[BOOK/TV Spoilers] Season Two - speculation

[johnnysd]

Jon and Dany and barely acomplish anything in ACOK so their parts can be easily trimmed down. Sansa and Arya's stories can also be trimmed down without compromising the plot.

The main bulk of the story lies in Tyrion, Catelyn and Theon/Bran. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to see some Robb, Renly, Stannis and Tywin "POVs".

I actually totally disagree with that. I actually think that they will expand Dany's arc to include Astapor.

I think that they will cut Bran down quite a bit, a lot of Bran playing a Lord, and stuff with the Reeds can be consolidated without losing any narrative drive.

They have not mentioned Roose Bolton at all, so they may cut him entirely in the series

I think they expand the role of the hound possibly removing Ser Dontos

[ferthepoet]

They have not mentioned Roose Bolton at all, so they may cut him entirely in the series

I think they'll have to mention considering the big role his bastard has to play but they may decide not to cast him and keep him as an off screen character

[Padraig]

I actually totally disagree with that. I actually think that they will expand Dany's arc to include Astapor.

Yes, I think it is more likely that they'll give Dany new material or move some aSoS stuff into S2 than downplay her role. Similarly Jon. :)

I think Roose will feature. He wasn't important in S1 but his appearance in S2 will tie together what is going on in Winterfell with what is going on in the South.

Ser Dontos is harder to speculate on. I can't see them giving the Hound his role, especially since the Hound leaves at the end of aCoK. They do need to pave the way for Sansa's escape though, so Dontos may be required.

As for Bran. Dumping the Frey wards seems likely. No mention of them in E9. But more difficult to dump the Reeds. We could end up with 1 Reed I suppose.

[metr0man]

I think the following can be safely trimmed to a heavy extent:

ARYA'S JOURNEY

It's pretty essential that she:

-Meet Gendry

-Introduced to the Faceless Men via Jaquen H'gar at Harrenhall

-Join up with Beric's Outlaws (memory is fuzzy does this happen at the end of 2 or beginning of 3?)

IMO those are the essential points. You can streamline the journey considerably. For example:

Episode 1) Traveling with Yoren, meets Gendry and Hot Pie.

2) Fights the Lannister men. Gets caught in the aftermath of the battle. Marched to Harrenhall.

3) Servant life at Harrenhall

4) Freeing northmen, setting Jaquen free

5) Escape Harrenhall.

Add another two episodes of scenes in between the numbers to flesh out areas that may need it.

JON BEYOND THE WALL

There's actually a whole lot of foreshadowing going on here and not much movement. They could REALLY streamline this if they wanted to:

1) journey beyond the wall, arrive at Craster's

2) Scenes at Craster's

3) Continue journey, meet up with Qhorin

4) Jon and Quorin's "adventures"

5) Qhorin commands Jon to join wildlings, Jon kills Quhorin

6) Introductory scene to the wildlings

IN FACT, I actually don't think A Clash of Kings is THAT difficult to compress. It suffers (I use that word loosely) from middle part syndrome. Nothing gets resolved, it's all (compelling) transitory stuff. The book is one big buildup to the battle of the Blackwater.

Tyrion's storyline is nice and full and he will be a very effective "Ned substitute" for the audience and should probably get as much screen time as possible so I wouldn't trim it too much.

[Prankster]

The irony is that while book two is longer, I'd say it's mostly less dense from a plot perspective than book one. As has already been mentioned, Arya, Jon and Dany's storylines involve a lot of wandering around, which is very easy to sum up briefly on screen with a scene or two. Look at Dany's first chapter, for instance--it may take up a lot of text, but you could do it in three scenes on TV: they discuss following the comet and set out into the Waste; cut back to them stumbling through the waste and discovering Vaes Tolorro, then sending out her riders; the one rider returns with the three visitors from Qarth. That's a bit simplified, and you could probably add a scene or two without eating up that much screentime, but the advantage of portraying a journey on screen is that you can cut from "people starting out on a journey" to "weeks later, stumbling around, dishevelled, arriving at their destination" and convey the whole trip in a matter of seconds if you really have to. Dollars to donuts we'll get the whole journey across the red waste in the first episode.

The fact is, Arya, Dany and Jon, along with Tyrion, are arguably the four main characters of the show now that Ned's dead, so they'll really have to get a fair amount of screen time. As I've argued elsewhere, I'd bet they actually get a few little mini-arcs added to their stories just so that we don't spend a disproportionate amount of time with Catelyn & Robb, Theon, and Tyrion (who have a much denser storyline from a plot perspective and will therefore take up more screentime).

As for Jaime, a lot of people seem to miss that lots happens to him in book two--it just mostly happens offscreen. Among other things, he makes an escape attempt and gets downgraded to a nasty dungeon. I actually think it makes a lot of sense to expand his captivity, and stretch out his growing relationship with Cat, so that she's not suddenly won over in a single scene but over the course of an entire season.

[Padraig]

Episode 1) Traveling with Yoren, meets Gendry and Hot Pie.

Actually, I think she meets Gendry and Hot Pie in E10. We see her leave KL with the recruits rather than pick her up having left KL, which is what happened in aCoK.

I actually think it makes a lot of sense to expand his captivity, and stretch out his growing relationship with Cat, so that she's not suddenly won over in a single scene but over the course of an entire season.

And again here, it looks like we will see Jaime and Cat converse in E10. (It makes a lot of sense. If she suspects that the Lannisters threw her child out a window then she is bound to ask him sooner rather than later). I think their relationship will be too antagonistic for them to have many more meetings but there could be one more before their last fateful encounter. She spends a lot of time away from Riverrun anyhow, so wouldn't be able to meet Jaime that much.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

I just got done reading Davos' part of the the Battle of Blackwater, no way in hell they are able to actually match the scale of it imo, IIRC Stannis had 200 ships and Joffrey had about 50. that's a pretty big battle. you'd have to build a few ships and cgi the rest. Not sure how they will Tyrions parts.

[j52y]

Here is my proposed outline for season 2. This outline assumes accelerated Jaime and Dany storylines and Robb storyline. It likely won't be that different from that other guy's outline. I'm also going to assume that every character is going to be included, which may not be the case.

Episode 1: (This episode is longer than most)

Prolouge

Tyrion arrives in King's Langing/Sansa saving Ser Dontos

Robb, Catelyn, etc arrive at Riverrun, meet the Tullys/scene with Jaime/sends Ser Rodrik North

Bran meets the Walders/talks to Osha about wolf dreams

Yoren defends Gendry against gold cloaks/Arya meets Jaqen/Yoren decided to take his party off of the Kingsroad

Tyrion goes to his first Small Council Meeting/Tyrion and Varys in the bar

Dany ponders what to do next, decided to cross the red lands

An added scene with Davos, Stannis, and Mel

A scene between Arya and Yoren about wolves

Robb gives Cleos Frey terms, sends Theon to the Iron Islands, Catelyn to treat with Renly

Jon and co are getting ready to leave, then actually leave

Tyrion sends Janos Slynt to the Wall

Cliffhanger: Stannis declares Joffrey a bastard and declares for war and does that ritual abandoning the 7 for R'hller

Episode 2:

Tyrion orders the blacksmiths to construct a chain

Rodrik arrives at Winterfell and helps Bran be the lord for the feast/setting up the Ramsay Snow

Arya scene (likely her beating up that one kid)

Theon arrives at Pyke, says good bye to the girl he's fucking and is shocked by the appearance and demeanor of his uncle

Doreah dies/Dany finds an abandoned town, sends out her bloodriders

Tyrion does his 1, 2, 3 trick

New scene with Davos, Mel, and Stannis

Cersei gets mad at Tyrion about Dorne; Tyrion knows that Pycell is her informant and Tyrion explains this much to Bronn

Theon meets with Balon, finds out that Balon plans to declare himself a king

Cliffhanger: Ser Amory Lorch attacks Yoren/Arya escapes

Episode 3:

Aftermath of Amory Lorch, Arya goes back to see if anyone is alive, sees that Yoren is dead

Robb leaves Riverrun with his army

Catelyn arrives at Bitterbridge (or wherever they have this take place), sees Brienne win the melee

Jon and the Night's Watch visit White Tree

Tyrion goes to the Alchemists

Meera and Jojen Reed arrive at Winterfell, Bran sees them in one of his wolf dreams/More set up about Ramsay Snow

Sansa meets Ser Dontos in the Godswood/ scene with the Hound

Tyrion presides over a meeting with Robb's terms and Ser Allister Thorne

Dany's blood riders come back, one of them with 3 new friends

Arya is captured

Cliffhanger: Catelyn treats with Renly, finds out that Stannis has seiged Storm's End

Episode 4:

Theon and Asha

Jon and Co arrive at Craster

Tyrion gives Cleos Frey alternative terms/arrests Pycelle

Dany arrives at Qarth

Arya arrives at Harrenhal and is made a servant

Jojen talks to Bran about green dreams

Tyrion blackmails Lancel into spying for him

Scene with Robb and co

Balon tells Theon and others his attack strategy

Scene where Dany askes for help and gets the run around

Sam and Gilly/Jon and the Night's Watch leave Craster's

Cliffhanger: Jagen offers to kill 3 people for Arya

Episode 5:

Arya has Jagen kill Chiswyck

Grey Wind leads Robb to win the Battle of Oxcross

Joffrey gets mad and has someone beat Sansa, Tyrion saves her

New scene with Brienne

Renly and Stannis Parlay

Jon and co arrive at Fist of First Men/Jon and Ghost find the dragonglass

Theon has a successful attack, convinces Tallheart to fake attack Torrhen's Square

Rodrik leaves Winterfell to arrest Ramsay Snow

Arya has Jaqen kill Weese/Tywin leaves Harrenhall

Cliffhanger: Renly is killed by a shadow

Episode 6:

Catelyn and Brienne flee/ Loras discovers Renly is dead and rages

Small council decides to send Littlefinger to treat with the Tyrells

Jojen tells Bran that he had a dream of Bran dead/Rodrik comes back from Ramsay's residence with "Reek"

Cleos Frey arrives at Riverrun/the party tries to help Jaime escape

Davos arrives, sees Stannis treat with Ser Cortnay Penrose

Dany is finally turned down by Qarth, becomes conviced by warlock to go into House of the Undying

Davos rows Mel under Storms End, shadow birth

Myrcella is sent off to Dorne; the crowd rebels against Tyrion and co

Catelyn arrives back at Riverrun, hear that Edmure is going to march out to meet Tywin

Cliffhanger: Theon takes Winterfell

Episode 7:

Captured Northmen arrive in Harrenhal

Tyrion schemes to protect Tommen

Qhorin Halfhand arrives, askes for Jon

Bran and Rickon escape/Theon begins his search party

Sansa has her period

Arya gets Jaqen to help her free the Northmen/Harrenhal

Theon gives up the search

Arya in Godswood, Jaqen leaves/shifts

Tyrion sees two new Kingsgaurd/sees Shae

Scene with Robb and co/Robb gets injured and meets Jeyne

Theon puts kid's heads on spikes, says that they're Bran and Rickon

Cliffhanger: Dany in the House of the Undead

Episode 8:

Catelyn finds out that Bran and Rickon are dead and is sad

Robb finds out that Bran and Rickon are dead and has sex with Jeyne

Jon and co come upon some wildings, capture Ygrette, Jon opts not to kill her

Dany is saved in the docks by Strong Belwas and Artisan Whitebeard/ gets a ship with them

Robb marries Jeyne out of guilt

Roose Bolton arrives at Harrenhall

Asha comes to Winterfell

Stannis's bannermen convince him not to bring the Red Priestess into battle for King's Landing/Davos and armada depart

Scene between Jon and Qhorin about Ygrette

Cersei threatens Tyrion/Alayaya

Cliffhanger: Catelyn releases Jaime

Episode 9:

Jaime and Brienne escape

Catelyn is confined to her father's quarters

Jorah convinces Dany to go to Slaver's Bay

Theon sends "Reek" out to get help

Battle of Blackwater

Episode 10:

Jon and co realize that the wildings are onto them

Davos wakes up

Joffrey hands out awards for Blackwater

Tyrion wakes up

Sansa is happy until Dontos

Rodrik and army shows up and parlays with Theon, then Ramsay Snow arrives and sacks Winterfell

Dany arrives in Astapor and meets with the slavers

Bran and co come out of hiding, decide to travel

Arya finds out that Roose Bolton is leaving Harrenhall, decides to leave with Hot Pie and Gendry

Jon and co are still pursued by wildings

Tyrion wants to be named heir to Casterly Rock/exposition about what happened in the battle

Cleos Frey gets killed, Jaime and Brienne fight then get captured, Jaime gets his hand cut off

Robb arrives at Riverrun, they talk about their problems

Dany sells her dragons for Unsullied, then the dragons kill the slavers

Cliffhanger: Jon fight Qhorin and kills him, joining the wildings

There are some set up and small scenes I can't account for, but I think something like that is doable for the series.

[Padraig]

I really like the last scene from aCoK, where Bran leaves the crypts. Its a very low-key but somewhat uplifting moment. Especially as Bran looks back and thinks that Winterfell will rise again. Reminds us that the Starks are at the centre of this story.

I hope S2 ends with the same moment. It will be tricky to pull off but could be really good if they manage it.

[ferthepoet]

j52y your outline is good but I don't think we'll be seeing Doreah die on screen, I think she'll either permanently replace Jiqui who has not been on screen since episode 2 or not be seen in season 2 at all. I hope they keep her because I think the actress is hot. I also think the Walders have been scratched from the series as they were not mentioned last episode.

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

j52y your outline is good but I don't think we'll be seeing Doreah die on screen, I think she'll either permanently replace Jiqui who has not been on screen since episode 2 or not be seen in season 2 at all. I hope they keep her because I think the actress is hot. I also think the Walders have been scratched from the series as they were not mentioned last episode.

Why not show Doreah's death? She's the most fleshed out of Dany's handmaids (arguable, Irri's gotten a lot of screentime too), and her death will bring a lot of Drama - isn't great drama what GoT is about? No, Doreah's definitely toast.

Dany's story, IMO:

Ep 1: Red Waste/Doreah dies along with half the Khalasaar. The dragons are shown in cages and they get their names (2 scenes).

Ep 2: Arrival in ruined city/oasis. Rakharo and 2 others are sent off. Jorah brings Dany a peach, tells his tale of woe (2 scenes).

Ep 3: Rakharo returns with 3 friends (1 scene).

Ep 4: Arrival in Qarth, Dany moves into Xaro's palace, Jorah is suspicious (1-2 scenes).

Ep 5: Negotiation with Xaro and others in Qarth (incl. marriage offer from Xaro), exposition about Qarth, people bringing Dany gifts to see the dragons. Dragons are shown in cages. (1-2 scenes)

Ep 6: Xaro gets pushy about marriage/gift. Jorah advises Dany to leave Qarth immediately. Dany decides to go to HotU as a last ditch effort - cliffhanger, she enters (2 short scenes).

Ep 7: House of the Undying. Drogon is with her (1 long scene).

Ep 8: They are kicked out of Xaro's Palace. Creepy mask lady says "To go West you must Go East." Sorrowful man assassination attempt foiled by Arstan. They all get on the boats (2 scenes).

Ep 10: Dany's dragons fly for the first time over the ocean. Jorah convinces Dany to go to Slaver's Bay to get an army ("To go West you must go East"), then kisses her (2 scenes).

I don't think they will include any of the Slaver's bay scenes, especially the winning of the Unsullied. Too expensive for one thing, and those scenes shouldn't be rushed.

Notice I left one episode Dany-free.

Edit: actually now that I think about it, pretty sure there will be no Dany in episode 9: Blackwater.

[j52y]

Why not show Doreah's death? She's the most fleshed out of Dany's handmaids (arguable, Irri's gotten a lot of screentime too), and her death will bring a lot of Drama - isn't great drama what GoT is about? No, Doreah's definitely toast.

Dany's story, IMO:

Ep 1: Red Waste/Doreah dies along with half the Khalasaar. The dragons are shown in cages and they get their names (2 scenes).

Ep 2: Arrival in ruined city/oasis. Rakharo and 2 others are sent off. Jorah brings Dany a peach, tells his tale of woe (2 scenes).

Ep 3: Rakharo returns with 3 friends (1 scene).

Ep 4: Arrival in Qarth, Dany moves into Xaro's palace, Jorah is suspicious (1-2 scenes).

Ep 5: Negotiation with Xaro and others in Qarth (incl. marriage offer from Xaro), exposition about Qarth, people bringing Dany gifts to see the dragons. Dragons are shown in cages. (1-2 scenes)

Ep 6: Xaro gets pushy about marriage/gift. Jorah advises Dany to leave Qarth immediately. Dany decides to go to HotU as a last ditch effort - cliffhanger, she enters (2 short scenes).

Ep 7: House of the Undying. Drogon is with her (1 long scene).

Ep 8: They are kicked out of Xaro's Palace. Creepy mask lady says "To go West you must Go East." Sorrowful man assassination attempt foiled by Arstan. They all get on the boats (2 scenes).

Ep 10: Dany's dragons fly for the first time over the ocean. Jorah convinces Dany to go to Slaver's Bay to get an army ("To go West you must go East"), then kisses her (2 scenes).

I don't think they will include any of the Slaver's bay scenes, especially the winning of the Unsullied. Too expensive for one thing, and those scenes shouldn't be rushed.

Notice I left one episode Dany-free.

Edit: actually now that I think about it, pretty sure there will be no Dany in episode 9: Blackwater.

I actually do like that better for Dany's storyline than what I have.

And I had thought that Cat mentioned Arya being betrothed to one of the Walders in the past episode, but perhaps I misheard.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

I think that Bran's escape works better for a season ending than Jon with the Wildings, the end of the book is pretty depressing to me so a uplifting scene like that would be cool. You could even have bran say his "I'm not broken either" thought.

[Exmortus]

Hey whats crackin everybody, I was reading people talking about how Jaime only has one scene in season 2. I haven't seen anything about the part about the plan to get him free. I would imagine that if people want to see more of Jaime they would throw that in there. unless someone already brought it up, in which case, what he said.

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

I think what a lot of people (myself included) sometimes miss when we're figuring out what will go in each episode, is the overriding importance of smaller character moments. Really these are the most important parts of the story, imo.

Who cares about Tyrion's scheming? I'm more interested to see that first juicy scene with Cersei where she slaps him three times in a row.

Who cares that Jon's just wandering around for most of the book? I want more buddy scenes with Sam and Jon!

Who cares what Bran's getting up to with the politics of Winterfell? I want more scenes between him and Jojen, Meera, Luwin, and Osha who are all great characters.

And so on.

[j52y]

I think what a lot of people (myself included) sometimes miss when we're figuring out what will go in each episode, is the overriding importance of smaller character moments. Really these are the most important parts of the story, imo.

Who cares about Tyrion's scheming? I'm more interested to see that first juicy scene with Cersei where she slaps him three times in a row.

Who cares that Jon's just wandering around for most of the book? I want more buddy scenes with Sam and Jon!

Who cares what Bran's getting up to with the politics of Winterfell? I want more scenes between him and Jojen, Meera, Luwin, and Osha who are all great characters.

And so on.

You're right. Scenes like the ones between Robert and Cersei, Jory and Jaime, but they're also what makes the show so much fun (for me, anyways). But I do think, in moderation, political scenes can be interesting. Deadwood and The Wire were able to mix political and plot with good character moments, and the first season did that well as well.

I expect a lot of such scenes between:

Loras and Renly

Brienne and Renly

Brienne and Catelyn

Davos and Stannis

Stannis and Mel

Robb and Blackfish (hopefully!)

Bran, Osha, Luwin, Rodrik, and/or the Reeds

Theon and his family

Tyrion and Varys

Tyrion and Littlefinger

Sansa and the Hound (again, hopefully, because we didn't get much between them in the first season)

Arya and Jaqen

Arya and Yoren

Jon and Sam

Jon and Qhorin

Dany and Jorah

Dany and Barristan

But a lot of such scenes could possibly fit in multiple episodes, and thus is hard to predict.

I left this out of my "outline", but I realize now that we'll prolly get some Sam POV towards the end of the second season after Jon leaves with Qhorin. Amoungst other things, it'll set up the revolt against LC Mormont.

[ferthepoet]

As I mentioned before I hope they include Loras killing the 3 rainbow guards guys on screen

[Corvinus85]

Looking at the poster for GOT, I'm wondering what will they do for season 2. Maybe a "traditional" poster featuring all the kings, with Robb, Joffrey and Stannis up front, Renly and Balon in the background.

Or maybe a wolf vs. lion vs. stag poster.

[j52y]

Looking at the poster for GOT, I'm wondering what will they do for season 2. Maybe a "traditional" poster featuring all the kings, with Robb, Joffrey and Stannis up front, Renly and Balon in the background.

Or maybe a wolf vs. lion vs. stag poster.

I think that'd be a cool poster, but it won't be the main one. Non-readers won't recognize Stannis or Balon, and none of them are main characters.

I think season 2 advertising will mainly focus on Tyrion, Jon, Dany, Stannis (if they get a "name" actor to play him), and maybe Robb, depending on how much they expand his part in season 2.

[nothatso]

Who cares about Tyrion's scheming?

Me.

Who cares that Jon's just wandering around for most of the book?

Me.

Who cares what Bran's getting up to with the politics of Winterfell?

Okay, you got me there.