[Book spoilers] Too many storylines in season 5?

[Hagen of Tronje]

Let' s see...we have (I'll just count the POV characters with chapters in AFFC/ADWD):

The North/The Wall/Beyond the Wall

1. Bran (stuff from TWOW? Flashbacks? Training as a greenseer? Made up stuff?)

2. Jon/Melisandre

3.Theon

4. Asha (Yara) [after she returns to the North (?), will maybe join with Theons storyline in S5]

5. Davos

The Iron Islands

6. Victarion/ Aeron/ Asha(Yara) [=Kingsmoot, hopefully]

The Riverlands/The Crownlands

7. Brienne

8. Jaime [starting after he leaves KL]

The Vale of Arryn

9. Sansa

King's Landing

10. Cersei

Dorne

11. Arianne/Areo Hotah/Arys Oakheart

Braavos

12. Arya, probably Sam

Meereen

13. Daenerys (Barristan's chapters will probably be used in season 6]

On a journey

14. Tyrion

15. Quentin

16. Victarion

17. Sam

So, a maximum of 17 storylines for one season. Much more than in S 1-3 and considerably more than season 4 (probably 10 storylines). How are the writers going to master this task without turning the episodes into clipshows? Which storylines need to be condensed or maybe even cut?

[Mr Smith]

Season 5 was always going to be by far the most difficult season, just as the books its adapting were by far the most complicated and inconclusive. Obviously, the writers will have to cut corners in some cases, as they have done in previous seasons. It's almost inevitable I think that Quentyn will be cut, and as a result the Dornish arc will have to be changed to some degree. On top of that, there's been some discussion about the compression, or even omission, of the Iron Islands arc. IMO the Kingsmoot is one of the most exciting potential adaptations for season 5 and the writers would be mad to cut it, but we can't rule it out.

The most important issue is where each of these arcs end. IMO, the Battle of Mereen in or around the end of Season 5 is a must, or else the writers risk turning of the audience entirely from Dany's arc (remember, the Battle of Mereen sees the convergence of Tyrion, Victarion, Barristan, and several other minor characters, so for me this is a crucial end to the season). Winterfell/The Wall is a similar case, but they have more material to deal with, so whether they conclude Season 5 with Jon's stabbing and the Battle of Winterfell (assuming it is a standard battle), will ultimately depend on how they handle some of that material in season 4.

Other arcs, such as Cersei's, Sansa's, Jaime's, Sam's and Arya's are individual, and don't effect the progression of other arcs, and as such can be cut off more or less where AFFC does. Bran is a bit of a puzzle, as we know they're making use of most of his ADWD material in season 4. We'll have to wait and see with him.

The other interesting one is Brienne's arc. We know from some behind the scenes footage that Brienne will be traveling the countryside with Oathkeeper in season 4, so where they end her arc is anyone's guess.

In regards to having "too many" arcs however, I'm not too worried. As previously noted, a lot of these arcs converge on each other over the course of the season, and for those that don't, there's enough going on to keep us engaged. Just be thankful that we're unlikely to have to put up with filler like Osha and Meera's dick-measuring banter.

[JagLover]

The requirements of a TV show means that it is inevitable that the split in characters between AFFC/ADWD could not be followed in the TV show.

This naturally creates a problem with the sheer numbers of characters, both POV or otherwise, in those books. Added to which is the need on any realistic timetable to reach the end of the AFFC/ADWD material, or even go beyond it in some cases (battle of Mereen for example) by the end of Season 5.

Personally I love the first three books, and thought there were some great chapters in a AFFC/ADWD but I recognise TV is a different medium to print. Even the first season (which was the most focused) I felt had too little character time for many of the 'key' characters when compared to great TV shows like Breaking Bad, Deadwood, Sopranos etc. A great conversion will not dutifully tick off every scene, or character, from the books, stopping at each for a minute or so in a whirling kaleidoscope. Instead it would develop the key characters from the books, progress the main plot and themes and, if necessary, discard the rest. Whether something should be included should be judged on the basis of that, not on a resistance to any change to the source material or whether something would make a great scene in isolation (like the Kingsmoot indeed would, but is virtually irrelevant to the main plot).

If I were making S5 I would have I think of how a combined AFFC/ADWD would look if it were one book, the size of one of them. If you were cutting out 50% of the material what would end up the cutting room floor?. I would suggest it is virtually every new POV character added in those books and their storylines.

[SM4e]

Season 5 was always going to be by far the most difficult season, just as the books its adapting were by far the most complicated and inconclusive. Obviously, the writers will have to cut corners in some cases, as they have done in previous seasons. It's almost inevitable I think that Quentyn will be cut, and as a result the Dornish arc will have to be changed to some degree. On top of that, there's been some discussion about the compression, or even omission, of the Iron Islands arc. IMO the Kingsmoot is one of the most exciting potential adaptations for season 5 and the writers would be mad to cut it, but we can't rule it out.

The most important issue is where each of these arcs end. IMO, the Battle of Mereen in or around the end of Season 5 is a must, or else the writers risk turning of the audience entirely from Dany's arc (remember, the Battle of Mereen sees the convergence of Tyrion, Victarion, Barristan, and several other minor characters, so for me this is a crucial end to the season). Winterfell/The Wall is a similar case, but they have more material to deal with, so whether they conclude Season 5 with Jon's stabbing and the Battle of Winterfell (assuming it is a standard battle), will ultimately depend on how they handle some of that material in season 4.

Well, so you assume that they put 2 books of a huge size into 9 episodes? I am pretty sure the battle of Meereen and the battle of Winterfell will not be sooner than Season 6x02.

As already mentioned in another thread, I think it is more likely to see Quentyn freeing the dragons and Daenerys flying of in episode 5x09. They can dramatize Tyrion's fight against the lion, so it would actually feel like a dramatic episode 9 as viewers got used to.

One has to look at the fact that every cut of an important character forces the producers to change other stories as well.

Just look at what happened to what was caused by cutting Edric Storm: Melisandre had to leave Dragonstone -> Stannis' character changed; Melisandre takes Gendry -> BwB's character changed; Davos freeing Gendry -> Stannis' character changed.

Now imagine you erase Quentyn or Victarion, these are major characters and imagine which changes would have to be made.

@Post 1: You missed Davos.

[Hagen of Tronje]

@SM4e: Thanks, I updated the initial post.

[Hagen of Tronje]

Another problem: Many storylines influence each other. For example, if they use the dragonpit scene from Daenerys storyline at the end of season 5, this will have consequences for Tyrion, Victarion (and therefore the Iron Islands plot), Quentin (and the Dornish storyline) [who all have to arrive in or be close to Meereen at the end of season 5] and probably Sam (Marwyn's departure from Oldtown). If they use Jon's assassination and the battle of Winterfell, this will have ramifications for Theon (Mance needs to get to Winterfell), Yara/Stannis and Davos (because of Manderly).

[SM4e]

Another problem: Many storylines influence each other. For example, if they use the dragonpit scene from Daenerys storyline at the end of season 5, this will have consequences for Tyrion, Victarion (and therefore the Iron Islands plot), Quentin (and the Dornish storyline) [who all have to arrive in or be close to Meereen at the end of season 5] and probably Sam (Marwyn's departure from Oldtown). If they use Jon's assassination and the battle of Winterfell, this will have ramifications for Theon (Mance needs to get to Winterfell), Yara/Stannis and Davos (because of Manderly).

I agree. Nontheless, they need a climax for Season 5x09 and this would be the one with least changes. Daenerys can disappear for several seasons, Victarion hasn't arrived yet, Tyrion would flee and end up at Brown Ben Plum and Barristan would make the conclusional scene in 5x10 watching over the destroyed Meereen.

This would set up the Battle of Meereen for 6x02.

In the North of Westeros there is much more content than in Meereen - because of the amount of characters available - so the conclusion at 5x10 may either be YarAsha vs. Stannis at Deepwood Motte or Stannis in the blizzard. I doubt Jon's assasination will be before 6x03, possibly even later. We cannot tell exactly because we don't know how true the pink letter actually was; but I assume that it is written after the Freys and Manderlys have left Winterfell.

[King Behind The Wall]

My worry is that some major subplot may never appear onscreen. In all probability, TWOW will get released before season 5 goes on air. Worst case scenario would be that Aegon may get revealed as fake early on in TWOW and get quickly dispatched with. The show may never even mention his name. As a result, storylines of Varys, Tyrion etc will be greatly changed.

There could be several other subplots are equally threatened.

[Phonzadellika]

Let' s see...we have (I'll just count the POV characters with chapters in AFFC/ADWD):

The North/The Wall/Beyond the Wall

1. Bran (stuff from TWOW? Flashbacks? Training as a greenseer? Made up stuff?)

2. Jon/Melisandre

3.Theon

4. Asha (Yara) [after she returns to the North (?), will maybe join with Theons storyline in S5]

5. Davos

The Iron Islands

6. Victarion/ Aeron/ Asha(Yara) [=Kingsmoot, hopefully]

The Riverlands/The Crownlands

7. Brienne

8. Jaime [starting after he leaves KL]

The Vale of Arryn

9. Sansa

King's Landing

10. Cersei

Dorne

11. Arianne/Areo Hotah/Arys Oakheart

Braavos

12. Arya, probably Sam

Meereen

13. Daenerys (Barristan's chapters will probably be used in season 6]

On a journey

14. Tyrion

15. Quentin

16. Victarion

17. Sam

So, a maximum of 17 storylines for one season. Much more than in S 1-3 and considerably more than season 4 (probably 10 storylines). How are the writers going to master this task without turning the episodes into clipshows? Which storylines need to be condensed or maybe even cut?

My guess is that season 4 is going to get deeper into ADWD than originally anticipated to make room for everything else in Season 5. If the Kingsmoot happens it will be in Season 4 and Victarian will be well on his way to Meereen. They may also introduce Arianne and the sandsnakes with the Myrcella plot by the end of Season 4 as well.

If I were the showrunners I'd probably try to work out something like this for season 5:

I'd have each episode open with a Victarian travelogue where he sets someone on fire or slits their throat or otherwise does some crazy pirate stuff or open with a Brienne travelogue where she does pretty much nothing until her face gets eaten off. 5 minutes of screen time per episode.

Race through Danaerys story in ASOS and ADWD and complete her arc in ADWD by the end of season 5. She gets 4 episodes: Drogon kills the kid, Hizdahr proposes marriage, she has an episode where she mismanages the shit out of the plague, gets bad news about Astapor, and learns the Yunkai are attacking her and she decides to marry Hizdahr, and then she and Hizdahr get hitched and she flies off on a dragon because she can. She gets 15 minutes per episode. She also gets naked with Daario a lot in order to appease the Dany TV fans that will be upset that her story is getting butchered. I think it would be better if the showrunners moved Drogon killing the kid to season 4 because that would give some extra time to Danaerys to let her story breathe a bit more, but in any event she really shouldn't get more than 5 episodes tops in Season 5.

Tyrion gets 6 episodes where he's featured. His meeting with Ilyrio, him finding out young griff is Aegon, him advising Aegon to go to westeros, him meeting Jorah, Jorah takes him to Meereen, they're captured by slavers, he's freed by sellswords (maybe Daario to reduce characters). He gets 10 minutes per episode.

Give each of the Stark kids 2 or 3 featured episodes each and have each episode feature one of their stories. There isn't a whole lot that happens to Sansa, Arya, and Bran in ADWD and there is nothing written about Rickon. So, Sansa gets 3 episodes, one with LF and her meeting the LD, one with her and the maesters arguing about Robin, and one with LF proposing her marraige to Harold Hardying. Arya should have made it to Braavos by the end of season 4, so she gets KM and waif intro with a training montage, does cat of the canals, and then faceless mans the insurance agent. Bran gets 3 episodes which covers his material in TWOW. Rickon gets 2 episodes, them figuring out the Last Hearth is not going to work out and deciding to go to Skagos, them getting to Skagos and meeting the Skagosi. One episode will have feature more than 1 Stark kid. They get 10 or 15 minutes per episode.

I'd compress Dorne to 2 non-Arianne episodes. Quentin leaves Sunspear, he arrives in Meereen and tries to steal the dragons. I would maybe even just make him a villain and not have him talk to Dany. Seriously, I'd have them on screen for a total of 10 minutes for the season.

You only see Sam in the Arya episode where she kills Dareon. He tells her that he's going to Oldtown. Once he leaves Arya you see him go back to the ship, Aemon dies, Gilly deflowers him.

Cersei and Jaime trade-off episodes and end up with 3 each. I'd focus the plot on Cersei trying to take down the Martells, talking with the high sparrow, and being crazy. Her season ends with the walk. Jaime does whatever he does in AFFC. You hear about JonCons exploits and the Ironborn taking the Shield Isles. They get 15 minutes per episode and appear in the episodes that Danaerys does not.

I'd make Jon/Mel, Stannis, Davos, and Theon the main focus of season 5. It's the best storyline in ADWD so they should invest the most time in it. It should really get 25 minutes per episode.

I'd also probably move either the Battle of Winterfell or the Battle of Meereen to episode 10 to give the viewers a payoff or I'd have Danaerys tell the audience that she's finally going to Kings Landing. She needs to be in Kings Landing by the end of Season 6.

So, there's 4 10 minute spots for any additional storylines that need an occasional bump like Yara or Qyburn torturing someone or Davos looking for Rickon or Rickon and Osha getting some extra screen time and a 5 minute spot for something significant that needs more time in each episode.

I would NOT extend ADWD to season 6 under any circumstances.

[Tangbrand]

Storm of Swords is done in two seasons. In light of that, I really don't think that the AFFC/ADWD plots will be summed up in S5, just to get the really climactic battles in ep. 9 or 10. In my opinion, battle of Meereen and Winterfell is most likely to take place at the middle or end of S6. And I still think that D&D will hopefully get 8 seasons to finish the story.

[SM4e]

My guess is that season 4 is going to get deeper into ADWD than originally anticipated to make room for everything else in Season 5. If the Kingsmoot happens it will be in Season 4 and Victarian will be well on his way to Meereen. They may also introduce Arianne and the sandsnakes with the Myrcella plot by the end of Season 4 as well.

Aimee Richardson has confirmed that she won't be back for Season 4 and no Dorne character (besides the ones in King's Landing) have been cast.

I'd have each episode open with a Victarian travelogue where he sets someone on fire or slits their throat or otherwise does some crazy pirate stuff or open with a Brienne travelogue where she does pretty much nothing until her face gets eaten off. 5 minutes of screen time per episode.

Well, I wouldn't put it at the beginning every time, it'll most likely bore the viewers after 3-4 times, just like torturing Theon became dull at the 4th time.

Race through Danaerys story in ASOS and ADWD and complete her arc in ADWD by the end of season 5. She gets 4 episodes: Drogon kills the kid, Hizdahr proposes marriage, she has an episode where she mismanages the shit out of the plague, gets bad news about Astapor, and learns the Yunkai are attacking her and she decides to marry Hizdahr, and then she and Hizdahr get hitched and she flies off on a dragon because she can. She gets 15 minutes per episode. She also gets naked with Daario a lot in order to appease the Dany TV fans that will be upset that her story is getting butchered. I think it would be better if the showrunners moved Drogon killing the kid to season 4 because that would give some extra time to Danaerys to let her story breathe a bit more, but in any event she really shouldn't get more than 5 episodes tops in Season 5.

Hazzea's father has been cast for Season 4 (I assume he'll show up towards the end of the season).

Actually, I don't think that the Meereen stuff will be as annoying as it was in the books because we don't have to hear Daenerys' thoughts all the time. Meereen is mirroring King's Landing with the scheming and cruel characters (Reznak, Shavepate, GG) and I think it will be intersting to see how Daenerys fails ruling overly; for me this is the main aspect of Dany's Season 5 - ruling, failing, fleeing.

Tyrion gets 6 episodes where he's featured. His meeting with Ilyrio, him finding out young griff is Aegon, him advising Aegon to go to westeros, him meeting Jorah, Jorah takes him to Meereen, they're captured by slavers, he's freed by sellswords (maybe Daario to reduce characters). He gets 10 minutes per episode.

Same goes for Tyrion, his stuff is not even that boring. He will get great action scenes (Stonemen, Pirates) and I expect great dialoques with Jon Connington and Jorah Mormont.

I suppose he will be in Meereen at 5x09.

Give each of the Stark kids 2 or 3 featured episodes each and have each episode feature one of their stories. There isn't a whole lot that happens to Sansa, Arya, and Bran in ADWD and there is nothing written about Rickon. So, Sansa gets 3 episodes, one with LF and her meeting the LD, one with her and the maesters arguing about Robin, and one with LF proposing her marraige to Harold Hardying. Arya should have made it to Braavos by the end of season 4, so she gets KM and waif intro with a training montage, does cat of the canals, and then faceless mans the insurance agent. Bran gets 3 episodes which covers his material in TWOW. Rickon gets 2 episodes, them figuring out the Last Hearth is not going to work out and deciding to go to Skagos, them getting to Skagos and meeting the Skagosi. One episode will have feature more than 1 Stark kid. They get 10 or 15 minutes per episode.

Sansa has the most content to deliver, the audience will begin to appreciate her because she is more free. She will acompany Littlefinger in all his manipulations and a conclusion of her leaving the Eyrie seems likely.

Arya will get less screen time albei being a fan favorite. Even though they can invent some stuff, most of her story is going inside her head (especially when she's blind). I expect her to be featured in 3-4 episodes, yet with reduced screentime.

The hardest to tell is Bran. If they don't invent stuff, they can do like 2-3 scenes. Maybe some more interaction with Bloodraven will be helpful.

Rickon is listed as an appearing character in Season 4, so them figuring out that the Last Hearth is not sure will be in this season and he will be absent in Season 5 and the first time we see him again is when he meets Davos.

I'd compress Dorne to 2 non-Arianne episodes. Quentin leaves Sunspear, he arrives in Meereen and tries to steal the dragons. I would maybe even just make him a villain and not have him talk to Dany. Seriously, I'd have them on screen for a total of 10 minutes for the season.

Quentyn made into a villain? That's quite the opposite of his character. He wants to have at less trouble as possible and just wants to fulfill his duty towards Doran.

They need some time to introduce Doran, therefore Arianne is necessary.

You only see Sam in the Arya episode where she kills Dareon. He tells her that he's going to Oldtown. Once he leaves Arya you see him go back to the ship, Aemon dies, Gilly deflowers him.

I think the boat trip is important for Samwell's character development because he has to look after Aemon + Gilly + baby and don't tell me you aren't eager to hear: "Egg, I dreamt I was old."

Cersei and Jaime trade-off episodes and end up with 3 each. I'd focus the plot on Cersei trying to take down the Martells, talking with the high sparrow, and being crazy. Her season ends with the walk. Jaime does whatever he does in AFFC. You hear about JonCons exploits and the Ironborn taking the Shield Isles. They get 15 minutes per episode and appear in the episodes that Danaerys does not.

I would guess that Cersei final scene is her writing the letter for Jaime and then we later see Jaime burning the letter. The walk of shame is Season 6 material, if you see how much AFFC material Cersei and Jaime have.

I'd make Jon/Mel, Stannis, Davos, and Theon the main focus of season 5. It's the best storyline in ADWD so they should invest the most time in it. It should really get 25 minutes per episode.

Signed. Yet, I would reduce it to 15 minutes. 25 minutes is almost the half of each episode and not even all the stuff happening in the North could feature 8 episodes of that.

I'd also probably move either the Battle of Winterfell or the Battle of Meereen to episode 10 to give the viewers a payoff or I'd have Danaerys tell the audience that she's finally going to Kings Landing. She needs to be in Kings Landing by the end of Season 6.

I expect both to be in Season 6 (they will need more budget, yes, but GoT is by far HBO's best viewed show, and the Battle's are leading up to the big finale!).

She hasn't even said she would go to King's Landing in the books yet, IMHO she will say she will go back after the Battle of Meereen which won't be before 6x03.

I would NOT extend ADWD to season 6 under any circumstances.

You cannot put AFFC and ADWD into Season 5, it's just too much of important stuff happening there. I think they will need around 15 episodes to adapt AFFC/ADWD+Battles of Meereen and Winterfell.

[Colonel Green]

If I were the showrunners I'd probably try to work out something like this for season 5:

Reducing virtually the entire cast to a handful of appearances would never work, pace-wise.

[Phonzadellika]

^ Don't get me wrong, in a perfect world I think it makes a lot of sense for ADWD and AFFC to cover 15 episodes and I think what I proposed leaves out of a lot character development, especially with Quentin whose storyline I was really intrigued by in ADWD.

I'm just trying to look at it from the perspective of a show-runner. You're going to have 8 seasons max and maybe only 7 depending on viewership. TWOW is going to be as big as ASOS and you know it's going to open with 2 huge battles and probably end with one as well. You then have to do ADOS which will probably be the most expensive season to produce with the most action sequences and higher character salaries. If it takes the producers essentially part of season 4, all of season 5, and part of season 6 to get through AFFC and ADWD then how are they going to do to 2 ASOS-sized storylines in less than 3 seasons?

[Colonel Green]

I agree that they will have to substantially finish AFFC/ADWD by the end of season 5, but they will have to do it in a way that has the majority of the cast in a majority of the episodes. Apart from the Dragonstone people, the major characters of the show have to this point never dipped below 7 episodes a season (apart from Bran, who bottomed out with 6). If you've got the Stark kids in only like 3 episodes a year, for instance, they'll basically have faded off the show.

[Azor Ahoy!]

In all probability, TWOW will get released before season 5 goes on air.

We can only hope considering the recent statements by GRRM's UK publisher that Winds is "almost certainly years away" (although this tweet was deleted) and the next tweet that "certainly not this year (2014)".

Anyway, I'm in the camp that believes AFFC and ADWD will be finished by the end of S5. They're already putting some things from Feast/Dance in season 4 such as bits of Theon (Ralf Kenning has been cast) and probably most if not all of Bran (Bloodraven+ a Child of the Forest cast, trailer shows Bran kneeling before a weirwood) and I do believe that D&D can produce 10 great TV episodes from Feast/Dance, with more cuts than previous seasons of course.

[Tangbrand]

and I do believe that D&D can produce 10 great TV episodes from Feast/Dance, with more cuts than previous seasons of course.

10 great 90 minute long TV episodes from Feast/Dance. That woud be enough to cover it, with 10 ~55 min episodes, they will be mutilating AFFC/ADWD. 15 episodes would more likely be enough.

And there's still the possibility that even 8 seasons won't be enough to tell Martins story, and he will write 9 books from the Song of Ice and Fire. Originally he wanted to stop at a trilogy, so who the hell knows...

[Phonzadellika]

I agree that they will have to substantially finish AFFC/ADWD by the end of season 5, but they will have to do it in a way that has the majority of the cast in a majority of the episodes. Apart from the Dragonstone people, the major characters of the show have to this point never dipped below 7 episodes a season (apart from Bran, who bottomed out with 6). If you've got the Stark kids in only like 3 episodes a year, for instance, they'll basically have faded off the show.

In previous seasons Bran would get something between 3 or 5 minutes per episode while he was traveling and they'd talk about his dreams, which I wasn't really fond of but it's what the showrunners had to do because Bran really wasn't doing all that much. At least at this point his character is now developing powers. I'd prefer the Stark children to have more screentime in their episodes so they could tell a more detailed story than have them just doing a check-in.

I suppose you could divy up 10 minutes between Arya and Bran for a majority of episodes for their training montages. Sansa and LF actually have more input on what's going on in Westeros so they need more screen time to hammer out what's going on in the vale.

Unless they make each episode length 70-75 minutes I don't really see how they can address the majority of the characters already on the show in-depth, let alone the new cast members.

[Phonzadellika]

10 great 90 minute long TV episodes from Feast/Dance. That woud be enough to cover it, with 10 ~55 min episodes, they will be mutilating AFFC/ADWD. 15 episodes would more likely be enough.

And there's still the possibility that even 8 seasons won't be enough to tell Martins story, and he will write 9 books from the Song of Ice and Fire. Originally he wanted to stop at a trilogy, so who the hell knows...

After reading what the producers thought about the show going 9 seasons, I think that the producers would just take creative license and end the series at 8 seasons even if it became evident that Martin was going to do a 9th book.

[Colonel Green]

In previous seasons Bran would get something between 3 or 5 minutes per episode while he was traveling and they'd talk about his dreams, which I wasn't really fond of but it's what the showrunners had to do because Bran really wasn't doing all that much. At least at this point his character is now developing powers. I'd prefer the Stark children to have more screentime in their episodes so they could tell a more detailed story than have them just doing a check-in.

The underlying problem in season 5, apart from the volume of material that they're going to have to get through, is how unevenly distributed it is amongst the cast. The earlier books managed a decent equilibrium, with some characters getting chapter counts in the low teens, and everybody else in the mid-high single digits. AFFC/ADWD completely loses this, the result being some people have huge chapter counts, and other people have next to none. But TV structuring is going to require them to work the major castmembers into at least a majority of the episodes -- Sansa and Arya shouldn't have a problem there, for instance; Bran, I have no idea what they're going to do. Davos is either going to outright vanish halfway through season 5, or else they're going to have to dip into the sixth book for some kind of ending scene.

[JagLover]

10 great 90 minute long TV episodes from Feast/Dance. That woud be enough to cover it, with 10 ~55 min episodes, they will be mutilating AFFC/ADWD. 15 episodes would more likely be enough.

And there's still the possibility that even 8 seasons won't be enough to tell Martins story, and he will write 9 books from the Song of Ice and Fire. Originally he wanted to stop at a trilogy, so who the hell knows...

It depends on your definition of "mutilating". Most of the characters the TV show audience already know and care about have a seasons, or just over, worth of material in AFFC/ADWD. They can quite easily be given adequate screentime in a part of S4 and all of S5 to do their stories justice if most of the new characters introduced in those books are not included. Bear in mind that all the characters are so spread out and not interacting with each other that entire POVs characters, and all the people they interact with, can be omitted with barely a ripple in its effects on the rest of the characters.