[Book spoilers]: GoT producer expects at least 7 seasons

[The Dragon has three heads]

GMMR needs a more forceful editor. This is known.

The editor clenched and unclenched his fist around his editing pen wondering if he would ever get to use it in battle.

Hahaha

Yeah this.

[aFeastForDragons]

Season 4 will eat up a chunk of material from Feast and Dance. It ought to be a wake-up call for GRRM to get writing more quickly. Season 5 will necessitate some WoW stuff. I mean, this seems likely to me:

S4:

Arya - Travel with the Hound till his death, get on the boat to Braavos

Sansa - Escape from the PW, stuff in the Vale till "Only Cat"

Bran - Realistically, he'll get to Bloodraven.

Jon - Battle at Castle Black, Battle at the Wall, Lord Commander vote.

Tyrion - Red Viper, Purple Wedding, Trial, Tywin.

Dany - Battle of Meereen, Jorah's exile, beginning of queendom.

Sam - Scheming for Jon's election

Stannis - Off to the Wall, dealing with Jon, Sam, et al.

Jaime - Everything he does in King's Landing

Cersei - Some bumbling around as a terrible regent

Theon - Reek identity, Moat Cailin stuff.

Ironborn - Kingsmoot

Dorne - Arianne's plot, Doran's "vengeance, justice, fire and blood"

S5:

Arya - Her assassin training in Braavos. All of it.

Sansa - Her Feast stuff, and whatever comes next in WOW

Bran - Whatever he does in WOW

Jon - Lord Commandering until his death.

Tyrion - His entire travels from Dance. Introduction of Aegon/ JonCon.

Dany - Hizdahr, fight pits, escape with Drogon

Sam - Everything in Braavos, getting to Oldtown.

Stannis - Deepwood Motte/ Yara capture, getting to Winterfell (possibly the battle of Winterfell)

Jaime - Riverlands travels to Brienne capturing him

Brienne - Sansa search through Stoneheart, run-in with Jaime for a cliffhanger

Cersei - Bumbling, arrest and penance walk

Theon -FArya and escape from Winterfell.

Ironborn - Traveling to Meereen, not much time

Dorne - Quentyn's whole thing.

Aegon - Parting with Tyrion, landing in Westeros.

Its a lot of plotlines to get through, but those are the logical endpoints for each. If they cut each character to 6 or 7 episodes (like they've shown the capability of this season) it will work out. If they decide to cut the "new characters," it becomes even easier. D+D will have surpassed GRRM by 2015 unless WoW comes out by then, and he'll have until 2017 (probably) to get ADoS out. 7 seasons makes sense if the show isn't going to drag/ be riddled with filler.

I always thought the show would never get past AFFC/ADWD because there is so much filler and uneeded travel logs but your condense of it into one season would actually work great. There is NO way people are going to stay watching AGOT when Dany sits her ass in Mereen for 20 episodes. Same with Jon fumbling around Castle Black and Stannis trudging along to Winterfell. The Battle of Winterfell would definitely be in it provided there even is one.

[Lord_Ravenstone]

Nah, I think AFFC and ADWD will last two seasons with some early TWOW stuff at the end of that late ADWD season.

There's no way they could make two books last one season. To even be able to fit it into two seasons will take some cutting which I'm fine with.

One season and we'll be cutting whole storylines like the Arrianne Martell storyline.

Plus, there's some stuff that they're going to add that they cut from previous seasons. I can assure you of that.

[Faint]

I'm pretty sure the de Havilland law is the primary reason they are shooting for seven seasons. Having to renegotiate the contracts of the whole cast would be exorbitantly expensive and reduce the profit margin by a good amount.

In any case, I assume they will proceed as follows:

Season 4: ASoS/AFfC/ADwD

Season 5: AFfC/ADwD

Season 6: TWoW

Season 7: ADoS

It also wouldn't shock me if they did something drastic, like completely eliminate the Aegon storyline.

[Frumpus]

I don't think they'll manage to condense AFFC and ADWD in one season, unless they plan to have a cliffhanger every 5 minutes, which obviously would lead to "too many cliffhangers=no cliffhanger"

They can if they cut the Greyjoy brothers and all of the Dorne POVs. And also reduce Theon's role or kill him off.

I also think the Aegon storyline will be cut. The Griffs might still appear during Tyrion's storyline but they won't branch off into a separate arc all together and Young Griff won't be revealed as Aegon.

[Gannicus]

Nah, I think AFFC and ADWD will last two seasons with some early TWOW stuff at the end of that late ADWD season.

There's no way they could make two books last one season. To even be able to fit it into two seasons will take some cutting which I'm fine with.

One season and we'll be cutting whole storylines like the Arrianne Martell storyline.

Plus, there's some stuff that they're going to add that they cut from previous seasons. I can assure you of that.

Season four will absorb some of that material but no wat will AFFC and ADWD be 2 stand alone seasons. Season 4 and season 5 and we're onto TWOW.

Some storylines will be cut.

Quentyn's is gone.

Either Damphire or Victorian will be gone

Aery's Oakheart, Arianne, and Areo Hotah will be mixed into 1.

Half of Tyrion's travel log will be gone

Half of Brienne's travel log will be gone

A lot of Dany's ADWD stuff will happen next season.

It's actually very doable.

.

[Frumpus]

Half of Tyrion's travel log will be gone

Half of Brienne's travel log will be gone

Makes sense, as they've already been doing this sort of thing with existing storylines like Arya's (where almost 90% of it was cut).

[Faint]

They might keep Theon around since he has already been introduced but I doubt Arianne and Quentyn will ever make it onto the show. As for condensing A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons into one season, that will be easy enough. If people expect the producers of the show to have six episodes of Tyrion traveling and feeling sorry for himself, they are going to be severely disappointed.

[raj34]

Some storylines will be cut.

Quentyn's is gone.

Either Damphire or Victorian will be gone

Aery's Oakheart, Arianne, and Areo Hotah will be mixed into 1.

Half of Tyrion's travel log will be gone

Half of Brienne's travel log will be gone

A lot of Dany's ADWD stuff will happen next season.

It's actually very doable.

.

I nominate you as GRRM's new editor.

[Ser Luke.]

Season 1: A Game of Thrones

Season 2: A Clash of Kings

Season 3: A Storm of Swords/A Dance with Dragons

Season 4: A Storm of Swords/A Feast for Crows/A Dance with Dragons

Season 5: A Feast for Crows/A Dance with Dragons

Season 6: A Dance with Dragons/The Winds of Winter

Season 7: The Winds of Winter

Season 8: A Dream of Spring

This is how it's gonna play out, nearly positive. 8 seasons is perfect, 9 would drag it out too much, and 7 wouldn't be enough

Just a quick reply to my own post. I've heard some people debating what will be cut to fit AFFC/ADWD in S5, so here's my predictions as far as that goes:

No Quentyn.

No Penny.

No Nimble Dick.

No Areo,

No Aeronn.

None of the five younger Sand Snakes. Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene are fine. This includes cutting Sarella (Alleras)

[Faint]

Speaking of Sarella, does anyone imagine they will have Sam traveling to Oldtown? That seems like a little bit of a stretch.

[Deas agus Tuath]

^I truly hope so but I think it depends if Old Town ends up being about more than just Sam earning his chain. I think perhaps Old Town will at least get one or two episodes.

[The Anti-Targ]

I absolutely agree, I always felt it was a mistake for GRRM to split it the way he did. He thought people should have "the whole story for half the characters" but judging from the reader reactions, a lot of people would have preferred the opposite.

I want a Feast of Dances compliation. 2 volumes of aFfC and aDwD mooshed together.

We're getting some of Feast in S4 are we not? There's not enough material in aSoS (at least not with the hacking and slashing they've done to various plot line) to cover 2 full seasons. I expect to see Tyrion in arriving and being greeted by Magister Ilyrio in 04-10

Episode 3 PW, Episode 5 the kangaroo court, Episode 6 the trial by combat, Episode 8 the chain and the crossbow, episode 10 Tyrion in Pentos. I think Sam will be shipped off to the Citadel in E10 of S4 too (aFfC prologue).

I'd so love it if they brought Tom Wlaschiha back once the story gets to the Citadel, they could have him all made up so somewhat different looking to his Jaqen, to play the acolyte, then have him the dude who was Jaqen at the end of S2 to play the FM who murders the acolyte and takes his place, morhping back into Tom a cosmetically altered Tom.

[Bear Claw]

I'll be happy just as long as they do not take an extra long hiatus as I believe the Sopranos did (was it 1.5 years or 2?). I haven't watched any other HBO series so I don't know if that was a one time thing or a regular thing for their series. I really would be upset if they took more than a year off.

[Mr Smith]

I'm predicting 8 if the show overpasses the books, 9 if Martin gets ADoS out in time.

Here's how I see it.

Season 4 will in majority cover the second part of ASOS, but may also include storylines such as the Ironborn. Its pretty simple really.

Season 5 however, gets a lot trickier. If there was ever going to be a time where GOT might be in danger of losing its viewership, it'll be in Season 5. Firstly because I believe they simply can't compress both AFfC and ADwD into one season, so they have to spread it over two. Unfortunately this means some pretty anti-climatic episodes in Season 5. I expect they'll cover most of AFfC and about half of ADwD.

Season 6 covers the second half of ADwD, but rather than end the season with cliffhangers like the book did, they'll use the first parts of TWoW to complete the season (battle of Mereen, battle in the North, possibly Cersei's trial?). That will make for a satisfying conclusion, and hopefully keep the audience interested. If they lost too many by Season 5, then they won't have the budget to do these two big battles, and I expect the show will be cancelled.

On the other hand, if all goes well, then this format will probably leave them with season 7 to cover the rest of TWoW.

The last one or two seasons depends on how long ADoS is or whether its even out, and lets face it, it probably wont be. If however it is, then I'd imagine Martin's last book would be long enough for two seasons, so ADoS will cover seasons 8 and 9, with 8 maybe including remnants of TWoW (depending on its length). If it isn't out, then D and D will probably want to compress it down to one season, which means the series concludes in 2018. At least then it's only one season that we have to avoid watching.

[Andrew Lantz]

I'm blown away that people here think AFfC and ADWD need more than one season. To be honest, they can probably incorporate much of AFfC/ADWD in season 4 (Reek, Iron Islands) and finish it up in the first half of season 5.

Season 4 is going to be badass. I think it will be better television than season 3. Season 5 can be good if they trim AFfC and ADWD like Martin's editors should have done.

Cut out most of Brienne's journey, Tyrion's journey, and Faegon (unless he is critical to events in TWOW and ADOS). Condense Dorne and the Iron Islands (It seems like these will be critical for the last two books, so they might need to be featured).

If this show is going to retain casual viewers, the following MUST happen by the end of season 5.

1. Tyrion must be with Danny, and they must be in Westeros or clearly on their way.

2. The Others must be making some moves.

3. Jon Snow needs to be revealed as Jon Targaryan.

Bonus: End season 5 with a battle.

If those things haven't happened, then casual viewers are going to move on.

[Andrew Lantz]

I was also concerned when I saw the Emmy panel and George seemed to be under the impression that AFfC and ADWD would be 2-3 seasons. I understand that he is proud of his work, but it seems like he is sincerely blind to the fact those those two books are weaker entries to his series than the previous three.

[Javi Marcos]

Well, my 2 cents

Season 3, 2013: 2/3 of ASOS

Season 4, 2014: rest of ASOS, bits of AFFC/ADWD

- Kingsmoot

- Theon until Moat Caitlin

- Bran ADWD

- Maybe Brienne's AFFC

Season 5 2015: AFFC+ 2/3 of ADWD. This is the hardest one, for sure. But let's hope viewers love how Jon, Cersei and Dany are governing at the same time. You could keep the QoT this season, everyone is loving Diana Rigg.

Pretty hard how to end this season, they should look for cliffhangers in ADWD

Season 6: end of ADWD + beginning TWOW,

That would include the full battles of Mereen and Winterfell (maybe one full episode each - 6x08 and 6x09 - á la Blackwater, both are big but none as big as Blackwater) , including the aftermath.

[Raksha the Demon]

I don't think the kids ageing up is as big of a problem as it's made out to be. A lot of the characters have been aged up from the very start and it has worked out well by it. And to say something that dwells in many a deep dark mind, it gives opportunity for a Sophie Turner nude scene.

Also, Bran turns into a Jojen-paste eating tree. And Merry and Pippen grew taller than any hobbit after living with the Ents. So his growth fits in that respect.

The only opportunity for a Sansa nude scene that actually exists in the books would have already been filmed, i.e. her wedding night with Tyrion. Since the actress is not yet 18, I doubt we'll see much nudity from her in Season 3. Considering the show creators' penchant for inserting sex scenes and nudity where GRRM did not write them; I suppose it is possible that a lot more of Sansa will be seen in Season 4 or 5; being female and thinking that the Sansa character (at least in the books) is sufficiently interesting without being naked or half-naked, I hope we won't.

[Andrew Lantz]

Well, my 2 cents

Season 3, 2013: 2/3 of ASOS

Season 4, 2014: rest of ASOS, bits of AFFC/ADWD

- Kingsmoot

- Theon until Moat Caitlin

- Bran ADWD

- Maybe Brienne's AFFC

Season 5 2015: AFFC+ 2/3 of ADWD. This is the hardest one, for sure. But let's hope viewers love how Jon, Cersei and Dany are governing at the same time. You could keep the QoT this season, everyone is loving Diana Rigg.

Pretty hard how to end this season, they should look for cliffhangers in ADWD

Season 6: end of ADWD + beginning TWOW,

That would include the full battles of Mereen and Winterfell (maybe one full episode each - 6x08 and 6x09 - á la Blackwater, both are big but none as big as Blackwater) , including the aftermath.

This would be a disaster. Season 5 would stop the show's momentum in its tracks.