Official Game of Thrones Season 3 Trailer Now Live

[Kasrith]

I'd be very surprised if Dany's story would continue all that much in season 3. They may add additional stuff instead of hastening through her story. They have yet to reintroduce Barristan Selmy, and they could give us a much longer discussion about the if and how the Unsullied should be acquired. Afterwards, they could take their time to discuss what they are going to do next. It took them three episodes to get Dany into the Empty Doppelgänger House of Pyat Pree...

I doubt they will go into discussing the acquisition of the Unsullied that much since they show them that much in the trailer, with Dany amongst them nonetheless. It would but worthless. The House of the Undying wasn't shown, and nonbookreaders had no idea.

... Really? Jaime, the man who threatens to throw Edmure's baby at the walls of Riverrun using a trebuchet, is a 'good guy'? Tyrion, who rapes sex slaves and murders Shae, is a 'good guy'? Really?

Tyrion murders her for betrayal and the like, viewers will totally sympathize with him (as do readers). Jaime too is built up to be a good guy after loosing something valuable, spending time with Brienne, etc

[protar]

Yes, but the thing is, in George's original plan, Dany was supposed to arrive to Westeros in Dance with Dragons. And after that there were still two (or one?) more books. The series is getting more and more stretched; it's possible that George won't be able to have Dany get to Westeros in WOTW... but that would clearly mean that he will need to write and 8th book, because there is a lot of material that has to happen once she's back!

About Meereen, I also think that they should try to conect as much as possible to the Westeros storyline; that doesn't mean rushing through it, which is literally impossible: even in the best case scenario, seasons 4 and 5 will be entirely devoted to Dany in Meereen. More than enough to "flesh out" the city.

In George's original plan there were only 3 books. I think we can forget about his original plan :P

[oierem]

In George's original plan there were only 3 books. I think we can forget about his original plan :P

But the basics of the story are still there. And after ADWD, we're somewhere halfway through the second original book.. which was meant to contain Dany's return to Westeros!

So, if the first half of the original trilogy expanded into 5 books... imagine what might happen with the second half!

[PatrickStormborn]

There's honestly no way the series can end in two books. We should get Dany's arrival in Westeros in TWoW and the second dance of the dragons.

Tyrion murders her for betrayal and the like, viewers will totally sympathize with him (as do readers). Jaime too is built up to be a good guy after loosing something valuable, spending time with Brienne, etc

Readers are wrong to sympathise with him, though. He murdered a prostitute for turning against him after he abused her and stopped paying her (and took back a lot of his payments). I have absolutely no sympathy for him.

Jaime is not a "good guy" at all. He makes an effort to become a better person in ASoS and AFfC, but he's still not a good person. His threat to Edmure shows that.

[protar]

There's honestly no way the series can end in two books. We should get Dany's arrival in Westeros in TWoW and the second dance of the dragons.

Readers are wrong to sympathise with him, though. He murdered a prostitute for turning against him after he abused her and stopped paying her (and took back a lot of his payments). I have absolutely no sympathy for him.

Jaime is not a "good guy" at all. He makes an effort to become a better person in ASoS and AFfC, but he's still not a good person. His threat to Edmure shows that.

They are not "wrong to sympathise with them" they simply disagree with you. And seeing as Tyrion is Martin's favourite character, and he has said that he would most like to be like Tyrion I think that if anyone is wrong about whether or not to sympathise with Tyrion, it is you.

And regardless of how he is presented in the books, he is - for better or worse - presented differently and more heroically in the show. I can see how one might consider Tyrion villainous in the books, but to make that argument for show!Tyrion (which is who we should be concerned with as we are talking about the show.) is ridiculous.

[Lord Varys]

On the future of books and show:

Aegon is coming to Westeros, not Daenerys. At least not for a while. Considering that GRRM intends to put all POV characters into TWoW it's easy to guess that the trials in KL, and the Battle of Winterfell and the Battle of Meereen and it's respective aftermaths most likely will only be concluded halfway through the book, if we assume that we are going to follow the other characters as well (Sam, Sansa, Davos, Jaime and Brienne have a lot of catching up to do). Dany will have to punish and deal with all her enemies in Slaver's Bay. It's also not clear whether their will be an alliance of a fall-out between all those pro-Dany factions. Victarion could steal Viserion and Rhaegal. Archmaester MArwyn has yet to arrive. And I'm pretty sure that Dany is not going directly to Westeros, she will make a stop at Volantis first. This is going to cost time and space as well. We also don't know how soon Daenerys is going to return to Meereen. This Jhaqo business could turn out to be more than a slight detour.

The second Dance of Dragons can only begin after Aegon has won the Iron Throne. And this will take some time, too. I don't see the book series finished in two volumes. It will be another three at least. Perhaps even four. The best structure would be three trilogies, I think, AGoT-ASoS, the transition trilogy (AFfC-TWoW) and the final conflict stuff (second Dance, Others) in the final three volumes.

On Dany in season 3:

I really think they have to reintroduce the slavery stuff, the cruelty of the masters of Astapor, and how this affects Dany. And Barristan Selmy also has to reappear and be accepted into Dany's service. No idea if they go along with the Whitebeard disguise or if he openly declares who he is at once. If that's the case, the whole bickering between him and Jorah will begin much sooner. They may also decide to give Daario more scenes from the start, making way for the coming love story.

[DayOfTheLannisters]

This is just Australia though, I would imagine some European countries like England would get a much better deal.

England doesn't get a better deal. Unless you have Sky, and therefore Sky Atlantic, there's no way to see it. I first watched GoT last...April I think it was, and since then I've found episodes once, and that was the first two of Season 1, and nothing more. If HBO made a deal with Virgin Media, which is the other major cable provider in the UK, then the rating would go up, or even if Sky allowed Virgin to have Sky Atlantic - it has all the other Sky channels, just not that one. Which is annoying, when two of my favourite shows are on that channel.

Anyway. An excellent trailer! I was hoping for some more footage of the Jaime and Brienne fight, but oh well.

I'm not sure if any of your previous arguments about future seasons have taken into account that which ever ones adapt AFFC and ADWD will split them chronologically, not geographically. I can't remember where I read this, but I'm pretty sure it's a thing that will happen.

[Joyful Union]

There's honestly no way the series can end in two books. We should get Dany's arrival in Westeros in TWoW and the second dance of the dragons.

Readers are wrong to sympathise with him, though. He murdered a prostitute for turning against him after he abused her and stopped paying her (and took back a lot of his payments). I have absolutely no sympathy for him.

Jaime is not a "good guy" at all. He makes an effort to become a better person in ASoS and AFfC, but he's still not a good person. His threat to Edmure shows that.

Hmm, you mean you think people that sympathise with him are wrong, that does not make your opinion definitive. Also, theres a big diffirence between just "turning against" someone, and testifying against someone in order to get them executed. When did he take back the payments?

[oierem]

On the future of books and show:

Aegon is coming to Westeros, not Daenerys. At least not for a while. Considering that GRRM intends to put all POV characters into TWoW it's easy to guess that the trials in KL, and the Battle of Winterfell and the Battle of Meereen and it's respective aftermaths most likely will only be concluded halfway through the book, if we assume that we are going to follow the other characters as well (Sam, Sansa, Davos, Jaime and Brienne have a lot of catching up to do). Dany will have to punish and deal with all her enemies in Slaver's Bay. It's also not clear whether their will be an alliance of a fall-out between all those pro-Dany factions. Victarion could steal Viserion and Rhaegal. Archmaester MArwyn has yet to arrive. And I'm pretty sure that Dany is not going directly to Westeros, she will make a stop at Volantis first. This is going to cost time and space as well. We also don't know how soon Daenerys is going to return to Meereen. This Jhaqo business could turn out to be more than a slight detour.

The second Dance of Dragons can only begin after Aegon has won the Iron Throne. And this will take some time, too. I don't see the book series finished in two volumes. It will be another three at least. Perhaps even four. The best structure would be three trilogies, I think, AGoT-ASoS, the transition trilogy (AFfC-TWoW) and the final conflict stuff (second Dance, Others) in the final three volumes.

I think you might be very right! And I even like the idea of three trilogies, but I'm uncertain that Martin will ever be able to complete that monster he has created.

But in any case, if that's right, the show has no possibility of actually adapting all that: it's too much, too long, and too big, and it hasn't even been writen yet. If that is indeed the case, they should start thinking about their own way of concluding the story after season 4.

[Lord Varys]

If they can split ASoS in two season, they could very well make AFfC 2-3 seasons. After all, ADwD has the size of ASoS, and I'm quite sure that the last ADwD season will include either the Battle of Meereen and/or the Battle of Winterfell.

Since the show is such a success right now, they would be stupid to plan it's early ending right now. The child actors age, but so what? No one is going to discuss how much time has passed during the show, so that's not an issue.

If they adapt it that way, at least TWoW could be out when they are filming the final season of ADwD.

[protar]

If they can split ASoS in two season, they could very well make AFfC 2-3 seasons. After all, ADwD has the size of ASoS, and I'm quite sure that the last ADwD season will include either the Battle of Meereen and/or the Battle of Winterfell.

Since the show is such a success right now, they would be stupid to plan it's early ending right now. The child actors age, but so what? No one is going to discuss how much time has passed during the show, so that's not an issue.

If they adapt it that way, at least TWoW could be out when they are filming the final season of ADwD.

ADWD is nearly as long as SOS yes, but it's a lot less action packed. And keep in mind there aren't really any good breaking points in AFFC/ADWD like the RW or Mysha which can act as a season break. The closest is Dany flying off on Drogon and if you're going that far into ADWD you might as well go the whole hog. Even if AFFC/ADWD were worthy of multiple seasons (I don't think they are personally.) each season still needs to work as a contained story arc. SOS works because S3 will be the fall of house Stark and S4 the fall of House Lannister. There's no thematic shift in the latest books.

[Lord Varys]

I've broken up ADwD for the two German volumes between 'The Prince of Winterfell' and 'The Watcher'. It's doable. For the show they could break up the seasons with:

- Tyrion's capture and the Golden Company declaring to invade Westeros (in fact, I think that should have been Tyrion's arc in AFfC - it was a mistake to keep Aegon hidden until ADwD).

- Cersei's incarceration (they could invent Cersei stuff for the next season, or add Cersei chapters from TWoW)

- Ramsay's wedding

- the revelation that Davos yet lives

- Dany's marriage

- Myrcella's near death

Sure, there is not that much action in those books, but they could add stuff, say, to Brienne's arc, or others. I don't see how the adaptation is going to work if they try play down the scale considerably. Aegon, the Martells, and the Ironborn have to be shown the way they are, else people won't be interested all that much in the coming story.

[Francis Buck]

There's no way aFfC/aDwD combined will be more than two seasons. If I had to bet money, I think we'll be seeing a lot of the beginning from those two books leaking into the end of season four, with season five and maybe the very beginning of season six making up the rest of it. There's a lot in those books, but an enormous amount of it can be cut and streamlined without damaging the greater story. It's also the only way to rationalize their goal of nine seasons (if season six is still dealing with a AFfC/ADwD, then that only leaves three seasons for ALL of the last two books, both of which I imagine will be pretty damn long -- there's just no other way to break it down).

[Lord Varys]

Parts of the Ironborn and the Dorne stuff from AFfC can be put into season 4, yes, but I don't see them not ending season 4 with Tywin's death and Tyrion's escape, Lysa's murder, and Jon's election to Lord Commander.

Arya could be going to Braavos much earlier, to give her more time there, which would be interesting. But I don't see them messing around with many of the very good endings of ASoS.

[protar]

Parts of the Ironborn and the Dorne stuff from AFfC can be put into season 4, yes, but I don't see them not ending season 4 with Tywin's death and Tyrion's escape, Lysa's murder, and Jon's election to Lord Commander.

Arya could be going to Braavos much earlier, to give her more time there, which would be interesting. But I don't see them messing around with many of the very good endings of ASoS.

I think we might see Tyrion meeting Illyrio in E10, with Tywin dying in E9. For Tyrion himself it would be best to leave it with him killing Tywin, but looking at the larger picture the audience may be getting tired of Dany staying in Essos so long. So teasing the show's most popular character meeting up with her (and for S5 actually making it happen.) would be a good thing to do.

[boojam]

By having Tyrion and the rest arrive to Meereen as soon as possible! (end of season 5, having already established that he is going to, by the end of season 4).

Here's the big mystery...will the breaking of the Siege of Meereen be even a bigger dust up than Blackwater?

We know we have Victarion Greyjoy and the Iron Fleet bearing down.

As you mention Tyrion is there, will he meet and become Dany's adviser?

Will Dany show up with a Khalasar, several Khalasars?

If so her Unsullied could be turned loose in a pincer movement smashing the siege armies.

We could have a coordinated land and sea battle at the same time.

And the dragons, well they are almost war-dragons now, throw them in and it's a hell of a fracas.

Of course everybody could just die of Pale Mare!

Supposing everything gets settled in Essos, we still have the Others closing in from the North.

Is George aiming for a Ragnarok on Westeros involving everybody who is left standing to fight?

[protar]

Here's the big mystery...will the breaking of the Siege of Meereen be even a bigger dust up than Blackwater?

We know we have Victarion Greyjoy and the Iron Fleet bearing down.

As you mention Tyrion is there, will he meet and become Dany's adviser?

Will Dany show up with a Khalasar, several Khalasars?

If so her Unsullied could be turned loose in a pincer movement smashing the siege armies.

We could have a coordinated land and sea battle at the same time.

And the dragons, well they are almost war-dragons now, throw them in and it's a hell of a fracas.

Of course everybody could just die of Pale Mare!

Supposing everything gets settled in Essos, we still have the Others closing in from the North.

Is George aiming for a Ragnarök on Westeros involving everybody who is left standing to fight?

It seems pretty likely yeah and the battle of fire is definitely going to be the biggest battle we've seen so far imo. Twice the epicness of the blackwater! :).

[Lord Varys]

If D&D follow their established pattern of putter important events in the ninth episode of each season (Ned's death, the Battle on the Blackwater, the Red Wedding) my guess is that episode 9 of season 4 will mostly feature the Battle for the Wall and its aftermath. There might be little to no KL scenes in that particular episodes.

Shae's, Tywin's and Lysa's deaths then will be put in the last episode of season 4. Illyrio and Tyrion don't make much sense in season 4. The tension should be about if and how Tyrion is going to survive/escape, and the revelation about Tywin and Shae, and their subsequent murders should come as the major surprises in the last episode. Not Illyrio. Especially since they are most likely going to make it quite obvious where Varys is going to send Tyrion.

[oierem]

THe Blackwater episode was a very special occasion that involved almost half of the main cast and was the climax of several different storylines (KL, Tyrells, Tywin, Stannis). That's why it was given a whole episode. I doubt that they will do the same with any of the published material. The battle of the Wall only involves Jon, and it won't work as THE climax of the season.

[YuvalTheVal]

14 million views in 3 days? how is that even possible considering the trailer for the second season got 2.5 miliion in one year? I mean, that's just insane!