Sacrificing Plot For Actors' Sake

[Liz Stark-Targaryen]

In the last 14+ years, we have gotten the following number of chapters from characters: 3 for Sansa, 5 for Arya, & 3 for Bran. I am perfectly okay with the show changing things up.

GRRM got on too many side adventures and failed to concentrate on the core characters of the series. I don't mind the story getting bigger, but it did so at the expense of the current characters, and that was a huge negative of the books. The show is righting that wrong.

Agree. As much as we book readers love the side plots, the hundreds of houses, the thousands of characters, and the painstaking detail, sadly, it's really difficult for all the little things that many of us love to show up on screen. If this season had given us the full Dorne plot and the Greyjoys, others would have complained about the cuts that were made to accommodate the Martells and the Ironborn.

The bulk of the audience came to GoT through the show, and the show has limited time and money, so certain things have to be cut. So be it. It's still great TV and someday, we'll get to read the full story in TWoW and ADoS.

[Udvarnoky]

Both Bran and Sansa were at the end of their respective AFFC/ADwD source material by 4.10. The show could have shown us more of Sansa or Bran this season... the show chose Sansa.

That's a bizarre way to look at it. It's not just that Bran has reached the end of his published material, it's that they really can't put him to any other use while he's being trained by the Three-Eyed Raven. With Sansa, however, there's an opportunity to use her as a replacement for northern characters that the show can't afford to introduce.

[Dragon Stoned]

GRRM got on too many side adventures and failed to concentrate on the core characters of the series. I don't mind the story getting bigger, but it did so at the expense of the current characters, and that was a huge negative of the books. The show is righting that wrong.

There really are not "core" characters in the books. Except maybe everything revolved around the Stark family. But then, it moved away from that. Ned died, Catelyn, Rickon went into hiding, Bran and Sansa's and even Arya's plots began to diminish. It moved in new directions. But it is not doing that anymore. It's hunkered down into a band of actors where screentime is created for them or they are inserted into plots where they were not in originally.

I would gladly trade a pairing down of King's Landing focus for other things. But again, the show decided to focus on certain actors or "fan favorites" in exchange for branching out. IMO Dorne does not even really count the way they have portrayed it.

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I liked someone's comments about giving Arriane's lines to others, and especially Trystan's "loose brothel clothing" and sex-driven fiend for Marcella. We'll never see any of it.

The sand snakes look ridiculous. It's almost racist. If they were an angry black race in the show (as opposed to an angry brown race) there would be uproar. There's no depth to Dorne.

That can happen when you remove ALL the nuances of the plot lines and simply use characters to facilitate a fake Jamie scenario and a threat to the capitol.

[FireAndBlood.]

There really are not "core" characters in the books.

Yes there are. Tyrion, Jon, Bran, Daenerys, Arya and Sansa are the core characters. The rest are supporting.

[The One And Only]

Yes there are. Tyrion, Jon, Bran, Daenerys, Arya and Sansa are the core characters. The rest are supporting.

Correct. I would add Cersei & Jamie to that list as well. And as I stated above,3 of those characters have had a total of 11 POV chapters published in the last 14+ years.

That is unacceptable for both books and television.