5 Year Gap in HBO Series

[Revan Baratheon]

This concerns both asoiaf as well as the HBo series,so ive posted this here.I belive the series will deviate in one way from the books-i.e,they will go ahead with the 5 year gap.This IMO,is the most logical way of staying both faithful to the books(by not creating additional storylines to "spice up" AFFC and ADWD) and also to maintain realism(ages of the actors,bran actor already looks too old) and ensure high ratings.

I think everyone more or less.agrees that the first 3 books are more fast paced in terms of the plot and more 'intersting'.However these last 2 books were intended by martin as interim novels in order to cover the storyline of the '5 year gap'.Originally he wanted to tell these last two books in the form of flash backs and skip directly to the current TWOW plot.but couldnt manage it.However i belive the series will manage this and thus reduce the overall seasons to maby 5,with the 4th season starting with the the first 5 episodes in the form of 'flashbacks' and later episodes covering TWOW.

We also know that cersei is less batshit insane in the hbo series than the books.so her 'losing her mind' in AFFC plot and ruining the kingdom in like 6 months makes much less sense than her running it down in say,4-5 years. Same is true for dany as mereene queen

Sure they will be certain issues,but with martin's help im sure they;ll manage.Also maise williams and turner can potray 15-16 girls much more realistically than 12-14(despite them aging the characters, a 13-year old arya asssasin barely makes more sense than a 11-year old).A 16 year old arya and 17-18 year old sansa would be much more realistic.and dont get me started on bran,tommen etc. A 5 season series will be much better than a 7-8 season series which will have a greater chance of being cancelled.And there is the obvious disdain with the 'boring plots' of AFFC and ADWD which might repel tv viewers..a fast paced TWOW and concise flashbacks are much more preferable.

The LOTR producers did something similiar concerning gandalf's 17 year hiatus,and extra crappy characters(hizadr loraq,penny and daario anyone?)like tom bandafil(although i did like that hot 'daughter of the river' ;) )

thoughts?

[Maroucia]

a fast paced TWOW and concise flashbacks are much more preferable.

Flashbacks in movies and television series can look really cheesy... I'm not sure if that would be a good idea.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

They've already failed to give us one of the most important flashbacks in the books- Eddard's memory of the Tower of Joy. So I doubt they will introduce two books worth of flashbacks in order to do the five year gap.

[camradio]

Although AFFC and ADWD were slower paced I think they were a lot more important than you are implying. The whole aging actor thing can be a concern but I dont think people care as much. I mean look at a show like that 70's show the characters were supposed to be teenagers and youong adults but were like 30. I think the biggest concern you note is the greater chance of being cancelled.

[Travy1991]

I don't think the ageing thing is as big a problem as people make it out to be. The events of ASOIAF are very much spread out. Even when GRRM ends a chapter of a certain character in a cliffhanger, it is rare where we pick up right where we left off when we reach that character's chapter again. I may have written that in a confusing manner - in simplest terms, time usually passes between each chapter of ASOIAF. I don't think it matters if Arya becomes an assassin at 16 instead of 11 or Sansa escapes King's Landing at 18 instead of 13. Even if Bran is 14 by the time himself, Hodor and the Reeds are beyond the Wall; I don't think it affects the story too much. They'll just have to find an alternative to Hodor carrying him around on his back.

[dreamcatcher]

Nooo, I think and really hope that they won't. It's not necessary and would totally ruin the flow of the story. The only real problem with aging is carrying Bran, and that isn't such a big deal (he can sit on some kind of sleigh pushed by Hodor).

[Know Face Man]

The main point of the 5 year gap was to give time for the Dragons to get bigger. I'm sure their are more reasons like travel time and having more time for younger characters to age.

The show has already made most young characters older, and it doesn't seem to have an issue making a long travel seem like a few days. The dragons I'm guessing will grow pretty fast once they start eatting meat.

You must look at AFFC and DWD as one book not two. If you look at them as one then you clearly see how many important details are there.

HBO I believe will run some of the books together during the same season

[_Oberyn_]

The tv show is very shallow compared to the book so if the characters grow up faster then intended it will really make no diference at all, on the contrary depending on the role the children, like Bran play in future events might be a bit more realistic if they are older.

Second AFFC and ADWD being boring is just your opinion. Imo AFFC is boring too but if the books are mixed in cronological order the story is even could be even more intresting then ASOS,

in theory ;p

[The hairy bear]

It's far more easier to make the events take as long as needed for every actor to age at a natural pace. Robb's campaign in the West can take two months or two years. Renly can stay at Bitterbridge as long as he pleases. The Night Watch can follow the wildlings track for months, if needed. The simpelst solution is to make the events of each season seem to last a full year.

[The Swaggering Bravo]

I think it's much more likely that they'll make AFFC and ADWD one prolonged series. And I dunno what you're talking about, Cersei only gets really crazy in the next book and afterwards. But, I'm only on the 5th episode (Just got the DVDs two days ago) so I can't make the best informed opinion.

[gramblor]

1. I thought that GRRM had said that he was scrapping the idea of the 5 year gap.

2. In the TV series, the characters were introduced at an age older than they were started in the book (i think it was 3 years, cant remember completely). I believe GRRM said that looking back he wished that he had made the children older when he started writing the books.

3. ADWD and AFFC will most likely have their events portrayed in the same season (in tandem), otherwise people will be confused by having to re-live events already mentioned in the previous season of the TV series. As Know Face Man said, its best to think of AFFC + ADWD as a single book that was split in 2.

4. I highly doubt they will show any flash backs in the TV series. It would seem out of place/weird.

[protar]

I don't think they'll have a five year gap, rather they'll have the series cover a longer time period, to account for the actors aging.

[The Shadowbinder]

I've heard thy are splitting ASoS into two TV seasons so I think they'd do the same with Feast and Dance. I thought the last two were slower and a little boring too on my first read but I can appreciate them now, the plot is just much more subtle and nuanced.

The age of these characters/actors doesn't both me much, especially compared to some high school movies where the students all look like 30 y/o models. How about Harry Potter, the guy practically had a beard when he was "13". I don't see any reason for a 5 year gap.

I'm more worried that the TV show will catch up with GRRM, there's seven more seasons including Dance, GRRM will probably have WoW out in 7 years but I doubt Book 7 will be out in 9. :(

[boojam]

This concerns both asoiaf as well as the HBo series,so ive posted this here.I belive the series will deviate in one way from the books-i.e,they will go ahead with the 5 year gap.This IMO,is the most logical way of staying both faithful to the books(by not creating additional storylines to "spice up" AFFC and ADWD) and also to maintain realism(ages of the actors,bran actor already looks too old) and ensure high ratings.

My guess is that anywhere from 70 to 80% of the viewers have not and will not read the books, so they will never know about the ages of the characters. As far as they are concerned if the actors age over the span of 5 years , it will be realism to them.

(If GOT gets hot as a firecracker for HBO they may do more than 5 seasons before we get to WoW).

As someone suggests the Bran thing can be fixed.

He may turn into a a tree anyway , so there's a fix!

What if Rickon grows up to be a rotten actor?

[Roose Seal]

If they ever get to Feast and Dance they'll probably combine it into one season and scrape a bunch of the boring subplots and streamline the main plots.

Dany's storyline in DwD seems like it'll never end when in fact absolutely nothing of interest happened before Quentyn arrived. I'm not sure many people would be sad if they decided to completely remove the Harpy storyline and the countless number of secondary characters in Meereen.

Had Feast and Dance been combined into one book while cutting out a lot of the useless travelogues that clog up its literary arteries, it'd have been a pretty awesome book. There is a lot of awesome stuff that happens in those two books, it's just drowned in pages and pages of boring descriptions, dead-ended subplots and travelling, lots and lots of travelling.

[Sharpes]

If they go with a 5 year gap, we'll end up with a whole season of flashbacks. :P

I mean, anything major can happen within a day in westeros. 5 years is an eternity in westerosi politics. And I doubt the Others will sit on their haunches that long...

[Dragon greyscale]

They've already failed to give us one of the most important flashbacks in the books- Eddard's memory of the Tower of Joy. So I doubt they will introduce two books worth of flashbacks in order to do the five year gap.

The difference being that ToJ was already a flashback in the books. I understand why they cut it though. There was simply too much ground to cover plus the way the books are written, the ToJ sequence is covered in enigma. This is very difficult to achieve on screen.

I also doubt they'll do two books in flashback, simply because it's too much. They already have big editorial decisions to make. Trying to condense two books will give a very watered down version. They'll most likely focus on a limited amount of story arcs to maintain forward momentum but not get lost in the sprawling story of grrm.

[Travy1991]

What if Rickon grows up to be a rotten actor?

I don't think he will. The kid was pretty good in his few small scenes in GOT. He's also Irish and in my opinion did a pretty convincing English accent when playing Rickon so I think he should grow up to be a solid actor.

[kephv]

Regarding flashbacks

Apparently Eddard will appear in Season 2 in flashback form. Maybe in the House of the Undying we'll get a ToJ flashback or something.

[GoodGuyA]

As I've said, the reason Martin didn't do this is because it's flat out stupid. Seeing character development will always be better than simply hearing about it, regardless of whether it is a book or a series. A five year gap creates such a great discrepancy between characters you once knew that it becomes almost offensive y to know that there are stories you could have been there for! It's ridiculous to conceive of it as working simply because it was once an idea that someone had.

The biggest reason this absolutely will not happen is that HBO has gone to extensive lengths to market this program via the internet. Why is this important? Because actors in the series now have deep followings that stretch far beyond their parts on the TV show alone. To bring such a gap would make people fall out of that following and, again, make them wonder exactly what was going on in that timeframe. HBO does not want that. They are focused in the future and breeding a truly knit community based around the show. To think they would literally divide that with such time is unfathomable to me.

In short, terrible idea, will not happen..