[BOOK SPOILERS] Splitting Storm of Swords

[Lasair]

We know GoT has been renewed for a second season. It's based on the second book, and it will have 10 episodes just like the first book. Many have said that trying to do the same thing with the third book would be impossibly rushed. GRRM said that if he was in charge SoS would be two seasons and a combined AFFC and DwD would be three seasons.

But no hint from the actual showmakers.

Here's an idea to reduce the seasons covering those books from 5 to 4. How about cutting SoS, not where Part 1 and Part 2 (as published in the UK) split, but at Joffrey's wedding? That's about 800-900 pages, which isn't too far off Clash of Kings. Then the remainder of the storyline can be merged with AFFC and DwD.

That has the following advantages:

1) The audience get some much-needed revenge on Joffrey after their souls are crushed by the Red Wedding.

2) There would be both closure and a fascinating cliffhanger in KL. There's flexibility as to exactly which part of the King's Landing plotline would provide the series end. My preferred idea would be to end with Littlefinger meeting Sansa and Tyrion being accused, but leaving all of his imprisonment and all the Red Viper stuff until Season 4. Closure for Sansa - her time in KL has come to an end. Cliffhanger - what on earth does Littlefinger plan to do with her? Closure for Joffrey - the bastard's dead. Cliffhanger for Tyrion - what will happen to him? The audience will be so inured to shocking deaths at this point that they will genuinely fear for his life.

3) Several other storylines can be linked together by the Wall at that point. Jon will end with Ygritte's death. Sam and Bran will end with the magic door through the Wall. Davos will end with Stannis declaring he will go to the Wall (a scene we don't see in the books, but implied to be directly after Davos reads the leter to him).

4) Daenerys is the only real problem. Should her storyline be continued and have her take Meereen? Will there be room? I think room would have to be made in order to give her a proper send-off.

So the final two episodes would cover:

i) the battle at the Wall

ii) Sam with Bran (a medium-sized scene) and Davos with Stannis (a very brief scene)

iii) The Tyrion chapter of Joffrey's wedding and the Sansa chapter afterwards

iv) Dany's final scene in the book, where she announces that she will stay to rule Meereen. The big setpieces of Astapor, Yunkai and the battle for Meereen can be put earlier in the season.

Obviously Robb and Catelyn's story ends (we think!) at the Red Wedding. I think Arya's last appearance in the season should also be there, but without the silly 'is she dead? an axe went near her!' cliffhanger in her chapter in the book.

Thoughts?

[Padraig]

Its a very plausible idea. A big climax but not as harrowing as the RW. The question that falls out from it is where you'd stop S4. Its too early to know that of course. :)

Just before Joffrey's wedding, Dany has her showdown with Barristan and Jorah. I think that is a suitable enough breaking point for her. Given that she is still in Meereen in aDwD, I don't think its necessary to end her section in S3 the same way aSoS ended it. Actually, if you want to crank up the tension, you can still throw in the prologue also. Or show Beric bringing Cat back to life.

Altogether, that would probably leave you with a section as long as aCoK for S3. A lot to cover but doable I suppose.

Btw, the showrunners have said they have considered splitting aSoS and have even hinted at knowing the perfect spot. Whether that is the RW of Joffrey's wedding is too hard to guess. :)

[Lasair]

Interesting. Did they say 'splitting it so that it covers two seasons' or 'splitting it so that it covers more than one season'?

The latest spot one could cut and still get a full season out of the remainder would be the Red Wedding. That would provide a showy climax but ye gods, would it ever be depressing! If they're considering that no doubt they'll take a very careful look at viewer reaction to Ned's death and the lack of revenge in Ep 10 this time round.

No idea where in my idea an S4 would end. Soon we can speculate using pleasant DwD knowledge!

[The King of Ashes]

I think finishing the season at Joffrey's death is a much better ending than the Red Wedding. By the time of the RW, not one Lannister has had his comeuppance, which is what the TV audience is really looking for. The Red Wedding will kill off more characters the audience has grown attached to without any hint of revenge on the horizon, which will crush many of them. Killing Joffrey at the end of the season would be genuinely satisfying and then the death of Tywin in the next one will have the audience hopeful again. Ending on the RW would just be depressing for everyone.

[Lasair]

Killing Joffrey at the end of the season would be genuinely satisfying and then the death of Tywin in the next one will have the audience hopeful again. Ending on the RW would just be depressing for everyone.

I forgot about that double whammy!

So at the end of S3, people are thinking FINALLY DAMMIT about Joffrey, but OH GOD NO about maybe Tyrion swinging for it.

And then the first ep of S4 will have Gregor Clegane die and the second will have Tywin die and Tyrion escape!

[madking]

Does anyone know where the uk version ends for part 1?

[Lasair]

Does anyone know where the uk version ends for part 1?

Last chapter of it is Jon leaving the wildlings.

[ferthepoet]

This idea is good, although it would still be difficult to compress the whole of ASOS up to Joffrey's Wedding in 10 episodes, if they got at least 12 this idea would be perfect

[The Scabbard Of the Morning]

Yes, this would be much better. I've maintained all along that if you end season 3 at the RW you can kiss a ton of viewership goodbye. That is just way too depressing a stopping point for many people.

[Anomandaris86]

I think D&D said at one point that Season 3 would end on a "heartless cliffhanger" or something like that - obviously referring to the Red Wedding.

What I think they should do is call it "Season 3 Part 1" and "Season 3 Part 2," but they'll probably do something much gayer.

[metr0man]

The biggest problem with the show going forward is going to be the pace of the story. You're going to hear a lot of complaints, a la the middle seasons of LOST, about how slow the story is going and how they're stalling.

Imagine telling some of these viewers, "hey by Season 4, Daenerys STILL hasn't made it across the sea, oh and the White Walkers storyline hasn't moved forward at all". Arya is still hopping from town to town.

Personally, I'm not of the mind that every little plot point has to be followed. I say beg HBO for 13 episodes, and fit it all mostly in, cutting out subplots where needed.

The idea of the season ending on Joff's death, and Tyrion's arrest, is not a bad one, and better than splitting it at the halfway point, because at least by then, some major steps will have happened. Tyrion arrested, Joffrey dead, and Sansa whisked off with Littlefinger, would make a good ending.

Considering the glacial pace GRRM writes at now, I think you could fit in that last bit of Storm, along with Feast for Crows and ADWD into one season. I'm reading AFfC, and literally it seems like nothing happens. I'm a literally the 50% mark (in my Kindle) and can't think of one thing that MUST be shown onscreen. Maybe the bit of violence with Arienne trying to whisk Myrcella away, that's it.

[Padraig]

The biggest problem with the show going forward is going to be the pace of the story. You're going to hear a lot of complaints, a la the middle seasons of LOST, about how slow the story is going and how they're stalling.

Well, that's a complete exaggeration. Sure, there are elements of the show that take their time to sort themselves out but in every book there are huge changes:

In aCoK, the Starks lose Winterfell and Stannis' strength (who is built up in book 1) gets wiped out.

In aSoS, do I really have to list what happens there?

In aFfC, Cersei falls and given any adaptation of aFfC will run at the same time as aDwD, there will be plenty more.

So yes, people will be impatient for Dany to get to Westeros but no more than readers are and we haven't abandoned the books. The White Walkers storyline does move forward though. They defeat the NW in battle, leaving Jon at the mercy of Stannis when he arrives. I think people will realise that the final battle with the White Walkers will be at the end of the series. It doesn't make sense to occur earlier.

Clearly, any episode 3 wouldn't end at the half-way point. At the earliest point, we'll end at the RW (which is almost 2/3 of the way through).

Considering the glacial pace GRRM writes at now, I think you could fit in that last bit of Storm, along with Feast for Crows and ADWD into one season.

You haven't even read aDwD. :)

Now admittedly, if you like a really fast pace, then you would prefer if they cut the series to the bare bones. But I suspect most people hear would prefer a slower pace. We like giving characters time to breathe more.

[Humble Asskicker]

There's plenty of flexibility. I'm sure that if book three is split - and I read that the producers hope to execute it as such - then I imagine that a lot of material from book four - and perhaps some from book five - will fill the latter end of Storm. Future seasons should hold to that and it'll probably be mostly a mishmash of the books thenceforth.

It would help the producers stick to their ten episodes a season formula too, unless books five through seven (eight?) are as event heavy as Storm, in which case it would be problematic.

Eight seasons is a lot though. So instead the producers may work on pruning side plots, cutting away much that doesn't deal directly with the primary story. Which would suck, particularly since the question of whether the books even will be completed is still largely in question.