What changes and cuts would YOU have made in D&D's place? (Book Spoilers)

[Good Guy Garlan]

A lot of us are very critical of some of D&D's decisions (not without reason, mind you), but how would we fare in their place?

I think it's an absolute given that things needed to be cut and changed in the adaptation, so saying "I'd leave it as it is" isn't a valid answer

I'll start:

- I wouldn't scrap Aegon, but rather I'll drop hints about him earlier and I'd have a Griff/Young Griff cameo earlier somehow, maybe

in season 2

- I'd have Euron and the Kingsmoot arc earlier as well, during the aSoS timeline, so that I can spend a bit more time with the introduction of Dorne

- I'd also have part of Dany's aSoS storyline in season 2, by reducing the time spent on Qarth and the Red Waste (I'd keep the HotU). This would energize a bit her aCoK plot and I think Meereen would be more tolerable in parts instead of all at once

- I'd keep just 2 Sand Snakes: Tyene and Sarella

- This is perhaps my most controversial decision: I'd cut Braavos. I'd put the House of Black and White in Dorne, because less locations means more unity. I'd also like to see Arya seeing Doran Martell moving through the angry mob at a distance. It would make Arya's storyline feel less isolated

I'm sure I have more changes, but I can't think of them right now

Anyway, what would you change, cut, merge, or streamline?

P.S. I know we obviously don't have D&D's advantage of knowing the ending of the books, but still, I think this could be a fun exercise

[Kasakka]

Cut the romance between Grey Worm and Missandei. I would make Stannis better, by for example, cutting some of Mel's influence over him and explain the burning of Axell Florent.

I would also cut a lot of Dany's story line after season 1, it's too boring and slow. I would have also cast a few extra commanders in Robb's army in seasons 1-3. This would make the Winterfell story line "more natural". Tycho could have visited Stannis after the battle at the Wall, there was no need for Team Dragonstone to sail to Braavos.

I would also address the thing about Gendry missing and Blackfish taking an exceptionally long piss. Riverlands could have been addressed shortly in season 4.

..and yeah.. Balon should have died a long time ago.

[Zombies That Were Promised]

- I'd have Euron and the Kingsmoot arc earlier as well, during the aSoS timeline, so that I can spend a bit more time with the introduction of Dorne

I agree. And the Ironborn wouldn't need much screentime. I would have traded the ~40 minutes of Craster's Keep in Season 4 for them. Yara's attack demanded at least 1 follow-up scene with her in it. Yara could have been added to Moat Cailin, she could hear news of Balon's death, hear Victarion left for the Islands just before she arrived (Victarion was stationed in Moat Cailin in ASOS), and leave herself before Theon/Ramsay gets there. Or even meet them again there and she narrowly escapes again. Overall, would have strengthened both the Dreadfort scene and the Moat Cailin storyline that we got (kinda forgettable, tbh).

- I'd keep just 2 Sand Snakes: Tyene and Sarella

That's a start. I would also have had Arianne Martell travel to King's Landing with Oberyn in Season 4, but it seems that they really wanted Indira Varma on the show somehow. Ellaria's not a big character in the books, and in season 5 it seems she takes on part of Arianne's role (there's a clip of Ellaria berating Doran for sitting around after his brother was murdered).

- This is perhaps my most controversial decision: I'd cut Braavos. I'd put the House of Black and White in Dorne, because less locations means more unity. I'd also like to see Arya seeing Doran Martell moving through the angry mob at a distance. It would make Arya's storyline feel less isolated

Interesting, and while I agree Arya feels isolated .. even more than Dany, it is apparent the Iron Bank is a plotline that is crucial to the endgame, so Braavos has to stay.

As for my own changes, I woulda probably cut most of King's Landing in season 3 which felt like filler. Move the PW forward and Sansa's escape. Sansa escaping had momentum in season 3 then it went nowhere. Let Ros help her instead of shoving Ser Dontos back in.

[Zombies That Were Promised]

I would also address the thing about Gendry missing and Blackfish taking an exceptionally long piss. Riverlands could have been addressed shortly in season 4.

I argued before Season 5 filming that "Walder Frey is Lord of Riverrun now" was in name only but since there's no Riverlands season 5 plot, I guess that quote is meant to be taken literally. :/

i'd have liked to see Genna Lannister in the show.

[Kasakka]

I argued before Season 5 filming that "Walder Frey is Lord of Riverrun now" was in name only but since there's no Riverlands season 5 plot, I guess that quote is meant to be taken literally. :/

i'd have liked to see Genna Lannister in the show.

Walder Frey is rumored to be back in S6, so I hope we'll see the Blackfish then as well. Edmure and BwB also a possibility. The gap is still too long in my opinion.

Wyman would have been great as well.

I can understand why Aegon is cut and if I would have the same budget & timing issues than D&D, I'm sure I would cut it as well.

[sati]

- Give Melisandre less scenes than Stannis, because this is freaking ridiculous...

- Less Sand Snakes

- Less LF's brothel

- Less LF all together once they saw how shit Gillen is in the role

- No Theon at all after Ramsay captures him before he is shown as Reek, what a waste of time that whole thing was in the show :/

- No Greyjoys except for Balon and Yara

- Less of Bran

- No Aegon

[Good Guy Garlan]

As for my own changes, I woulda probably cut most of King's Landing in season 3 which felt like filler. Move the PW forward and Sansa's escape. Sansa escaping had momentum in season 3 then it went nowhere. Let Ros help her instead of shoving Ser Dontos back in.

Introducing Arianne with Oberyn is a good idea, though I'd introduce Quentyn instead. After Oberyn's death, Quentyn and some of his Dornish entourage flee King's Landing and the next season he shows up at Meereen

[JonCon's Red Beard]

D&D

[ServantOnIce]

I like many of the changes D and D have made and some I haven't.

• Balon Greyjoy would have died as he was supposed to.
  
• I would have left out Yara/Asha trying to rescue Theon at the Dreadfort
  
• I would have left out Theon's torture. Alfie would have been missing for two seasons and this season he and Ramsay would appear.
  
• I would have left out Brienne vs. The Hound
  
• I would have Maester Aemon talk to Stannis and Shireen about their family and their family history (still may happen)
  
• I would have Maester Aemon meet Dany
  
• I would have kept the lines, "Only Cat" and "Jaime Lannister sends his regards."
  
• Definetely Stoneheart
  
• Less naked Melisandre, more Stannis and Davos
  
• NO ROS!!!!!!!!!!!
  

[JonCon's Red Beard]

• Less naked Melisandre, more Stannis and Davos

More S and D naked?

[sati]

D&D

:lol:!!!!!!!

[sati]

More S and D naked?

I support this idea.

[kimim]

Kept what Tywin and Jaime did to Tysha.

Kept Jeyne Westerling. No Talisa.

Kept more prophecies from the HotU

Cut the "my dragons, my dragons!" at Qarth. Dany is annoying enough without that,

Reduce the amount of time spent on Theon's torture.

I would cut 3/4 of both Feast and Dance, and change what's left so the leads have something to do, which the show seems to be doing anyway.

[Alex Storm]

Cut the whole Yara going to the dreadfort only to be scared off by a couple of dogs storyline and ad the kingsmoot with Euron vs Yara (no Victorian or Aeron)

Make Trystane secretly be Aegon. For this to work I don't think they could have had Oberyn waste his life just to kill the mountain. They should have added some more clues that Oberyn poisoned Tywin which would obviously make his trip to KL make a lot more sense.

Kep Jeyne Westerling as Jeyne Westerling. i get if they fell in love and all that their deaths would mean a lot more to the fans at the RW but the show definitely likes to show Tywin as a badass and having him and Jeynes mom come up with that plan definitely would've added another badass moment for him.

Show more Kevan scenes since he's probably gonna be important this season

Have the Hound win at least one of the fights against Brienne (fists or swords) but have Pod throw a rock at him to slow him down enough for Brienne to finish him. I like Brienne and all but the show has made her into an unbeatable machine.

Could have handled the burning of Winterfell and the introduction of the Reeds a little better

All in all I still love the show. It's ruined TV for me since nothjng else can compare

[+cassius]

i love DD

they do a fantastic job each year


i see past a couple of their errors, not a big problem

[ni2tre]

I like almost all the changes D&D so this wasn't hard for me... I realize that to include some of the stuff I'm about to post one would need more episodes and more money, this is just a little fun.

Dany

• Keep S1 as it is, no change there.
  
• She never goes to Qarth, House of the Undying would be in Astapor where she goes to get an army aswell.
  
• S3 is Yunkai, Jorah's betrayal, Meereen "I will rule"
  
• S4 - Sons of the Harpy, Fighting Pits and Yunkai want war, no Qarth, Ironborn or Volantis involvement. No Quentyn either, Daznak's Pit and preparation for a small scale Battle of Meereen in S5
  
• S5, S6, S7 TWOW/ADOS/potential new book material
  

Jon

• Keep everything as it is from S1-S3
  
• In S4, scratch the Crasters Keep mission, have the Battle on the Wall in an earlier episode, end the season with Jon selected as LC. Instead have Mance and his wildlings kill the mutineers on their way to the wall, and have Bran witness the aftermath just to give him some screentime. Include the KotLT story for more Bran screentime.
  
• S5, from beheading Slynt to "For the Watch", I would keep Hardhome as it is. No fake Mance, no Alys Karstark but include Tycho here before Stannis heads south.
  

Tyrion

• Keep everything as it is from S1-2.
  
• Give him less screentime in S3.
  
• In S4 I wouldn't drag his storyline, E9 he kills Tywin/Shae and ends his season there. More screentime for other stuff.
  
• S5, cut most of his ADWD material, including no Griffs, no Penny, no "Volantis is waiting for Daenerys", no Slavers only Illyrio/Jorah but I would include Moqorro. Tyrion would meet Daenerys after the Battle of Meereen, somewhere else if not Meereen if timeline doesn't fit, Volantis maybe.
  

Stannis

• Keep everything as it is from S2
  
• In S3, no "Give me another son", include "2 is not 3" but keep the rest
  
• In S4, no "infidel burnings", end the season with his decision to root Boltons out of the North and his Winterfell offer to Jon.
  

Dorne

• Trystane = secretly Aegon, this solves so many problems. Varys is involved, include Arianne and the Sand Snakes. No LSH for me so Jaime in Dorne is a fine change. Jaime joins Brienne in S6 to do their TWOW business, if BWB is involved have The Blackfish lead them.
  

Iron Islands

• Keep everything from S2
  
• Kingsmoot in S3 between Euron and Yara
  
• S4, King Euron attacks the Shield Islands, Yara is with him initially they fall out over something and she flees for Deepwood Motte.
  
• S5, Euron does his TWOW stuff, Yara is captured by Stannis
  

Other changes would need to be done accordingly, and that would the hardest thing to do, I'm glad I don't have to do this tbh.

[Ser Pounce FTW]

I wouldn't be able to complete this until I finished reading the whole series and watching the whole series. At this point, it's impossible to determine what's important and not important in the long run for the storylines.

[Colonel Green]

Not really a "cut" so much as a non-expansion, but King's Landing has way too much screen time in Season 3, and it manages the interesting feat of both undermining one of the notional main characters of that story and taking away space from other stories that seriously need it. This, I would cut all the stuff they did to expand the Sansa/Tyrion marriage plot in favour of keeping it tightly focused, as in the novel. That screen time can be used to improve Jon and Catelyn/Robb's plot lines, which are the central ones of that season.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

Season 1

cut as much Ros as HBO will allow - introduce her in season 2 as the composite character she became

cut the Pycelle/Ros scene

include more Bran/Luwin Westeros history

include a little SanSan

Season 2

give us the Aerys scene and the Rhaegar/Elia scene in THotU

Season 3

split off Osha and Rickon as soon as the Reeds show up - do KotLT

delay Sandor Clagane's capture by 1 ep so we can see Arya and Gendry at the Peach

turn Cat's 302 disaster into the Robb's Will scene

substitute Jaime and Brienne learning about Cat and Robb for KL return in 310

fix Gendry to Dragonstone arc - make it believable, kill Balon Greyjoy, show Stannis struggling over decision to burn Gendry - Gendry doesn't leave Dragonstone until 403

cut or condense 1 or 2 Theon scenes

Season 4

keep Jaime and Brienne away from KL until 403

make Thenns believable

cut all the Craster's Keep stuff - it was full of plot holes

move Castle Black battle to 405/6 - get to Jon's election

[Ibbison from Ibben]

It might be workable to have Euron kill Balon, and use that as a reason that Theon is written off. Yara rescue mission must be cut - she gave Theon his chance to get out in season 2.

I would like to have seen Kevan once or twice in both season 3 and 4, and Lancel at the wedding in 402.