No Arianne Martell?

[Queen of Whores]

^or if she doesn't matter as much as the Snakes in the end.

Renly didn't matter as much as Stannis in the end, and they kept him :dunno:

[Tyrion1991]

Renly didn't matter as much as Stannis in the end, and they kept him :dunno:

The answer is obvious.

D&D, like many people who read the series, don't consider characters from he later books as good or interesting as what came before. They think a lot of it was filler and are making cuts here rather than for instance killing off less important 1st gen characters earlier.

IMO this is good that HBO understands this. Those 2 books were weak and there are too many characters as it is.

[Chebyshov]

Renly didn't matter as much as Stannis in the end, and they kept him :dunno:

Yeah but given the number of new characters they need to introduce this season, being a bit more discriminating, especially now that they've got the end game in sight, makes sense. I do hope they talk about this decision in an interview at some point, though. It'd be nice to hear their take.

[Ser Creighton]

They may also be combining Arianne with Ellaria Sand, Ellaria is suppose to have a big part next season, though she could also be combining with Quin and sent to Meereen to try and steal a dragon for revenge. Though neither appear all that necessary, with no FAegon Arianne wouldn't have a whole lot to do. Her story was building up to his.

If you count the number of characters they would need to add and all the new locations it's just not possible for them to do it all. Though skipping FAegon would be a rather large reveal and then we lose Varys plot. Or they may be combining Dany and Aegon and that is why Varys is going with Tyrion on the show.

They also may combine Aegon and Jon though that seems unlikely given he is not tied to Varys in anyway and Dany has Illyrio. Either way it looks like Fake Aegon is either pointless or fake. Oh well, you know they may also combine Aegon and Tyrion as well. They have a lot of flexibility.

[Rorey Targaryen]

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/24028/20140727/game-thrones-season-5-casting-arianne-martell.htm

Just food for thought.

[Paid Debt Lannister]

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/24028/20140727/game-thrones-season-5-casting-arianne-martell.htm

Just food for thought.

Well, the guy isn't wrong. Specially about the Greyjoys, Manderlys and Griffs. Even if Arianne is a lost cause, the others may still be revealed. As may Stoneheart.

[Ser Lucious Left-Foot]

The way I see it, Arianne will be cast, but as a less important character than in the books. They will cut the Quentyn going to Meereen plot (which only interest in my opinion is what Ser Barristan will actually do with Archibald Yronwood et Gerris Drinkwater, and it's still a minor interest).

If the Queenmaker plot actually happens, it will be carried out by the Sand Snakes who the audience might feel closer too since it felt closer to Oberyn than to Doran. Arianne might only appear or at least be more important when they decide to carry out the Young Griff plot, because, seriously, I don't see them cutting that out. Unless they want to do a "WOOOW LOOK DANY VS STANNIS WOW" sort of thing which could be a bit disappointing, at least plot-wise.

Then again, no Greyjoys have been announced either, and I don't want to believe they would cut that out too. I think.

[Tyrion1991]

YG is defiently in.

Why else would they have started bigging up the Golden Company in season 4?

[Ser Eric]

The same reason they brought up Tysha I suppose.

[Dornish Vinegar]

YG is defiently in.

Why else would they have started bigging up the Golden Company in season 4?

The same reason they brought up Tysha I suppose.

^^ this is the way I see it too. The show's long game is extremely messy, at least from what we've seen so far. They include things here and there in order to hedge their bets about what to pursue in later seasons, imo. Inclusion of certain details =/= relevance of those details later on.

[Game Of Thrones]

This is excellent news.

It means the show makers are thinking ahead to the future and are willing to make tough decisions that fly in the face of GRRM. Its good to see that they have wrestled control of the series from him and are ready to call bull on what is important plot wise and what is filler. Obviously Arrianes role was a lot less substantial than we originally assumed and that Quentyns journey was a dead end.

I am also glad that it confirms that D&D and HBO understand the weaknesses of the last two books and are more willing to make changes here.

Sarcasm?

[Rorey Targaryen]

^^ this is the way I see it too. The show's long game is extremely messy, at least from what we've seen so far. They include things here and there in order to hedge their bets about what to pursue in later seasons, imo. Inclusion of certain details =/= relevance of those details later on.

The difference is though, Connington is a POV character and Aegon is a major claimant for the Iron Throne. These roles are major parts of the story and affects multiple major characters (Tyrion, Daenerys, Varys, Dorne's characters, maybe even the King's Landing cast and Stannis as well because of his taking Storm's End). It's too important for Dan and Dave to even consider cutting.

Tysha, on the other hand, would only really affect Tyrion. She's too much of a minor character in comparison to Aegon and Connington.

Regarding Arianne, Aegon, Connington and the Greyjoy Bros., I found this article from Time Magazine which says that what we got at Comic Con was only a partial casting announcement for season 5. This means that they either haven't casted these characters as yet or they have and it will be a surprise to the fans who only watch the show (understandable, especially in Aegon's case).

THE ARTICLE:

http://time.com/3040106/game-of-thrones-cast-keeps-faith/

[Colonel Green]

Regarding Arianne, Aegon, Connington and the Greyjoy Bros., I found this article from Time Magazine which says that what we got at Comic Con was only a partial casting announcement for season 5. This means that they either haven't casted these characters as yet or they have and it will be a surprise to the fans who only watch the show (understandable, especially in Aegon's case).

Well, yes, it was obviously only a partial casting announcement.

But the reasoning behind Arianne being cut goes beyond her non-inclusion in the casting announcement. The description of Trystane, and the casting videos for Obara and Trystane, both suggest it as well.

[Ser Eric]

The difference is though, Connington is a POV character and Aegon is a major claimant for the Iron Throne. These roles are major parts of the story and affects multiple major characters (Tyrion, Daenerys, Varys, Dorne's characters, maybe even the King's Landing cast and Stannis as well because of his taking Storm's End). It's too important for Dan and Dave to even consider cutting.

Tysha, on the other hand, would only really affect Tyrion. She's too much of a minor character in comparison to Aegon and Connington.

Regarding Arianne, Aegon, Connington and the Greyjoy Bros., I found this article from Time Magazine which says that what we got at Comic Con was only a partial casting announcement for season 5. This means that they either haven't casted these characters as yet or they have and it will be a surprise to the fans who only watch the show (understandable, especially in Aegon's case).

THE ARTICLE:

http://time.com/3040106/game-of-thrones-cast-keeps-faith/

Wasn't Trystanne introduced as Doran's heir? If so that pretty much rules out Arianne wouldn't it?

[Red Tiger]

Wasn't Trystanne introduced as Doran's heir? If so that pretty much rules out Arianne wouldn't it?

Yes, but Ned was introduced as 'the person this series revolves around'.

[Colonel Green]

Yes, but Ned was introduced as 'the person this series revolves around'.

One of those things is in-universe, the other is not.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Wasn't Trystanne introduced as Doran's heir? If so that pretty much rules out Arianne wouldn't it?

Not necessarily. The show had changed who ruled before Doran. In the books it was his mother; in the show it was his father. I think they've done away with the Dornish inheritance rules because they don't want to confuse the poor audience (they should really give people more credit, if that's the case). That doesn't mean cutting Arianne out altogether.

And can we please remember that just because something is in the audition tape doesn't mean it's in the show?

[Colonel Green]

And can we please remember that just because something is in the audition tape doesn't mean it's in the show?

When it's wholly invented material, yeah, it's always been in the show. The scenes with Tyene, Obara and Trystane are new material, not transcriptions of scenes from the books, which were occasionally used in the past but omitted from the show (for instance, the Arya/Sansa dialogue about the merits of rubies vs. Cersei, which Sophie and Maisie auditioned with; Finn Jones having auditioned with one of Loras' conversations with Jaime that didn't make it into the show several seasons later). The writers didn't sit down to invent a bunch of scenes with major divergences from the book canon solely for auditions.

Arianne's cut. No one piece of evidence is determinative, but in combine they make it exceptionally likely.

[I'm no Ser.]

With all due respect to the showrunners and full tolerance of their final decision, this is unacceptable.

[Faint]

D&D, like many people who read the series, don't consider characters from he later books as good or interesting as what came before.

I do not think it has much to do with whether they consider the character interesting so much as when they were introduced. Had Arianne been introduced in the first book of the series, she would have been cast. But the cumulative effect of adding more and more characters to the television show ensured that characters first appearing in the fourth and fifth books were always more likely to be cut unless they were absolutely vital to the conclusion of the story.