[BOOK/TV Spoilers] Season Two - speculation

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

I couldn't find a general thread discussing how they will script the material in book 2 into 10 episodes, so I figured it'd be fun to start one, and get the discussion rolling! I'm interested in people's opinions about how they will fit it all in. Here's some information about ACoK to get us started.

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Number of chapters for each point of view character:

Bran 7

Jon 8

Tyrion 15

Theon 6

Arya 10

Dany 5

Sansa 7

Catelyn 7

Davos 3 (+1 Cressen prologue)

Bran's chapters cover his acting as Lord of Winterfell to the beginning of his journey North.

Jon's chapters cover the start of the great ranging through his joining the wildings as a spy.

Tyrion's chapters cover his ruling in King's Landing through the Battle of Blackwater and end with his awakening, injured.

Theon's chapters include his journey to Iron Islands the taking of Winterfell, and finally his arrest by Roose Bolton.

Arya's chapters begin with her journey from King's Landing with Yoren, and end with her escape from Harrenhal.

Dany's chapters begin with her journey to Quarth and end with Arstan Whitebeard joining her and gifting her ships from Illyrio.

Sansa's chapters begin with her as a prisoner in KL and, well, end with her as a prisoner in KL (um, lol.)

Catelyn's chapters begin with her journey to parlay with Renly and end with her holding a sword to Jaime Lannister's throat.

Events concerning Stannis begin with Cressen's death at Melisandre's hand and end with the battle at Blackwater and Davos' apparent death.

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So, thoughts? What will be added or expanded upon, and what will be cut? Will additional chapters be brought in from ASos? I have my own thoughts but I'll wait to see if people are even interested in this topic before expounding on them. <_<

[ferthepoet]

One thing I think they may cut is the whole stuff with Sansa and the burning of the sheets, it's sad because is one of the few genuinely moving Sansa moments but because of the aging of the character and Sophie Turner looking old and developed for her age, I don't think you can sell that she hasn't bled yet. (Although Cersei did bring it up in the pilot)

Depending on whether the The Frey children play any significant role in later books (which I think they don't but only Martin knows) then I think they can cut them and you have one less Bran Chapter which if I recall correctly was just he playing crossing the river with them.

I think we'll see abridged versions of Tyrion political machinations in Kings Landing and Arya's time in Harrenhall

Expanding, I think we'll see much more Loras + Renly and the scene where he kills the 3 other members of the Rainbow Guard would be shown instead of only talked about. Also I think Jamie would get a few extra scenes as well as Rob. I think the Bastard of Bolton would also get some more prescense as a villain

[Spring Bass]

Tyrion is the "central" character to A Clash of Kings, so I suspect his scenes won't be cut (although they will be changed to work with a television show). In fact, I'll bet he'll get more scenes.

I figure the most compression will probably happen with Daenerys, Arya, and Sansa. You really only need Sansa to pop up once in a while (to save Ser Dontos, to get beaten by Joffrey and saved by Tyrion, and to have a good bit during the Battle of the Blackwater). Arya offers even more possibilities for compression, since much of her scenes in A Clash of Kings are either travelogue or time in Harrenhal. Daenerys spends a ton of time in the books wandering in the desert, then waiting around in Qarth before the House of the Undying chapter.

[jfrenchy]

I couldn't find a general thread discussing how they will script the material in book 2 into 10 episodes

i'm going to speculate that there will be 12 or 13 episodes for season 2 :)

[Jojo]

Tyrion is the "central" character to A Clash of Kings, so I suspect his scenes won't be cut (although they will be changed to work with a television show). In fact, I'll bet he'll get more scenes.

I figure the most compression will probably happen with Daenerys, Arya, and Sansa. You really only need Sansa to pop up once in a while (to save Ser Dontos, to get beaten by Joffrey and saved by Tyrion, and to have a good bit during the Battle of the Blackwater). Arya offers even more possibilities for compression, since much of her scenes in A Clash of Kings are either travelogue or time in Harrenhal. Daenerys spends a ton of time in the books wandering in the desert, then waiting around in Qarth before the House of the Undying chapter.

But Arya's introduction of the whole Faceless Men occurs at harrenhall - and that may be a major thread. Looks like it's once now in the series but who knows.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

Tyrion is the "central" character to A Clash of Kings, so I suspect his scenes won't be cut (although they will be changed to work with a television show). In fact, I'll bet he'll get more scenes.

I figure the most compression will probably happen with Daenerys, Arya, and Sansa. You really only need Sansa to pop up once in a while (to save Ser Dontos, to get beaten by Joffrey and saved by Tyrion, and to have a good bit during the Battle of the Blackwater). Arya offers even more possibilities for compression, since much of her scenes in A Clash of Kings are either travelogue or time in Harrenhal. Daenerys spends a ton of time in the books wandering in the desert, then waiting around in Qarth before the House of the Undying chapter.

She only spends a chapter in the desert when she finds that abandoned city and then it's off to Qarth.

You could probably cut down on some Dany stuff, she doesn't really do anything too exciting in Qarth that absolutely MUST be shown. There's the house of the Undying and the end.

Sansa could probably just sorta be around for Joffrey to beat up until the Battle of Blackwater.

I don't know how much time you need to spend on Arya, I think you need to show the devastion of the war on the smallfolk, but you could probably leave some stuff out until she gets caught by Gregor.

Davos doesn't have to much so you could keep his stuff intact and just shorten it.

Most of ?Tyrion stuff should be there. Maybe cut him sending Janos Slynt to the Wall since IIRC we never heard his name in the first season.

Catelyn you could cut some convo's or shorten them.

Theon I think you could reasonably cut his first chapter a lot, just including some stuff about him not being recognized and then have Balon deny him.

Bran could be shortened. You could shorten the feast where the Reeds are introduced to just that part and maybe a couple minutes extra.

[Xanderpanda]

Most of ?Tyrion stuff should be there. Maybe cut him sending Janos Slynt to the Wall since IIRC we never heard his name in the first season.

They did mention his name when Joffery made him a lord before Barristans dismissal IIRC plus keeping it in will be nice for show viewers because its at least some small justice for what happened to Ned since he played a major part in his capture. I remember smiling during the chapter with much satisfaction so I don't think the show viewers should miss out on a small bit of vengeance.

[Zoren]

Jon and Dany and barely acomplish anything in ACOK so their parts can be easily trimmed down. Sansa and Arya's stories can also be trimmed down without compromising the plot.

The main bulk of the story lies in Tyrion, Catelyn and Theon/Bran. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to see some Robb, Renly, Stannis and Tywin "POVs".

[Envie]

I completely agree with Zoren. Although Jon and Daenerys are two of my favorites, they are not really playing central roles in the plot of the second book as much as some of the other characters listed. Obviously Tyrion's story is central, leading up to all of the events in that massive plot which splinters off in a lot of directions. I don't see how they will trim that without losing too much story. Sansa and Arya can both be trimmed as Jon and Daenerys could. All of them are important but not until after the events of the second book. I think Season Two is going to be a tough one.

[Bahimiron]

I'd kind of like to see them release the prologue as a 20-30 minute mini-sode some time in the winter of 2011-2012 rather than having it as part of the first episode next season. Maintain some exciement, give them just a little bit more room to breathe and introduce the character of Stannis a little earlier. If some non-reader threads can be believed, non-reading fans are craving to know more about Stannis. I could see something like this piquing interest over the break.

Won't happen, though. Which is too bad.

[The King of Ashes]

I'd kind of like to see them release the prologue as a 20-30 minute mini-sode some time in the winter of 2011-2012 rather than having it as part of the first episode next season. Maintain some exciement, give them just a little bit more room to breathe and introduce the character of Stannis a little earlier. If some non-reader threads can be believed, non-reading fans are craving to know more about Stannis. I could see something like this piquing interest over the break.

Won't happen, though. Which is too bad.

While it definitely won't happen, I'm a big fan of this idea!

[mr. peasant]

<sorry, double post>

[mr. peasant]

This will probably not be a popular view amongst readers but I suspect the show will adapt the book in a way that continues to focus on the original cast from the first season; at the expense of screentime for the newer ones. Many are looking at this from the viewpoint of someone already intimately familiar with the characters and thus want to see them get their respective turns in the spotlight. However, that's not what TV viewers are. They only know of, and are thus only loyal to, the main characters from the first season - and are mainly returning to see those people, first and foremost. As TVTropes says, First Installment Wins.

[Abaddon]

I am strongly of the opinion that Dany will be bulked up as compared to the book in season two (as will Robb). That means some of the heftier players will have to be trimmed a bit, like Tyrion. (I think Tyrion will be heavily featured, but three times as much as Dany? No). I think Arya will be trimmed a bit, Sansa will be trimmed a lot, and Catlyn will be condensed. Davos (Stannis) will be expanded a bit. Bran will be cut back a lot. We'll have added Robb and Jaime scenes, probably with Catlyn overlap. Jon and Theon I think will stay mostly the same. That's just balancing character screen time, the whole will have to be condensed and cut to fit into the 10 hours budgeted.

It would be interesting to go back through Ran's episode "book to screen" recaps and see how many chapters made it into the ~10 hours of time we got this season, and how many new scenes were inserted. That might give us an overall expectation of roughly how many chapters we can expect to make it to the screen.

[jfrenchy]

This will probably not be a popular view amongst readers but I suspect the show will adapt the book in a way that continues to focus on the original cast from the first season; at the expense of screentime for the newer ones. Many are looking at this from the viewpoint of someone already intimately familiar with the characters and thus want to see them get their respective turns in the spotlight. However, that's not what TV viewers are. They only know of, and are thus only loyal to, the main characters from the first season - and are mainly returning to see those people, first and foremost. As TVTropes says, First Installment Wins.

i think you're largely right on that point, though i'd like to point out that when an HBO show comes into a new season it often means introduction of new characters. the books provide it, and at the very least, there's obviously room for one more character now

[Xanderpanda]

i think you're largely right on that point, though i'd like to point out that when an HBO show comes into a new season it often means introduction of new characters. the books provide it, and at the very least, there's obviously room for one more character now

Plus not many shows have so many of their season 1 cast dead/gone by the end of the first season either. Viserys is dead, Robert's dead, Ned's Dead, Drogo will die next episode. That leaves room for at least four new characters to be show cased to the viewer front and center.

Edit: Which will obviously be Stannis, Mel and Davos since most their scenes don't include already introduced characters.

[jfrenchy]

i've read around these boards that some of the greyjoys are confirmed for season 2. theon of course, so i'd imagine some minor characters from his home islands. asha no doubt

[Xanderpanda]

i've read around these boards that some of the greyjoys are confirmed for season 2. theon of course, so i'd imagine some minor characters from his home islands. asha no doubt

Balon as well (don't know why I forgot). The audition I posted in the casting thread was pretty good too. Not sure I would call him a major on screen cast member though. I think as already stated above that other then Stannis and the cast/characters around him the main focus will be all the original season 1 cast, which ties in with the book POVs anyway.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

Balons going to be in like 3 scenes all together.

[ferthepoet]

Plus not many shows have so many of their season 1 cast dead/gone by the end of the first season either. Viserys is dead, Robert's dead, Ned's Dead, Drogo will die next episode. That leaves room for at least four new characters to be show cased to the viewer front and center.

Edit: Which will obviously be Stannis, Mel and Davos since most their scenes don't include already introduced characters.

I'm a bit scared because the death toll does not compare with the number of characters they need to Add

Ned

Drogo

Viserys

Robert

Jory

Syryo

Septa Mordane

that's 6 deaths vs.

Stannis

Mel

Stannis's wife

Davos

Randyl Tarly

Mace Tyrell

Margaery Tyrell

Ygrytte

Dolorous Edd

The Reed Children

Courtney Penrose

Brienne

Podrick Payne

Ser Dontos the Fool

and I' sure I'm missing some

The other problem is that book 2 does not have as many significant deaths as previous seasons the only real big one is Renly,