Jump to content

[BOOK SPOILERS] How can they handle seasons 4 and 5, if it gets there?


Iotun

Recommended Posts

By season 3 there will be a lot of differences; the huge cast just isn't realistic for TV at that point. Lots of things will be cut and/or condensed. There are tons of relatively minor characters who can be cut or combined with others.

Indeed

The show cannot realistily go past 6/7 seasons due to the limitations of the medium. How long are the actors willing to commit to this and how long are they contracted for. The children will age year on year far more than their ageing in the books etc etc.

Before we even start to think about limitations of cast sizes and attention spans of audiences.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is doubtful whether the TV show will ever reach the end, but fingers crossed, let us say they do. WOW might be out by the time they get to that season, but no further IMO. Do you think GRRM would want them blundering blindly into the dark and departing entirely from his storyline.

Furthermore I think a big part of his income is coming from the TV series (and from sales of his books to fans of the TV show) so why wouldn't he want to make it the biggest success he can?

GRRM will probably prefer to keep his book series unspoilered, he's a writer after all, and he's writing his Magnum Opus. He would never spoil the ending of the series just to keep the series going, I'm afraid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I imagine he could give them a rough guide as to how events are supposed to play out easily enough.

He's already done this. GRRM gave the writers a rough outline of the rest of the story some time ago so they can sort out what characters/events are important to include and which are not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed

The show cannot realistily go past 6/7 seasons due to the limitations of the medium.

[1]How long are the actors willing to commit to this and how long are they contracted for.

[2]The children will age year on year far more than their ageing in the books etc etc.

[3]Before we even start to think about limitations of cast sizes and attention spans of audiences.

[1] as long as it's successful and interesting to them - just like shows that last into decades

[2] a frequently mentioned point, and one that's yet to be relevant. Is there any reason at all that the timelines need to be as condensed in the show as they are in the books? absolutely not, there is no reason at all that events of each series take place over approximately a year, keeping the kids' aging appropriate; events simply need to happen in (approximately) the right order

[3] cast size can get awkward, and that's a valid concern; for audience attention spans though - see point 1; if it stays interesting and entertaining, then it's not an issue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think adapting AffC and ADwD is less of a pain in the ass than ASoS.

They can condense A LOT of content from those books. Skip the Ironborn, ignore Arys Oakheart, shorten Sam's, Brienne's and Tyrion's journeys, reduce Danaerys' endless petition rounds and Jon's endless arguments with Stannis to one or two scenes. I could also do with less Small Council meetings.

One season for both books should be enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[1] as long as it's successful and interesting to them - just like shows that last into decades

[2] a frequently mentioned point, and one that's yet to be relevant. Is there any reason at all that the timelines need to be as condensed in the show as they are in the books? absolutely not, there is no reason at all that events of each series take place over approximately a year, keeping the kids' aging appropriate; events simply need to happen in (approximately) the right order

1. How many of them are there that keep the same original cast. We have seen with shows like the X-Files what happens when the show goes on longer than the cast are willing to commit to it.

2. Sometimes the kids ages is of marginal importance to the plot, sometimes it is vital. For examaple the only thing that keeps Arya unmolested in ACOK and ASOS is her age and even the dregs of humanity wouldn't go there. What if GRRM puts Arya in some similar situation in WOW. In the books she will still be 11/12 if the TV show takes years to get there the actress could easily be in her late teens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. How many of them are there that keep the same original cast. We have seen with shows like the X-Files what happens when the show goes on longer than the cast are willing to commit to it.

2. Sometimes the kids ages is of marginal importance to the plot, sometimes it is vital. For examaple the only thing that keeps Arya unmolested in ACOK and ASOS is her age and even the dregs of humanity wouldn't go there. What if GRRM puts Arya in some similar situation in WOW. In the books she will still be 11/12 if the TV show takes years to get there the actress could easily be in her late teens.

[1] - No idea, I'm not a TV buff by any stretch of the imagination. I'd have my doubts, because, certainly central cast will have known the potential length of the series before signing on - it's called due diligence (there will of course, be some who don't)

[2] - They're all young enough for what's written for them to do so far; if GRRM writes something in in their futures, they'll have to write around it - just as they had to re-write Sansa's character to better reflect her show age.

Aside - as for dregs of humanity not going there with young girls - how does that account for the dregs of humanity who DO go there with young girls; and further aside - if her age means that some dreg DOES try something on with Arya - it's a good chance to drive home her resourcefulness / psychopathy*

* delete as the reader feels appropriate

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. How many of them are there that keep the same original cast. We have seen with shows like the X-Files what happens when the show goes on longer than the cast are willing to commit to it.

2. Sometimes the kids ages is of marginal importance to the plot, sometimes it is vital. For examaple the only thing that keeps Arya unmolested in ACOK and ASOS is her age and even the dregs of humanity wouldn't go there. What if GRRM puts Arya in some similar situation in WOW. In the books she will still be 11/12 if the TV show takes years to get there the actress could easily be in her late teens.

1) One of the benefits of using a mostly British cast is that they are unlikely to go on to be major headline movie stars. Duchovny was being offered huge deals for movies as talented as the cast are I don't see this happening.

Plus one of the benefits of having a huge cast taking place in separate locations is that if someone does get a better offer they can film all their scenes in a condensed period. In the first series did Jon Snow or Dany take up 60 minutes of screen time? While generic network shows require the stars to be in 20+ shows a year plus most scenes of the episode.

2) I know its only one example but i would hope that come the later series any inappropriate age relationship with Arya can be cut as there is enough of that in the next two books.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[1] - No idea, I'm not a TV buff by any stretch of the imagination. I'd have my doubts, because, certainly central cast will have known the potential length of the series before signing on - it's called due diligence (there will of course, be some who don't)

[2] - They're all young enough for what's written for them to do so far; if GRRM writes something in in their futures, they'll have to write around it - just as they had to re-write Sansa's character to better reflect her show age.

Aside - as for dregs of humanity not going there with young girls - how does that account for the dregs of humanity who DO go there with young girls; and further aside - if her age means that some dreg DOES try something on with Arya - it's a good chance to drive home her resourcefulness / psychopathy*

* delete as the reader feels appropriate

[1] - There's a difference between potential length and actual length. How many shows get cancelled after one or two seasons? Most (if not all) of them were intended for longer than that but wound up getting the axe. Actors all sign on to shows with this knowledge in mind; i.e. they go in thinking/prepared that they won't have to go on for five, six, seven years. Remember, 7 years is a very long time; especially since for some actors, ten years can be their entire acting career. Also, many child actors choose not to pursue acting as a career in adulthood or take time off to attend university.

[2] - I think a better example for actor age and character mismatch would be Lino Facioli and Robin Arryn. By the time 'A Dance with Dragons' comes about (in about four-five years time), Facioli would be fifteen or sixteen years old; making him much older than Robin is depicted as.

1) One of the benefits of using a mostly British cast is that they are unlikely to go on to be major headline movie stars. Duchovny was being offered huge deals for movies as talented as the cast are I don't see this happening.

Plus one of the benefits of having a huge cast taking place in separate locations is that if someone does get a better offer they can film all their scenes in a condensed period. In the first series did Jon Snow or Dany take up 60 minutes of screen time? While generic network shows require the stars to be in 20+ shows a year plus most scenes of the episode.

2) I know its only one example but i would hope that come the later series any inappropriate age relationship with Arya can be cut as there is enough of that in the next two books.

1) I think you underestimate the British film industry. They may perhaps not make big waves in the United States. However, the UK has decently busy film and television industries. True, the filming schedule can be worked around should actors pull double duty between two (or more) shows/movies. However, it does inconvenience everyone involved and can be a logistical nightmare depending on how busy everyone involved are.

Also, rather than make things easier, filming in multiple locations actually makes things more hectic since filming in any one location would be done over a shorter period of time. For instance, they're going to film all their scenes in Ireland before going to Greenland (assuming they aren't separate filming crews to begin with). It would be impractical and uneconomical to be travelling back and forth between the two countries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For instance, they're going to film all their scenes in Ireland before going to Greenland (assuming they aren't separate filming crews to begin with). It would be impractical and uneconomical to be travelling back and forth between the two countries.

Greenland?! Really? Where did anything say that they would be filming in Greenland?

Iceland I could maybe see, but Greenland? Do you know how many airports and hotels there are(n’t) in Greenland? The capital “city” has only around ~15,000 people. I’m sure the scenery in magnificent, but if they really really needed glaciers and muskoxen, couldn’t they go to Alaska or northern Scandinavia instead of to Greenland? I’ve never even heard of anything being filmed in Greenland before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greenland?! Really? Where did anything say that they would be filming in Greenland?

Iceland I could maybe see, but Greenland? Do you know how many airports and hotels there are(n’t) in Greenland? The capital “city” has only around ~15,000 people. I’m sure the scenery in magnificent, but if they really really needed glaciers and muskoxen, couldn’t they go to Alaska or northern Scandinavia instead of to Greenland? I’ve never even heard of anything being filmed in Greenland before.

Oops. Yeah, Iceland, I meant. My mistake. But ultimately irrelevant. my argument still stands - multiple filming locations = less time spent at each location.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe the 5 year gap could (should) be reintroduced to cover up the child actors' aging.

It'd be a way to trim out a chunk of the middle arc and cut down the need to run a 10+ season show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they will get so far, I am wondering how they will handle the Dorne storyline. The highlight of the AFFC Dorne arc was the reveal of Doran's plans with Quentyn and Targaryens. But if we go by timeline Quentyn should be on his way for a long time at this point, so the AFFC arc would lose on impact. Well maybe a reason to move some Dorne stuff forward into ASOS (if it will be split into 2 seasons). The same could work on the Ironborn AFFC arc. I think the key will be how ASOS is done on TV. If they split it in two some stuff of AFFC can fit into the second half. They have to do something with the Ironborn actors anyway, since they aren't normally shown in ASOS (like now in season 2 with Jaime). Otherwise it's hard to imagine, unless they skip the Ironborn and Dorne stuff what I highly doubt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Dorne plotline from Feast for Crows is a top candidate to be cut entirely.

What I could see them doing is have Quentyn be in Oberyn's party, and then he leaves King's Landing undercover after Oberyn's death. That's if they still want to keep Quentyn. Really the only thing from Dorne I am confident that we will see is Oberyn. Other than that all bets are off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they will get so far, I am wondering how they will handle the Dorne storyline. The highlight of the AFFC Dorne arc was the reveal of Doran's plans with Quentyn and Targaryens. But if we go by timeline Quentyn should be on his way for a long time at this point, so the AFFC arc would lose on impact. Well maybe a reason to move some Dorne stuff forward into ASOS (if it will be split into 2 seasons). The same could work on the Ironborn AFFC arc. I think the key will be how ASOS is done on TV. If they split it in two some stuff of AFFC can fit into the second half. They have to do something with the Ironborn actors anyway, since they aren't normally shown in ASOS (like now in season 2 with Jaime). Otherwise it's hard to imagine, unless they skip the Ironborn and Dorne stuff what I highly doubt.

The Dorne plotline from Feast for Crows is a top candidate to be cut entirely.

LOL i was about to reply and say the same exact thing. The entire Arianne Story was made moot by the existence of the Quentyn story in adwd, IMO.

They should cut it all wholesale so that adwd and affc can be one season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My concern is that there's a reason GRRM split AFFC and ADWD by location rather than chronologically - they both cover the same length of time, and are structured as continuous story arcs. Assuming that ASOS takes up Seasons Three and Four, what will be in the Season Five finale?

The best solution I can come up with is to condense some of the storylines into Season Five alone, then come up with new material for Season Six. Raiding TWOW is also an option - bring some of that material earlier. And when I say "new material" I mean "stuff that happened, but we didn't have an appropriate POV". We could follow Rickon and Osha to Skagos, or follow Victarion on his long journey. So the Season Five finale shockers could include:

- Cersei's arrest

- Euron Greyjoy is crowned King of the Iron Islands

- Take your frakking pick from Tyrion's storyline

- Theon reclaims his name

- Brienne is hanged

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's terrifying how gung ho the US is about cancelling TV shows. Surely a book series as popular as this has to do well? I don't doubt in anyway that the series will reach series 3. I also have full confidence in the writers making AFFC and ADWD interesting. Hell they made Dany's arc interesting in GOT and made Khal Drogo a real on screen presence so anything is possible.

Series 4 will be utterly dependant on the writers ability to fix the 'broken' novels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...