Westeros Blog: Critics Look to 2010

[Westeros]

As 2009 drew to a close and 2010 started, critics have been writing about what they’re looking forward to in the coming year. James Poniewozik, an early booster of the HBO’s Game of Thrones project, kicked it off by expressing his hopes that HBO will greenlight the season come March.

Ken Tucker over at Entertainment Weekly said much the same, joining what’s a growing number of television critics and commentators who have reason to believe the adaptation of George R.R. Martins’ bestselling fantasy series could make for terrific television. This is hot on the heels of the print edition of Entertainment Weekly making a mention of the project as we reported yesterday.

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[Werthead]

And the MSN website as well.

Series pick-up to be confirmed by HBO in March

There are already two blogs devoted to following the casting and Northern Ireland location shoot of this series' pilot episode, which HBO hasn't yet confirmed will air. The reason for the feverish fan interest? The series is an adaptation of the first novel in George R.R. Martin's beloved fantasy series that uses knights, tournaments, creatures and icy locations in the service of telling human stories where villains aren't always the bad guys and where the honourable solution isn't always the best one in the long run. (Thanks to Time Magazine and the Chicago Tribune for these observations.) Lena Headey from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" will play a royal woman who's as cunning as the men around her. Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean, Jennifer Ehle and Mark Addy costar. With any luck, HBO will green light enough games to take us through all the novels in Martin's saga.

[red snow]

This is all positive and can only help. A shame the show isn't even in the HBO 2010 preview though. I also think TV reviewers aren't wholly representative in that they tend to be into genre TV (they're one of us). One of these 2010 previews wants to see a new Whedon project for example leading me to suspect that a lot of these critics were big fans of shows that were cancelled despite their love of a show.

I think HBO may be more interested in the general public buzz of the show when it comes to greenlighting the show. The critics become more important when it comes to reviewing the actual content as HBO likes to be a critical darling. The fact the critics are already interested in the show is promising although the downside is that they could be even harsher if it turns out not to be as good as they hoped.