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How are they going to deal with the "Walt Problem"


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So, all the "Lost" fans out there know the problem with the character of Walt - even though only days or weeks were passing in the story, in the real world years were passing - and between seasons, the 10 year old didn't look like a 10 year old anymore.

Has HBO given any thought to how they're going to handle this problem with Bran, Arya, Rickon, Tommen, etc? Now, I will admit that my knowledge of the timeline of the books isn't perfect, but I'm pretty darn sure that each book didn't cover a year. Of course, if the 5-year gap had been kept, I suppose they would've faced the opposite problem...

Don't know if this has been brought up before, I looked but didn't see anything...

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On the other hand, though, this is an HBO show, and those are usually known for huge gaps between seasons. The Sopranos was a 6 season show that spanned 10 years, and if I recall correctly the Wire ran from 2001-2009 even though it was 5 seasons...

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Has HBO given any thought to how they're going to handle this problem with Bran, Arya, Rickon, Tommen, etc? Now, I will admit that my knowledge of the timeline of the books isn't perfect, but I'm pretty darn sure that each book didn't cover a year. Of course, if the 5-year gap had been kept, I suppose they would've faced the opposite problem...

Don't know if this has been brought up before, I looked but didn't see anything...

They plan on injecting the kids with an anti-aging hormone. And yes, this has been brought up repeatedly.

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I think it'll be more difficult for Bran and Arya than anyone else. Arya is supposed to be a raggedy little tomboy, but what happens in season 2 when all of a sudden she's a 15-year-old and looking very womanly? And due to Bran's injury, he's supposed to remain small and sickly looking, or has been so far. What happens if his actor suddenly grows six inches and gains fifty pounds during hiatus?

Rickon isn't that much of a problem. He disappears for so long that they can just get a new actor for when/if he ever reappears, unless maybe the HBO series will show where Osha and Rickon go (hello Howland Reed!?!?!?!) rather than just have them disappear.

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I think it'll be more difficult for Bran and Arya than anyone else. Arya is supposed to be a raggedy little tomboy, but what happens in season 2 when all of a sudden she's a 15-year-old and looking very womanly? And due to Bran's injury, he's supposed to remain small and sickly looking, or has been so far. What happens if his actor suddenly grows six inches and gains fifty pounds during hiatus?

Recasting the younger actors is possible. Hopefully not but not impossible.

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I think it will be ok for the first few series but if they need to they'll do what they did with Octavian in Rome and recast although in that case it was an age up rather than down.

:pimp:

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Soap operas do this all the time. Even gave it a name: Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome. From the entry:

The practice of rapidly aging characters dates back to the early years of television soap opera. In As the World Turns, Tom Hughes was born on screen in 1961. By 1970 he had been to college and fought in the Vietnam War. Subsequent recasting kept him in his 30s for 20 years, with Tom hitting his 40s in the 1990s.

See? Easy peasy, and acceptable tv practice for decades. ;)

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Bran will be on Hodor's back and sitting for the most part, right?

Arya, well, the actress might not grow that much, or, they'll have to use some creative camera angles while they shoot.

I think Walt was something of an anomaly due to a few factors:

1. He grew REALLY fast in a short amount of time.

2. The time on Lost's "island" across the first few seasons was less than a year. So, they were hemmed into a pretty tight timeline. GoT doesn't take place within 4-5 months, so they have more wiggle room.

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Lost's entire first four seasons covered just 100 days, or 3 months and 10 days (roughly). AGoT by itself covers at least twice that, ACoK more like three-to-four times that amount. You can certainly stretch the period covered by AGoT-ADWD (about 2.5-3 years in the books) to more like 4-5 years without too many major problems.

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GRRM originally wanted a 5 year gap. I think in this case it won't be a problem wether the actors are 5 years older than their characters at one point. It won't be a gap. In the series the events will just take a little bit more time than the same events in the book.

It would only be a problem if they had a 2 year hiatus and then start filming again with 2 years older teens. As long they naturally mature through the years, like those Harry Potter actors, it's fine.

And there is always make up/costumes that could make Maisie look less womanly and Bran more sickly.

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Lost's entire first four seasons covered just 100 days, or 3 months and 10 days (roughly). AGoT by itself covers at least twice that, ACoK more like three-to-four times that amount. You can certainly stretch the period covered by AGoT-ADWD (about 2.5-3 years in the books) to more like 4-5 years without too many major problems.

This. There is no "Walt" issue because GoT doesn't cover a short time-span. Moreover, the timeline can be stretched out a bit from the books without losing the essence of the story.

Harry Potter had a similar problem where the kids were supposed to play 12-13 year olds, but had matured too quickly and already looked like 16-18 year olds. They just rolled with it anyway.

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