No need to worry about "Will we get another season?"

[Ran]

Dustin Hoffman did not get his usual take to be in Luck as actor and producer, and same for Jeremy Irons , I don't think Showtime really has the bank account for him , I think in his case he was attracted by the juicy role Rodrigo Borgia , the show is well written.

These are older actors who are no longer headlining movies. They do not pull in the money they once used to. Taking lead roles in cable dramas makes sense.

But all the contracts must be written in such a way as to give veterans enough freedom to do other work, well it has to, take Lena Headey , some how besides what ever time she spends on GOT, she did two films and has two films in pre-production. So they worked that out some way.

They don't need anyone more than 5 months of the year, and often times less. But that said, if Lena Headey were an A-list actress, she would have so many high-paying film offers that she would never have considered GoT.

When Terrence Malick decided to return to film making in the late nineties with The Thin Red Line, A-listers nearly jumped out of their shoes to get a chance to work for him , getting Sean Penn, Nick Nolte , George Clooney , Woody Harrelson, John Travolta (just to mention a few) helped get the film financed, but I would bet they took less for the chance.

Just the mere mention of Stanley Kubrick nabbed Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, for Eyes Wide Shut and that film was made for 65 mil. , heck Kidman could probably have commanded a considerable fraction of that, I'll bet she did not.

There's nothing going on on GoT that's the equivalent for an A-list actor of getting a chance to work with Kubrick or Malick. That's just a reality there.

DragonAge,

Dinklage doesn't look like the type that would make a fuss about getting paid higher

You don't know him... and you don't know the business. Fact is, to some degree the amount of money you make in your last job dictates your "worth" when it comes time to negotiate your next job. Dinklage will be negotiating a pay hike whenever his contract is up, there's practically no doubt about it.

No actor should be paid "higher" IMO, since the characters are equal in screentime

And in Modern Family, most of the leads had roughly equal time... and they all negotiated a (massive) pay increase. The network would have loved it if Ed O'Neill was the only actor who got a big bump, rather than sharply increasing the incomes of half a dozen actors.

[DragonAge93]

I don't know Dinklage, yes, but he's not like every other actor, is he? He suffers from dwarfism, and to be recognized with a role like this isn't something he'd take for granted. I don't want to pull the "he's short" card, but in his case, and with this role, why not? He most likely considers himself lucky to be where he is now, whereas most people look at dwarfism where your life would be limited, but that's anything but for Dinklage. You don't see Dinklage gloating over his Emmy and Golden Globe, if anything he was humble about it, which shows that he takes what is offered to him, and won't push it if it's already good enough. Again, I don't know him, but who here on this forum does?

[Michael Snow]

If HBO cancels Game of Thrones before True Blood - which is, by all accounts, absolutely ridiculous at this point - I'll eat my hat. And I don't even wear a hat.

[Ran]

You don't see Dinklage gloating over his Emmy and Golden Globe, if anything he was humble about it, which shows that he takes what is offered to him, and won't push it if it's already good enough. Again, I don't know him, but who here on this forum does?

There's plenty of actors who have won awards, who don't gloat over them, who also expect to be paid what they're worth.

I find the "He's short" card fairly demeaning as an argument for his just shrugging his shoulders about his pay and just feeling oh-so-lucky to be part of the show.

[DragonAge93]

Highly doubt GoT would be canceled over True Blood. GoT gets both a massive fanbase AND critical acclaim, whereas with TB it's only the former and not the latter, at least with this season's reviews I glanced at. So it'd look like a stupid move on HBO's part to keep some trash vampire series over a award-garnering medieval show that only gets better.

[Davos' fingertip]

Well the show is growing rapidly in popularity, and it will be at its tip by the end of season 4. So two/three more seasons after that could be managed. They can make things much more interesting in the series than in the books. (FFC/DWD)

[Lord Elrosir]

Considering this is HBO's number one drama (will Boardwalk's numbers top it this year?!), I don't think it's going anywhere as long as viewership stays where it is. As previously noted, HBO caught massive flack for cancelling shows like Rome, Deadwood, and Carnivale.

p.s. I caught a couple episodes of this season of True Blood. THAT SHIT IS HYSTERICAL! I can't believe people still watch that show without Alan Ball behind the helm.

[Lady Olenna]

I don't know Dinklage, yes, but he's not like every other actor, is he? He suffers from dwarfism, and to be recognized with a role like this isn't something he'd take for granted. I don't want to pull the "he's short" card, but in his case, and with this role, why not? He most likely considers himself lucky to be where he is now, whereas most people look at dwarfism where your life would be limited, but that's anything but for Dinklage. You don't see Dinklage gloating over his Emmy and Golden Globe, if anything he was humble about it, which shows that he takes what is offered to him, and won't push it if it's already good enough. Again, I don't know him, but who here on this forum does?

I don't know that he "suffers" from dwarfism - he's seems to be doing pretty damned well for himself. He's been recognized for his enormous talent (rightfully so) and quite frankly, he really makes the show IMHO.

He would be crazy not to ask for more money. That's the name of the game. I doubt he'd suddenly get super greedy but even if he did - who is HBO going to get to replace him? He's brought so much attention to the show at this point it would be next to impossible to find a suitable replacement with equal talent.

Now, couple that with the fact that he's a new dad (babies cost $$$) and this may be a role that limits his career in the future (type casting) he should really be trying to establish a healthy income to insure his next role is a highly paid one as well.