making them huge doorstops. The latest book, Feast for Crows, was originally supposed to have a long prologue chapter that spanned around 10-ish years of time, and he spent over a year writing it that way before admitting it wouldn't work out. So he scrapped that and decided to just tell the story instead in two books: Feast for Crows, and the upcoming A Dance With Dragons (he's not far from finishing it).

Basically it was originally going to be a 3 books series, then 5, and now 7.

Although I've not read WoT, the overwhelming impression I get from people who have is that what GRRM is doing by expanding his books, is not nearly the same as Jordan did: essentially milking his own franchise. But like I say, not read them myself. :)

On the bright side, book 5 should be finished by the time the series airs next year, and although books 4 and 5 will probably be combined in to one season (if the show gets that far) as they covor the same timeline, it still gives him plenty of time to finish the other 2 books before the seriers catches up to him (if it goes more than one season that is).

[Rappy Veteran]

Just updated first post with cast :)

[Rappy Veteran]

HBO confirmed: "Game of Thrones" will indeed premiere next spring.

One executive at the TCA press tour said that he thought it will premiere March 3rd, though another corrected him and just said "spring."

"It's a genre we've approached somewhat cautiously," said Michael Lombardo, HBO's programming president. "We have two writers ... who are so smart and so talented. Neither of us are particularly fans of the genre. It was such enormously compelling reading. It wasn't the genre we responded to it was the storytelling."

"It's really about power," added Richard Plepler, co-president. "And that's a theme which has resonated throughout history. You'll forget where you are very quickly and will find yourself immersed in the storytelling."

Both executives noted that the show's intense online fandom is helpful for growing an audience ... yet also adds pressure.

"It's a ravenous audience," Lombardo said. "You have to get it right. Those fans are waiting. They've set a bar that, if you do it, you have to do it right.

[HawkMan]

I'm sure they'll do this the same quality justice and respect for the books as was done to the Sword of Truth series....

Never hold your breath for quality Fantasy series, they producers only want to make cheap low budget Xena copies, and then grab in a few more viewers and save a few bucks on writing by "basing" it on some existing series.

[Teebor]

This will be weird, Sean Bean normally dies quite early on in films or series (Lord of the Rings, Equilibrium)

Be shocking to see him alive for a long time :D lol

[Rappy Veteran]

[McCordRm]

I'd have more faith if it were Showtime, but I'll wait to judge until I see it.

[Lannister]

I'm sure they'll do this the same quality justice and respect for the books as was done to the Sword of Truth series....

Never hold your breath for quality Fantasy series, they producers only want to make cheap low budget Xena copies, and then grab in a few more viewers and save a few bucks on writing by "basing" it on some existing series.

The difference here is that GRRM is involved in the series (both as producer and writer) and prior to writing the books had a history producing and writing for TV.

Also, Sword of Truth didn't deserve either Justice or respect. Terrible books by an arse of a writer...

[HawkMan]

Also, Sword of Truth didn't deserve either Justice or respect. Terrible books by an arse of a writer...

Well at least you got a personal opinion

Neither of them is any Wheel of Time anyway.

Nor there's something that deserves a GOOD tv adaption. with lots and lots of money in the effects budget.