Season 2 casting complete.

[David bc]

GRRM himself (not a blog) has confirmed that all casting of major characters for season 2 has been completed.

The last charcater to be cast was Lord Rickard Karstark.

SO it looks like we will have a season without:

Ramsay Bolton

Reek

Jojen Reed

Meera Reed

Qhorin Halfhand

unless for some reason they are not announcing those characters...i couldn't see why though.

[The Lost Lord]

Martin said the major roles have all been filled, not that they've all been announced. In the past he's said that roles have been filled but he wasn't allowed to announce them for some time because various contract matters were still being finalized. So, though hope for the Reeds is decreasing with every passing day, it's not totally gone yet.

[BrosBeforeSnows]

Not sure about the spoiler rules for the GoT board, so I'll put tags on this just in case:

Technically, there are easy ways out of featuring the Reeds and Halfhand; i.e. transfer the Reeds's abilities and purpose to Osha, and get some other ranger to accompany Jon Snow to the Frostfangs. Don't get me wrong, I too am a purist and would much rather have them in than not, but Reek/Ramsay is the more important character here, by far. His role is inexorably connected to Theon's story arc, and it's not like they can simply get someone else to torture him. Transferring his role to Roose wouldn't work because Roose is at Harrenhal, rather than Winterfell. And giving his role to some random Bolton bannerman would be pointless, being that they could call the guy Reek just as easy as Tony, or Al. I really don't see any way out of that one. Plus, removing his character from the equation would lead to numerous rewrites down the road.

[Padraig]

BrosbeforeSnows, by the same logic, if there is another Ranger going to be with Jon, they still have to cast him. And why not call him Qhorin?

Easiest thing is to assume that he is already cast.

Ramsay has to appear in the series eventually (if we get that far) but they could delay his arrival until that later season.

[Aegnor]

I think the new casting clue given by GRRM is for Qhorin. I'm more confused about no Edmure.

[Padraig]

GRRM confirmed it was Karstark. Chech his blog again. :) Edmure and the impact on Jaime is a conundrum though.

[Aegnor]

Can't check his blog from work. I hadn't heard it had been confirmed as Karstark. I wonder what the Kingdom of bones stuff was about. Must have been an actor clue and not a role clue.

[Galen M]

Ramsay Bolton

Reek

That's just one role tecnically

[mediocre cheese]

Not sure about the spoiler rules for the GoT board, so I'll put tags on this just in case:

Technically, there are easy ways out of featuring the Reeds and Halfhand; i.e. transfer the Reeds's abilities and purpose to Osha, and get some other ranger to accompany Jon Snow to the Frostfangs. Don't get me wrong, I too am a purist and would much rather have them in than not, but Reek/Ramsay is the more important character here, by far. His role is inexorably connected to Theon's story arc, and it's not like they can simply get someone else to torture him. Transferring his role to Roose wouldn't work because Roose is at Harrenhal, rather than Winterfell. And giving his role to some random Bolton bannerman would be pointless, being that they could call the guy Reek just as easy as Tony, or Al. I really don't see any way out of that one. Plus, removing his character from the equation would lead to numerous rewrites down the road.

From my understanding Roose has already been moved from harrenhall, instead he will be with Robb in the west (as a contrast between nice robb and bad roose). Arya is going to be Tywin's cupbearer instead of Roose's.

I imagine they'll get rid of the whole miller's kids angle, and instead just have theon take the castle, rodrik or whoever try and take it back and Robb having learned of it sends Roose to help, who instead kills rodrik and burns winterfell ala Ramsay.

[Eyron]

From my understanding Roose is already been moved from harrenhall, instead he will be with Robb in the west (as a contrast between nice robb and bad roose). Arya is going to be twin's cupbearer instead of Roose's.

I imagine they'll get rid of the whole miller's kids angle, and instead just have theon take the castle, rodrik or whoever try and take it back and Robb having learned of it sends Roose to help, who instead kills rodrik and burns winterfell ala Ramsay.

Oh no...

This would be the worst change for me...

We will loose the whole dynamic between the Boltons, Ramseys bitches and eventually the Snow-Snow situation.

And what about weasel soup??? Sure it could be fitted in somewhere, but they would have to make up a whole new scenario in any case, when they could just have gone with the original.

[Padraig]

We don't need Roose galivanting from the West to the North and South again to meet Jaime later on. Just have an army of Boltons turn up at the end under some general. Not great but it'll do.

[mediocre cheese]

Oh no... This would be the worst change for me...

We will loose the whole dynamic between the Boltons, Ramseys bitches and eventually the Snow-Snow situation. And what about weasel soup??? Sure it could be fitted in somewhere, but they would have to make up a whole new scenario in any case, when they could just have gone with the original.

No I agree totally, but all of the stuff with ramsay doesn't come up until DWD, and we know they're going to have 2 seasons for SoS, so by the time season 5 comes up (if the show even gets that far) they could add it in or think of a whole new plotline.

But yeah I hope I'm wrong and they include Ramsay, but it looks less and less likely.

With weasel soup, I imagine they'd cut the whole thing out, and instead speed up the sequence so Arya escapes with gendry and hot pie right after tywin leaves. But maybe they'll adjust the plot and bring bolton back from the west and keep it in.

[ICE CROW]

God i really hope they decided to keep the reeds or at least one of them, Also Qhorin Halfhand is a must, i believe GRRM isn't allowed to announce what the roles are, just that all roles have been filled.

[BrosBeforeSnows]

BrosbeforeSnows, by the same logic, if there is another Ranger going to be with Jon, they still have to cast him. And why not call him Qhorin?

Easiest thing is to assume that he is already cast.

Ramsay has to appear in the series eventually (if we get that far) but they could delay his arrival until that later season.

Good point.

However, I was trying to get at the fact that Qhorin isn't integral to the story line, like Ramsay is. Jon can technically kill any ranger and get the same effect. But messing with the Ramsay/Roose story can create major problems (i.e. rewrites) down the road... assuming they make it that far down the road.

[ICE CROW]

Good point.

However, I was trying to get at the fact that Qhorin isn't integral to the story line, like Ramsay is. Jon can technically kill any ranger and get the same effect. But messing with the Ramsay/Roose story can create major problems (i.e. rewrites) down the road... assuming they make it that far down the road.

What your saying is true,

Jon can kill any ranger, but what would be the sense in not calling him Qhorin?. If they hold true to the story and Jon kills a fellow ranger it will be Qhorin, just cus it doesn't make any sense to not call him Qhorin.

[BrosBeforeSnows]

From my understanding Roose has already been moved from harrenhall, instead he will be with Robb in the west (as a contrast between nice robb and bad roose). Arya is going to be Tywin's cupbearer instead of Roose's.

I imagine they'll get rid of the whole miller's kids angle, and instead just have theon take the castle, rodrik or whoever try and take it back and Robb having learned of it sends Roose to help, who instead kills rodrik and burns winterfell ala Ramsay.

Wow. Those would be some pretty MAJOR changes. I can't really blame HBO for wanting to tinker with the story, given the vast plethora of characters, but that would go far beyond "tinkering" in my opinion. I understand that budget, schedule, etc.. and various other factors all comes into play, but changing all of that would be a pretty drastic move, don't you think?

[BrosBeforeSnows]

What your saying is true,

Jon can kill any ranger, but what would be the sense in not calling him Qhorin?. If they hold true to the story and Jon kills a fellow ranger it will be Qhorin, just cus it doesn't make any sense to not call him Qhorin.

Yeah, you're totally right... and that's probably what they'll do. But

they could always use someone who's already been cast, like Bowen Marsh, for example. And sure, transforming Bowen Marsh's role into Qhorin Halfhand would almost be insulting, but they can just easily pair Jon up with him instead of casting a new actor entirely. Again, I agree with you and think they will cast a Halfhand, but they might not.

[The Lost Lord]

Wow. Those would be some pretty MAJOR changes

AverageCheese is purely speculating.

There was a report from the set a month ago that Arya is Tywin's cupbearer. Somehow that metamorphosed into people assuming she would not be Roose's cupbearer. But there is no evidence for that. Why can't she be both?

I speculated months ago that in the first half of the season we'd see some scenes with Roose and Robb in the west to set up the Stark-Bolton relationship. Then, Roose would depart Robb for some reason, and we'd next meet him again at Harrenhal with Arya. Nothing we've learned so far contradicts this theory.

AverageCheese has even less evidence for his speculations about rewriting the end of the Theon/Bran/Rickon plotline. I find this very far-fetched and it's based on nothing.

they could always use someone who's already been cast, like Bowen Marsh, for example.

I've seen speculation (again, no evidence) that Jon will kill Lord Commander Mormont instead of Qhorin. Not impossible, I'd say, but it would surely be less dramatic for Jon to kill an old man rather than a hardened fighter.

[MarianneSnow]

Wow. Those would be some pretty MAJOR changes. I can't really blame HBO for wanting to tinker with the story, given the vast plethora of characters, but that would go far beyond "tinkering" in my opinion. I understand that budget, schedule, etc.. and various other factors all comes into play, but changing all of that would be a pretty drastic move, don't you think?

Yes I do think. I am just afraid that watching whatever HBO has in store for us is going to make me mad at them...ALOT!!!

[mediocre cheese]

There was a report from the set a month ago that Arya is Tywin's cupbearer. Somehow that metamorphosed into people assuming she would not be Roose's cupbearer. But there is no evidence for that. Why can't she be both?

I speculated months ago that in the first half of the season we'd see some scenes with Roose and Robb in the west to set up the Stark-Bolton relationship. Then, Roose would depart Robb for some reason, and we'd next meet him again at Harrenhal with Arya. Nothing we've learned so far contradicts this theory.

AverageCheese has even less evidence for his speculations about rewriting the end of the Theon/Bran/Rickon plotline. I find this very far-fetched and it's based on nothing.

Obviously I'm speculating, that is why I said: "I imagine:...", the only thing we know for sure is

that Ramsay hasn't been cast and time is running out for him. There are a zillion things they can do to change the plotline or move it back if they so desire, but based on that Roose is in the west with robb (when he wasn't in the books) and Tywin makes arya his cupbearer (when he didn't in the books). I imagine they are going to make some major changes, in order to condense material. Clearly anything is possible, and your theory could happen, for all we know Theon could end up killing tyrion.