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I believe the show will need to deviate from the books, do you? [BOOK SPOILERS]


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A huge problem most of us readers had with Dany's storyline was Daario and to a lesser extent Hizdhar. I think if HBO simply writes them into better, more compelling characters, they will be fine. Viewers need to believe why Dany would be into these guys much more than readers were.

The show-Dany fans love Drogo. I don't see why this can't be the case with show Daario.

I'd start by losing the blue hair and gold teeth.

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Of course. Most obviously because the series will finish before the next book. But I've also long trumpeted the idea that danys invasion should have happened in season 2

I don't think such a dramatic departure from the books was necessary that early. The show has only been increasing in popularity since it started and they had nothing to lose from a faithful adaptation. I think if they pace the rest of season three and four right, the show will be at its zenith of popularity by the time the show gets seriously into AFFC and ADWD. I expect the series' ratings to start to decline in those next two seasons as the inevitable result of books 4 and 5 being the middle act in the series. If they can do it well the show's ratings and popularity will still be strong despite a decline.

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I would be surprised if the battle of mareen isn't in season 6. George will almost certainly have written that scene even if the book isn't out. I don't feel like they need to find A LO for Dany to do, rather that they need to figure out Quarth size subplot that is interesting that takes half a season. I also agree with the poster that say making guys like Daario and others into better characters would go a long way. I'm a little wary that they seemed to cast a guy who superficially seems doushey like Daario. I would just make him a generic badass if I were the showrunners.

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I think the introduction of Dorne and the Iron Islands as major players would be a mistake. I think introducing Aegon would be a mistake (wasnt his head 'dashed' against a wall? :).

I agree that they'll need to think carefully about how they do it, but omitting big things might create bigger problems later on. We don't know how important Aegon, Dorne, and the iron islands are to the eventual conclusion. i think they should just try to liven certain things up. i mean, they could dramatize daenerys' flight on drogon a lot more. i think they have enough outlets to keep viewers faithful.
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I don't think such a dramatic departure from the books was necessary that early. The show has only been increasing in popularity since it started and they had nothing to lose from a faithful adaptation. I think if they pace the rest of season three and four right, the show will be at its zenith of popularity by the time the show gets seriously into AFFC and ADWD. I expect the series' ratings to start to decline in those next two seasons as the inevitable result of books 4 and 5 being the middle act in the series. If they can do it well the show's ratings and popularity will still be strong despite a decline.

necessary,no. but interesting and i think beneficial in a few ways. one. you delay the introduction of stannis/mel/davos until season 3. thismeans that all of their book 2 development happens in early season 3, whereas the book 3 had very little of this story line.

two. you get another shocker moment when dany, who we have invested all this time in, goes down at the blackwater.

three. you save an incredible amount of money by getting rid of a character who is all by herself and require her own sets, casts, etc which will now be kept up for the next three seasons.

four. narrows the focus of the story.

five. eliminates her awful season two plotline. eliminates the season 5 plotline we know is coming. (not there werent other ways around this. they tried and failed in s2. they could fix it in s5)

six. blackwater would have been even better with someone that the majority was rooting for attacking kL

but in the end, danys early season 2 invasion, isnt something they needed to do. but its an example of the kind of plot deviations they need to think about. as opposed to the, "this is somewhat different but it gets them to the same place" type of changes that they have been doing

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I hope they dont cut Arya's storyline, in ADWD she started growing seriously badass. They are going to have to extend the series even more I think for books 4&5. Probably have to merge them and stretch it out to three seasons between them. Not sure how they would do that though....

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Absolutely not. The show up until S4 (the end of SOS) could easily have been made to the same degree of faithfulness as season 1. After that point the books could probably be adapted at the same degree of faithfulness as season 2 was actually adapted. The only huge hurdle is AFFC/ADWD but I think that 1 perhaps extended season would allow them to condense all of the interesting events of those books and speed into TWOW which will no doubt be very exciting.

I think they're facing a huge dilemma right now. Seasons 3 and 4 being adapted from by far the best book in the series, I think it's highly possible that these two seasons will be the peak of the show's success. They must realize that, having just been confronted by a myriad of game-changing deaths and breathtaking moments (Red Wedding, Purple Wedding, Tyrion's trial and the anxiety that his show fanboys will be feeling, Tywin's death on the privy, the Battle of Castle Black and Stannis to the rescue), people, after enjoying a few episodes of relapse from the wildness of those two seasons, will expect the show to continue in the same degree of climactic occurrences, and will become increasingly frustrated if they are met with the kind of meandering, pointless story lines we book-readers had to endure in the fourth and fifth books. A decrease in popularity is pretty much inevitable if they are to retain any degree of faithfulness to GRRM's work. With that in mind, the logical solution would be, as you have pointed out, to condense all the meanderings of the fourth and fifth books into 1 or 2 seasons, emphasizing the more dramatic moments (Dany's flight on Drogon, Jon's assassination, Brienne killing the "Hound" at the inn with Gendry etc.) and glossing over the more pointless and tedious ones. Indeed, I think this is what they really should do. But the problem with this is that if they do that, they will finish the available books in two more seasons and will be left with two or three years before 'Winds of Winter' even comes out. With such a big gap, it's logical to assume that many viewers will grow impatient with waiting for a show which seems unlikely ever to return. So here they are (the producers) with very little material for exciting TV and way too much time to do it. Somebody should glue GRRM to his computer :).

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I would be surprised if the battle of mareen isn't in season 6. George will almost certainly have written that scene even if the book isn't out. I don't feel like they need to find A LO for Dany to do, rather that they need to figure out Quarth size subplot that is interesting that takes half a season. I also agree with the poster that say making guys like Daario and others into better characters would go a long way. I'm a little wary that they seemed to cast a guy who superficially seems doushey like Daario. I would just make him a generic badass if I were the showrunners.

I always picture Daario somewhat like the guy that played Jaqen. It seems that he is not liked because he is so cocky and he really doesn't give a shit about Dany, he just wants to F her and be by her side. The pedophile aspect of some of the storylines aside, Mormont at least does love her and she him(just not the lustful teenage love that she thinks she wants) and he would die to save her, where as Daario would be 2nd Sons were out of here. I don't think his character matters, he was probably one of the bodies being thrown over the wall. His character has to die, paralleling Yggrite, they just get in the way as far as where Jon and Dany ultimately have to go. He knows she doesn't have a damn clue, which is why she needs Tyrion.

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I think they're facing a huge dilemma right now. Seasons 3 and 4 being adapted from by far the best book in the series, I think it's highly possible that these two seasons will be the peak of the show's success. They must realize that, having just been confronted by a myriad of game-changing deaths and breathtaking moments (Red Wedding, Purple Wedding, Tyrion's trial and the anxiety that his show fanboys will be feeling, Tywin's death on the privy, the Battle of Castle Black and Stannis to the rescue), people, after enjoying a few episodes of relapse from the wildness of those two seasons, will expect the show to continue in the same degree of climactic occurrences, and will become increasingly frustrated if they are met with the kind of meandering, pointless story lines we book-readers had to endure in the fourth and fifth books. A decrease in popularity is pretty much inevitable if they are to retain any degree of faithfulness to GRRM's work. With that in mind, the logical solution would be, as you have pointed out, to condense all the meanderings of the fourth and fifth books into 1 or 2 seasons, emphasizing the more dramatic moments (Dany's flight on Drogon, Jon's assassination, Brienne killing the "Hound" at the inn with Gendry etc.) and glossing over the more pointless and tedious ones. Indeed, I think this is what they really should do. But the problem with this is that if they do that, they will finish the available books in two more seasons and will be left with two or three years before 'Winds of Winter' even comes out. With such a big gap, it's logical to assume that many viewers will grow impatient with waiting for a show which seems unlikely ever to return. So here they are (the producers) with very little material for exciting TV and way too much time to do it. Somebody should glue GRRM to his computer :).

Brienne killing the Hound? Did you really read?
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necessary,no. but interesting and i think beneficial in a few ways. one. you delay the introduction of stannis/mel/davos until season 3. thismeans that all of their book 2 development happens in early season 3, whereas the book 3 had very little of this story line.

two. you get another shocker moment when dany, who we have invested all this time in, goes down at the blackwater.

three. you save an incredible amount of money by getting rid of a character who is all by herself and require her own sets, casts, etc which will now be kept up for the next three seasons.

four. narrows the focus of the story.

five. eliminates her awful season two plotline. eliminates the season 5 plotline we know is coming. (not there werent other ways around this. they tried and failed in s2. they could fix it in s5)

six. blackwater would have been even better with someone that the majority was rooting for attacking kL

but in the end, danys early season 2 invasion, isnt something they needed to do. but its an example of the kind of plot deviations they need to think about. as opposed to the, "this is somewhat different but it gets them to the same place" type of changes that they have been doing

You type things just trying to be ignorant, and get knee jerk reactions.

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Brienne killing the Hound? Did you really read?

The 'Hound'. as in, Rorge, not Sandor. i don't remember if she's the one who actually kills him because that part of her story was very surreal, but it's pretty irrelevant. the point is, if they do the show chronologically (as opposed to geographically, as in the books) they still have some very dramatic, exciting moments to keep viewers hooked even if the actual story hardly advances significantly. For instance, the attack by the stone men on the river would make a good season finale for season 5, (could be called 'Rivers' which would also refer to jaime breaking riverrun), and dany's flight would make a good climax to a 4th or 5th episode of season 6; Jon's assassination could be a ninth episode to season 6 called something like 'For the Watch' or 'Daggers in the Dark'; Bran flashing through his childhood in the godswood with the Children would be an emotional moment for episode 7 or 8 of season 5, and so on. If they do it right and dramatize the right moments, it could have just as much popularity as the first 3 seasons. (my point then was that if they do that, they'll end up with a two year gap before they can start making season 7, so a popularity drop one way or the other is almost inevitable.)

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necessary,no. but interesting and i think beneficial in a few ways. one. you delay the introduction of stannis/mel/davos until season 3. thismeans that all of their book 2 development happens in early season 3, whereas the book 3 had very little of this story line.

two. you get another shocker moment when dany, who we have invested all this time in, goes down at the blackwater.

three. you save an incredible amount of money by getting rid of a character who is all by herself and require her own sets, casts, etc which will now be kept up for the next three seasons.

four. narrows the focus of the story.

five. eliminates her awful season two plotline. eliminates the season 5 plotline we know is coming. (not there werent other ways around this. they tried and failed in s2. they could fix it in s5)

six. blackwater would have been even better with someone that the majority was rooting for attacking kL

but in the end, danys early season 2 invasion, isnt something they needed to do. but its an example of the kind of plot deviations they need to think about. as opposed to the, "this is somewhat different but it gets them to the same place" type of changes that they have been doing

If they do things like that, they're basically abandoning 'ASOIAF' and just starting their own story. they can't just kill off probably the most important character in the books just to make things more interesting! Huge changes will make book readers mad and will lose the close association with GRRM's work which is really essential to this show.

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The reasons aren't really as you say, to keep the tv audience happy, but more so to keep the actors happy. Can't have an actor wait a year or two until they're written back into a tv series(ie Alphie Allen).

No, Dave and Dan have to keep the money people happy, HBO.

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