[Book Spoilers] This is Bryan Cogman's episode.

[Warden of the North121]

He wrote "What is Dead May Never Die" which was probably the second best episode behind "Blackwater" last season. They should just give Vanessa Taylor's episode to him next season imo.

[Arkash]

This is what I want this episode so much !

Bryan effin' Cogman writing it ! It's gonna be a masterpiece ! This guy is so dedicated to the books !

[Pinkie Baelish]

Aww yiss. What is Dead May Never Die ruled. And I second the OP that he should get Vanessa Taylor's episode next season.

[Mark Antony]

Nice. I agree that What is Dead May Never Die was awesome and the 2nd best episode of season 2 behind Blackwater.

[King Tommen]

Really great Cogman interview that answers a lot of fan questions regarding Season 2 and this one:

http://winteriscomin...ach/#more-25821

The whole interview is great but concerning this particular episode, Cogman confirms that the scene with Orell and Jon as well as the Dany stuff were moved from other episodes and were in fact written by D&D, everything else in the episode was from him.

He also says that while they all contribute to every character arc throughout the season, each of them is given specific character arc responsibilities over the course of the season, In S3, he has Arya, Stannis/Mel/Davos and Bran as his focus. Which would suggest to me that the alteration with Melisandre going to the BwB for Gendry is something he came up with since it's involving both of his storylines.

[Warden of the North121]

Really great Cogman interview that answers a lot of fan questions regarding Season 2 and this one:

http://winteriscomin...ach/#more-25821

The whole interview is great but concerning this particular episode, Cogman confirms that the scene with Orell and Jon as well as the Dany stuff were moved from other episodes and were in fact written by D&D, everything else in the episode was from him.

He also says that while they all contribute to every character arc throughout the season, each of them is given specific character arc responsibilities over the course of the season, In S3, he has Arya, Stannis/Mel/Davos and Bran as his focus. Which would suggest to me that the alteration with Melisandre going to the BwB for Gendry is something he came up with since it's involving both of his storylines.

I'm glad that he's responsible for Bran this season. It makes it likely that we'll get Knight of the Laughing Tree story as well as the whole "almost run in" with Jon at Queenscrown. The whole Mel/Gendry subplot is a stroke of genius if it is handled well imo.

[Mark Antony]

I'm glad that he's responsible for Bran this season. It makes it likely that we'll get Knight of the Laughing Tree story as well as the whole "almost run in" with Jon at Queenscrown. The whole Mel/Gendry subplot is a stroke of genius if it is handled well imo.

Gods i fucking hope so.

[Warden of the North121]

Just read the interview that King Tommen posted. Man this guy is awesome! I wish I could meet him in person and I hope he gets more than one episode per season in the future.

[ebevan91]

After reading that I think I can be a little more accepting of season 2. At least some of the changes were explained.

[Woel]

Really great Cogman interview that answers a lot of fan questions regarding Season 2 and this one:

http://winteriscomin...ach/#more-25821

The whole interview is great but concerning this particular episode, Cogman confirms that the scene with Orell and Jon as well as the Dany stuff were moved from other episodes and were in fact written by D&D, everything else in the episode was from him.

He also says that while they all contribute to every character arc throughout the season, each of them is given specific character arc responsibilities over the course of the season, In S3, he has Arya, Stannis/Mel/Davos and Bran as his focus. Which would suggest to me that the alteration with Melisandre going to the BwB for Gendry is something he came up with since it's involving both of his storylines.

HAHA, I totally believed what the story about Gethin Antony and peaches. I was a bit bummed that he didn't remember/know the actual reason it was left out though.

[King Tommen]

After reading that I think I can be a little more accepting of season 2. At least some of the changes were explained.

You can tell that there are also hierarchy decisions that are out of his hands and he would not go into any further, you'd need to go to the source (D&D) on them. What's promising is that WiC is stating that this will be an ongoing interview series that Cogman will participate in and that they're also trying to get D&D to do some, which I'm sure would answer a number of ongoing questions some fans have as well as provide more understanding into their overall process.

[Dragonstoned]

Some flaky reasons in that interview for making changes. But interesting that they wrote lots of their own scenes in s1 partially because they needed to fill the time, maybe this made them more confident about making more changes in the future.

Looking forward to the interrogations with D&D.

[Talbot]

"Flaky reasons" ? It's their own damn show, a different beast, the changes make for a better TV show. The novel isn't a show and the show isn't a novel, everyone needs to get over that

[JonDunn]

Every time I read an interview about the writing process I appreciate the show more. They put alot of damn time and thought into it and I think the more we see of season 3 the more we see that they know what they're doing, changes and all. Loving this season

[Dove]

Bryan: Gethin Anthony. Bloody diva. He hates peaches. I mean HATES THEM. I was at lunch with him, early on — this is like, season one when we were all getting to know each other. There was this chocolate cake thing he ordered for desert and there was a kind of fruity sauce on it. He took one bite and said “Are there FUCKING PEACHES in this sauce?” Dude roared, I’ve never seen anything like it. Finn Jones was with us and we had to physically keep Geth from punching the waiter in the teeth. All the while, I’m thinking “Oh no! What are we going to do when we get to the peach in Season 2?”

So season 2 rolls around and we get to the scene and we do these table reads of the first few episodes. And Gethin is there, very nice… but he takes David & Dan aside. And I see him talking to D&D turning BRIGHT RED… like he’s about to have a breakdown or something. Then I remember: the peach! He’s read the draft! The scene with the peach! And David & Dan are trying to explain the symbolic meaning of the peach and how it’s a fan favorite and how many readers can’t separate Renly from the peach… We even had George skype with him about it — Gethin was so angry, foaming at the mouth. I didn’t think anyone could make George R.R. Martin cry but Gethin did. I can’t even repeat the things he said.

I’ve never seen anyone hate a specific fruit so much! And usually Geth’s a really sweet guy… you might even call him a “peach”. But don’t. Cuz if you do, he’ll cut you.

Anyway, no dice. He threatened to walk if we made him eat a peach. We offered to make a fake peach, out of gelatin or something, but that didn’t fly. He wouldn’t even PRETEND to eat a peach onscreen. We tried a few takes with him eating an apple… I think maybe one with a bunch of grapes… but it just didn’t work. So we cut the fruit altogether. But you can blame Gethin fucking Anthony and his weird peach hatred.

I hope by now you know I’m joking. I don’t know what happened to the peach. It was in there at one point, I think. Maybe there weren’t any peaches in season in Belfast that month…

Ahahahahaha, I'm dying.

That was a really cool interview, though. Bryan Cogman seems like one of the better writers. I don't mind Vanessa Taylor as much as some, but her dialogue can come across as a little too modern at times even if she's good at producing the zingy one-liners.

[Dragonstoned]

"Flaky reasons" ? It's their own damn show, a different beast, the changes make for a better TV show. The novel isn't a show and the show isn't a novel, everyone needs to get over that

Everyone gets by now that the books and show won't be the same. if you're bored of the show being criticised then it's no less boring for others to hear people drone on about how they shouldn't expect it to be a carbon copy. Please, it is a waste of your time.

I don't think it's unreasonable to want a better explanation for changes than 'oh it would be interesting for the actors to play' or 'this was the direction we decided to go' or that something just got lost along the way. And better judgment than substituting Jon's maturing with Qhorin for Ygritte taking the piss out of him for two episodes, especially when the payoff this season is minimal cos they've hardly been featured at all (to change in this episode, I know). Don't get me wrong, it's a really interesting interview which sheds a hell of a lot of light on the creative process which I would love to know more about, but justify odd decisions it does not.

[King Tommen]

Everyone gets by now that the books and show won't be the same. if you're bored of the show being criticised then it's no less boring for others to hear people drone on about how they shouldn't expect it to be a carbon copy. Please, it is a waste of your time.

I don't think it's unreasonable to want a better explanation for changes than 'oh it would be interesting for the actors to play' or 'this was the direction we decided to go' or that something just got lost along the way. And better judgment than substituting Jon's maturing with Qhorin for Ygritte taking the piss out of him for two episodes, especially when the payoff this season is minimal cos they've hardly been featured at all (to change in this episode, I know). Don't get me wrong, it's a really interesting interview which sheds a hell of a lot of light on the creative process which I would love to know more about, but justify odd decisions it does not.

I think it's pretty clear in that interview that Cogman is not going to give reasons for decisions that were made by D&D, he'd rather they explained if that's something they want to do. So until you get a similar interview situation done with the actual creators, that's probably going to be it. And even if D&D take the time out of their schedule to participate in an endeavor like that, I suspect there are some things they just aren't going to delve into to the level that some fans want them to. Sometimes, "we felt like this was the best way to go" is as much as you're going to get...

[Dragonstoned]

Yeah I sensed that. Hopefully the prospective D&D interview will reveal more, but it's not like they're obliged to explain themselves to everyone. Just happy for more insight about how they make the show tbh.

[Darryk]

Yeah, Bryan Cogman sounds awesome. His commentaries on the Blu-rays are interesting to listen to, and his episodes have been among the strongest (didn't he write the History and Lore segments for the DVDs as well? Cause those are brilliant).

Certainly has a dream job and I love his story of how he got it :laugh:

[Pinkie Baelish]

Really great Cogman interview that answers a lot of fan questions regarding Season 2 and this one:

http://winteriscomin...ach/#more-25821

The whole interview is great but concerning this particular episode, Cogman confirms that the scene with Orell and Jon as well as the Dany stuff were moved from other episodes and were in fact written by D&D, everything else in the episode was from him.

He also says that while they all contribute to every character arc throughout the season, each of them is given specific character arc responsibilities over the course of the season, In S3, he has Arya, Stannis/Mel/Davos and Bran as his focus. Which would suggest to me that the alteration with Melisandre going to the BwB for Gendry is something he came up with since it's involving both of his storylines.

Really interesting interview, that. I always felt that out of all the writers, Cogman respects the books the most.