Season 5 Casting, News and Speculation V 8 [show spoilers, book spoilers past OP]

[Mark Antony]

Unpopular opinion: KL is most interesting to me in Cersei's POV in AFFC/ADWD.

Don't think that's super unpopular

Definitely share your opinion here

[SoManyVows]

This is a great post!

Minor quibbles: there's also Yara. Also, Stannis will almost certainly branch out from Jon's story at some point, and possibly Sam and/or Davos also will.

Thanks! :) You're right - I should have mentioned Yara as well. The reason that I didn't was that we don't know at this time if she'll have her own storyline from the beginning of the season or if she'll simply be introduced into Stannis's arc once he leaves the Wall (I'm leaning towards the latter). Furthermore, while Stannis will likely have a few episodes on his own, I'm inclined to view his character as crossing over from the Wall storyline to the Winterfell storyline, and as part of the greater Northern storyline overall. It's probably overly simplistic of me to categorize these storylines in terms of locations rather than characters, but I generally find it easier to keep track of everyone that way.

Sam and Davos may or may not leave the Wall on their respective missions this year, but if they do, I think it would happen closer to the end of the season than the beginning. I would be surprised if they didn't spend at least the first half of the season at the Wall. In particular, Kit Harington has talked about filming scenes with Liam Cunningham in addition to Carice van Houten and Stephen Dillane, so Davos certainly won't depart Castle Black immediately.

[AdmiralKyrd]

Don't think that's super unpopular

Definitely share your opinion here

Cersei's chapters are some of the best. They're thoroughly entertaining, but also straightforward and easy to follow. They will make great television, even though we'll miss having all of Cersei's internal thoughts. I hope she dips into the bottle a bit too deep and says somethings aloud she keeps to herself or that D&D introduce a Taena-like character she can play off of with her feelings.

Sam and Davos may or may not leave the Wall on their respective missions this year, but if they do, I think it would happen closer to the end of the season than the beginning. I would be surprised if they didn't spend at least the first half of the season at the Wall. In particular, Kit Harington has talked about filming scenes with Liam Cunningham in addition to Carice van Houten and Stephen Dillane, so Davos certainly won't depart Castle Black immediately.

A lot of it depends on other moving pieces in the season and when they take place. Gonna go through this and work backwards, assuming the major book plotlines are followed:

Presumably, if they do the PL this season, which is likely, then you've gotta have that in late E10, meaning the Battle of Ice would likely fit in early E10. Theon's escape would be in E9, and "Grow up to be a Frey" would be in E8. You could do the wedding as late as E8 if needs be, and have the Manderly/Frey scene at the wedding feast. Thus, Manderly doesn't really have to show up at WF until E8. A lot of Theon's scenes that take place in the books after the wedding could be pushed to before in the show. So with regards to Manderly, if he jetpacks from WH to WF, then "The North Remembers" could be at the end of E7. There would also need to be some period of time for Wyllas to return to WH, but he can jetpack there as well between E6 and E7. Going further, this sets up as such:

E10: Battle of Ice, PL

E9: Theon Escape

E8: Wyman in WF, WF Wedding, "Grow up to be a Frey"

E7: Wyllas arrives in WH, "The North Remembers"

E6: Davos arrives and talks with Wyman in WH, Denied. Cersei hears the news, releases Wyllas

E5: Davos leaves CB

So if everyone jetpacks to their locations, E5 is about the latest Davos can leave the Wall. Personally though, I think its squishing the WF Wedding too close to the end and has one too many jetpacks. I think the WF Wedding would fit better in E7 or earlier, and give Jeyne more time to lose her sense of self. It also might push Davos' departure from WH too close to the end of S5, depending on what happens to him after Davos IV in ADWD that requires its space of time..

Anyway, Davos doesn't have to leave the Wall I guess until E5 if D&D are still doing the White Harbor storyline, but they could presumably have Davos depart any time if they need be up to E5. I wouldn't be surprised if he sticks around the Wall though until Sam leaves so they could have an scene on the road between Sam and Davos.

[Arkash]

EW released the details of the 9th February "A Day in the Life" :

http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/19/game-of-thrones-season-5-special/

EDIT : regarding to Davos and Manderly, I wouldnt be secret they meet in Winterfell in the end. A secret reunion could be organized in the crypts between Stannis' potential inside man in Winterfell and the Northern Lord only pretending to suport the Boltons. We would have our "North Remembers" speech then.

[FreeParking]

Cersei's chapters are some of the best. They're thoroughly entertaining, but also straightforward and easy to follow. They will make great television, even though we'll miss having all of Cersei's internal thoughts. I hope she dips into the bottle a bit too deep and says somethings aloud she keeps to herself or that D&D introduce a Taena-like character she can play off of with her feelings.

A lot of it depends on other moving pieces in the season and when they take place. Gonna go through this and work backwards, assuming the major book plotlines are followed:

Presumably, if they do the PL this season, which is likely, then you've gotta have that in late E10, meaning the Battle of Ice would likely fit in early E10. Theon's escape would be in E9, and "Grow up to be a Frey" would be in E8. You could do the wedding as late as E8 if needs be, and have the Manderly/Frey scene at the wedding feast. Thus, Manderly doesn't really have to show up at WF until E8. A lot of Theon's scenes that take place in the books after the wedding could be pushed to before in the show. So with regards to Manderly, if he jetpacks from WH to WF, then "The North Remembers" could be at the end of E7. There would also need to be some period of time for Wyllas to return to WH, but he can jetpack there as well between E6 and E7. Going further, this sets up as such:

E10: Battle of Ice, PL

E9: Theon Escape

E8: Wyman in WF, WF Wedding, "Grow up to be a Frey"

E7: Wyllas arrives in WH, "The North Remembers"

E6: Davos arrives and talks with Wyman in WH, Denied. Cersei hears the news, releases Wyllas

E5: Davos leaves CB

So if everyone jetpacks to their locations, E5 is about the latest Davos can leave the Wall. Personally though, I think its squishing the WF Wedding too close to the end and has one too many jetpacks. I think the WF Wedding would fit better in E7 or earlier, and give Jeyne more time to lose her sense of self. It also might push Davos' departure from WH too close to the end of S5, depending on what happens to him after Davos IV in ADWD that requires its space of time..

Anyway, Davos doesn't have to leave the Wall I guess until E5 if D&D are still doing the White Harbor storyline, but they could presumably have Davos depart any time if they need be up to E5. I wouldn't be surprised if he sticks around the Wall though until Sam leaves so they could have an scene on the road between Sam and Davos.

I don't see Wyllas (or his equivalent) happening. Where would he have been kept? We could see that the nobles were killed at the Red Wedding, not taken prisoner. The Northmen were all killed before the Mountain left Harrenhal.

[stannisismyking]

Yeah I love her two ADWD chapters, her first couple of feast chapters and her last feast chapter a lot. I do have some trouble re-reading her mid feast chapters though because thats when she's at her worst IMO and she tends to really get under my skin then.

Idk I don't have high hopes for her Season 5 storyline though, IMO Cersei's Feast storyline isn't an easy one to translate on screen and there's a danger that she might come across as so annoying onscreen to the point where she's unwatchable.

Well I certainly don't expect her to be as nasty onscreen as she comes across on the page, but I'd like to see the descent into paranoia become a lot steeper.

I enjoy that she is so terrible in her POV chapters and I kind of want her to be annoying if that makes sense...she was too meek and mellow for most of S4 for my liking.

[Jack Bauer 24]

EW released the details of the 9th February "A Day in the Life" :

http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/19/game-of-thrones-season-5-special/

Nice!

[SoManyVows]

EW released the details of the 9th February "A Day in the Life" :

http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/19/game-of-thrones-season-5-special/

That's great news! HBO has obviously done BTS features for Game of Thrones before, but they’ve all been around 3-5 minutes long and generally focused on one specific aspect of the production (weapons, costumes, new locations, etc.). They’ve certainly never given us one of this length and scale. I’m glad to hear that this particular special will be a full half-hour and that we’ll be checking in on multiple locations including Croatia and Spain rather than just Belfast.

We should learn quite a bit from this, and if we happen to get some new footage mixed in there as well, so much the better! But even if we don’t, we’ll have seen the first Season 5 trailer by then, so we should have a better idea of what we’re looking at and how it all fits together.

[larastone]

Well I certainly don't expect her to be as nasty onscreen as she comes across on the page, but I'd like to see the descent into paranoia become a lot steeper.

I enjoy that she is so terrible in her POV chapters and I kind of want her to be annoying if that makes sense...she was too meek and mellow for most of S4 for my liking.

oh I agree, I genuinely enjoy Cersei's villainy. its very Lady Macbeth which I love. but while I was reading AFFC, I was always excited when I saw her name as the chapter title. despite her terribleness, she never became unreadable for me.

while on the show, i think its very easy for her to become unwatchable....she already kind of was during the Purple Wedding IMO.

Arkash, on 19 Jan 2015 - 1:24 PM, said:

EW released the details of the 9th February "A Day in the Life" :

http://insidetv.ew.c...ason-5-special/

exactly what i was expecting really

[Jack Bauer 24]

That's great news! HBO has obviously done BTS features for Game of Thrones before, but theyve all been around 3-5 minutes long and generally focused on one specific aspect of the production (weapons, costumes, new locations, etc.). Theyve certainly never given us one of this length and scale. Im glad to hear that this particular special will be a full half-hour and that well be checking in on multiple locations including Croatia and Spain rather than just Belfast.

We should learn quite a bit from this, and if we happen to get some new footage mixed in there as well, so much the better! But even if we dont, well have seen the first Season 5 trailer by then, so we should have a better idea of what were looking at and how it all fits together.

Are they officially releasing the trailer outside of IMAX by February 8th when this airs?

[stannisismyking]

That's great news! HBO has obviously done BTS features for Game of Thrones before, but they’ve all been around 3-5 minutes long and generally focused on one specific aspect of the production (weapons, costumes, new locations, etc.). They’ve certainly never given us one of this length and scale. I’m glad to hear that this particular special will be a full half-hour and that we’ll be checking in on multiple locations including Croatia and Spain rather than just Belfast.

We should learn quite a bit from this, and if we happen to get some new footage mixed in there as well, so much the better! But even if we don’t, we’ll have seen the first Season 5 trailer by then, so we should have a better idea of what we’re looking at and how it all fits together.

Yeah the more BTS stuff we get the better. I am really fascinated by the sheer scale of the production and the way it's filmed across so many different locations.

[stannisismyking]

Are they officially releasing the trailer outside of IMAX by February 8th when this airs?

You'll be seeing the trailer in the IMAX won't you, what are you fretting about still?!

[Jack Bauer 24]

You'll be seeing the trailer in the IMAX won't you, what are you fretting about still?!

Lol true. I'm going on the 31st. I just hope it's the full trailer and not just a sneak peek.

[stannisismyking]

Lol true. I'm going on the 31st.

But hopefully there won't be a power cut on the day, eh? :ph34r:

[Jack Bauer 24]

But hopefully there won't be a power cut on the day, eh? :ph34r:

Lol. What picture is that from in the EW headline?

[Arkash]

Wights attack on Bran in 4x10. ;)

Normally, the trailer will be uploaded on the GoT youtube channel a few hours after it premiered on theaters.

[SoManyVows]

Are they officially releasing the trailer outside of IMAX by February 8th when this airs?

I expect that HBO will post an official, high-quality version of the IMAX trailer (or at least part of it) as soon as they are contractually able to do so. At the very latest, it will go online once IMAX's window of exclusivity for this particular promotion ends on February 5th. Not that it matters too much. You can be assured that a bootleg version of this thing will be on the Internet within hours of the first airing, and while many of those leaked videos will be of the shaky, handheld cell phone camera variety, a few will be sharp enough for people to see everything that they want to see. By the time that HBO posts the HD version, those of us who frequent these boards and places like WOTW will have already dissected every frame of footage and be ready for something else - like that "A Day in the Life" feature that HBO will broadcast on February 8th. The hunger never abates.

[AdmiralKyrd]

So on the rumor mill today, for those of you have seen the Season 5 Stannis thread, someone with a Turkish IP hijacked the wikipedia article for character appearances, as spotted by alcasinoroyale. Take this for a grain of salt, but here's a link to the edit before it was undone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Game_of_Thrones_characters&oldid=643124338

First, I would find it odd that anyone would know how many episodes each character will appear in at this point, even D&D given that the editing process is not yet likely complete. Sure, they script things out, but some things likely change in the editing process. However, lets look at some interesting things here:

-Arya's episode count goes up from 6 to 8, more in line with her character's norm.

-Jon gains an episode apperance. Sansa drops to an all time low of 6 episodes - I'm surprised that it would be that high.

-Jaime drops to 8 episodes.

-Theon goes up to 7 from 3.

-Sam drops to 6 episodes.

-LF gains an episode.

-Brienne and Bronn both drop to 5 episodes.

-Gendry is in line for four episodes?

-Margaery gains an episode. Stannis shoots up to 8.

-Davos jumps up to 7 episodes. Wow. He drops out of ADWD 1/3rd of the way through the book. I'm surprised he would stick around that long. Hmmmm...

-Mel gets six.

-Ramsay is in 5, which is odd with Theon's 7.

-It's... also odd Michiel Huisman became a regular cast member yet drops to four episodes...

There are some strange numbers here which are quite divergent for what you would expect for a fake. A fake would likely leave Gendry off or give Daario more episodes than he had last season.

[larastone]

Gendry being in 4 episodes doesn't make much sense to me.

[Konradsmith]

Maybe that list will pan out, but I wouldn't put any stock in it for now.