What will Danaerys be doing in Season 4? (book spoilers)

[Marauder]

Do you have a source for that Idiots Latern? Everything I've seen by GRRM is him admitting he has no real authority over the TV show which is expected as that is what normally happens when you sell the rights to your story. D&D themselves have freely said that while they would prefer if the books came out first, the show must go on and they are willing to do so if (and IMO it is a when) it comes to that.

[Ordos]

I don't think we should look at Season 5 or beyond for the moment. The question is how will season 4 be filled up. Because there is very little material left from book 3 to take place in season 4 which brings up the debate how much of book 5 material will be included.

But only one other person has addressed the fact that they took Yunkai the same way they took Mereen in the book which makes people speculate if there will be a governing of Yunkai and Mereen will not be taken.

I personally prefer for Mereen to be taken just so they won't deviate from the books too much and it can put off some material from book 5 for next season.

[The Idiots Lantern]

And that's why people who read the books are not bored and frustrated with her decision to stay there and rule right? While I'm not saying that her decision in the books is non-sensical (you've explained it well) that doesn't help with the fact that it's extremely frustrating for the audience to watch her do this.

Yes but the frustration is mostly because it delays the moment she'll finally, FINALLY, set sail for Westeros. That she continues to be separate from the main cast and involved in completely different storylines is very frustrating.

If the reasoning is less about her apparently feeling she has no other options but rather her becoming enamored with her newfound status as liberator and saviour to the slaves, that's more dramatic. Her advisors can see this happening and try to snap her back into reality but her growing (for lack of a better word) addiction to being seen as the "Mother" to all of these slaves can be the motivator to drive her into a more entrenched position in Meereen. To me, that's more interesting than her saying "well I'd like to go to Westeros, but y'know, what are you gonna do?"

So you think taking a logical, responsible choice made for logical, responsible reasons...and making them instead made for reasons of growing insanity and delusion...that's an improvement? Yes it's more "dramatic" but your character is shown to be clearly unhinged and making choices for reasons of self-aggrantizement, that then limits where that character can go in the future. There's a reason why Lawrence of Arabia didn't go insane until late in the movie...and when he DID, reality smacked him down in grand fashion. To me, it looked like Dany's whole problem in Meereen was that she was a reasonable person being pushed to more and more unreasonable extremes in an attempt to restore order. Finally she had no choice but to marry, limiting her future options, in exchange for peace. And even that didn't work. All of that is much more dramatic then "madwoman comes up against real world again and again." We've already seen a delusional Targaryan shown what's what by reality: his name was Viserys. Why would they retread that ground?

[Khal-a-bunga]

Yeah but he's also written into his contract that there are certain things they legally cannot reveal before the books come out. This means if they reach that point in the story, they will have a difficult choice to make: Hiatus or deviation. They figure they've got two or three more seasons of material if they are careful, and Martin hopes to be working on the next book by then, so they've got some time before that tough choice has to be made.

What's your source for this?

[Onna Lewyys]

I don't think we should look at Season 5 or beyond for the moment. The question is how will season 4 be filled up. Because there is very little material left from book 3 to take place in season 4 which brings up the debate how much of book 5 material will be included.

While there are only two Dany chapters left to cover in ASOS, there is actually a wealth of material in them. The starving people, the Hero of Meereen, another assassination attempt, the Jorah reveal, the sewer mission (which they will likely have to change for the show), Jorah's banishment, and receiving news of Astapor. Also, there's already precedent for them inventing plot points to pad out Dany's storyline (see S2).

[Mistress of Lemon Cakes]

Dany's reasons for staying behind in Mereen and perfectly reasonable and will also make for dramatic television. They don't need to change that. It's what happens afterwards while she is in Mereen that becomes problematic. To be fair, much of it is internalized monologue so it won't be difficult cutting out a bulk of her lamentations over Daario. I think that's one of the main reasons people did not enjoy Dany's ADwD arch as much, right? Aside from the obvious "is she ever going to Westeros?"

[gmk]

Yeah but he's also written into his contract that there are certain things they legally cannot reveal before the books come out.

Pretty sure this is bullshit.

[The Idiots Lantern]

Do you have a source for that Idiots Latern? Everything I've seen by GRRM is him admitting he has no real authority over the TV show which is expected as that is what normally happens when you sell the rights to your story. D&D themselves have freely said that while they would prefer if the books came out first, the show must go on and they are willing to do so if (and IMO it is a when) it comes to that.

It was an article with D&D talking about what their options are if the show catches up to the books. The possibilities on the table are either a Prequel series made of the Dunk and Egg stories, or Robert's rebellion. Dunk and Egg is possible, because currently no one owns the rights to those stories. HBO already owns Robert's Rebellion, because it's part of "a song of ice and fire," but adapting that one is supposedly off the table because George wants to tell that story himself, when he's ready.

I'll see if I can find that story again.

Edit: Found It.

A distant possibility, one not raised the Entertainment Weekly story, is that the show could adapt the story of Robert's Rebellion, which takes place before the series begins and which features familiar characters in Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, Jaime Lannister, and Tywin Lannister, to name a few. But according to Martin, HBO doesn't hold the rights to this story and could only adapt the flashback sequences surrounding the rebellion that are already in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Which means potentially spending additional money to secure more rights.

[Harry Lime]

It was an article with D&D talking about what their options are if the show catches up to the books. The possibilities on the table are either a Prequel series made of the Dunk and Egg stories, or Robert's rebellion. Dunk and Egg is possible, because currently no one owns the rights to those stories. HBO already owns Robert's Rebellion, because it's part of "a song of ice and fire," but adapting that one is supposedly off the table because George wants to tell that story himself, when he's ready.

I'll see if I can find that story again.

Edit: Found It.

I'd also like to add that it would be really cool if they did an anthology series, with each episode telling a different story from Westeros or Essos' history. You could even have the premieres and finales be Dunk and Egg stories.

[Onna Lewyys]

Um, that article says nothing about them not being able to legally reveal things in the show before the final books come out. In fact, it explicitly says that they don't want to ruin the momentum of the story by waiting around for the next book to be published.

[callmedodge]

Yeah that article actually offers no answers as to how they`ll proceed and absolutely nothing about them not covering certain plots if they do take over.

1. Dunk and Egg: Unlikely to bridge any gaps in production and would most likely (if tackled at all) be a stand alone product. Frankly, Dunk and Egg would make terrible television anyway.

2. Robert`s Rebellion: GRRM all but said "I`m not gonna let that happen" because it`s central to ASOIAF and there are reveals from that story that he is leaving for the next 2 books.

Possible episode plot points:

1) Her massive following is starving

2) She resolves to take Meereen

3) Daario fights the Hero of Meereen / Jorah is jealous

4) Jorah kisses her and she freaks out

5) Jorah's treason from S1 is revealed

6) Jorah's (and Barristan's?) sewer mission

7) She banishes Jorah

8) She decides to stay in Meereen and be queen

I don't think they'll get into any ADWD material yet for her next season.

This is pretty much spot on. You could even throw in an assassination attempt from the Warlocks in there as well. There`s plenty of material to work with. Besides, there`s a lot happening at the Wall and in Kings Landing next season, at most Dany needs an episode worth of material and what`s there is enough.

[oprahnoodlemantra]

The season will probably end with Dany chaining up her dragons after they burn a child.

[The Idiots Lantern]

The season will probably end with Dany chaining up her dragons after they burn a child.

I don't think she'll have been in charge of Meereen that long.

[jentario]

Barristan should fight the Hero of Meereen. We need to see what this legendary warrier can do.

[The Idiots Lantern]

Barristan should fight the Hero of Meereen. We need to see what this legendary warrier can do.

I like this idea. Barristan needs his Crowning Moment of Awesome.

I know it didn't happen because of story reasons, but if he HAD been the one to cut the head off the Titan's Bastard, I would have probably thrown a parade.

[Onna Lewyys]

Barristan should fight the Hero of Meereen. We need to see what this legendary warrier can do.

I would love that too. But I think it more likely to be Daario in order to play up Dany's attraction to him and Jorah's jealousy over that fact.

[boojam]

It was an article with D&D talking about what their options are if the show catches up to the books. The possibilities on the table are either a Prequel series made of the Dunk and Egg stories, or Robert's rebellion. Dunk and Egg is possible, because currently no one owns the rights to those stories. HBO already owns Robert's Rebellion, because it's part of "a song of ice and fire," but adapting that one is supposedly off the table because George wants to tell that story himself, when he's ready.

I'll see if I can find that story again.

Edit: Found It.

Nothing in that interview about legal restrictions on HBO passing the books.

A studio, seems HBO counts as a studio, is not going sign a contract with a author , for a deal like that when there is like 60 million of their money on the line for the first season, if the show succeeds HBO will want continuity.

George and his lawyer may have tried to write that into the contract, and D and D might have even supported him, but I have never heard from George's lips that he succeeded in such a deal.

I don't know how the contract was written , if year to year, then maybe GRRM could have imposed constraints , but then HBO has the option to cancel the show.

George might have a bonus clause if the show runs out from under him.

At the start of this the main non publishing clout GRRM had was denial of contract, which he did do to movie companies.

It seems George does not have strict creative control , he has kind of kept this mouth shut about various experiments and rejiggering D and D have done , except we know he must have made an argument about the Talisa thing ... which D and D must have been happy with.

[Prince of Dragonstone]

If they do have Barristan fight I hope they really do the scene justice and make it epic. The audience needs to be like "Holy shit, that old man can kick some ass!"

We've seen several characters elude to Barristan's legendary prowess on the battlefield so I would totally be behind a physical showing of this. In the books the only good fight they have him engaged in is when he fights Khrazz but that would simply be too far in the future.

Most likely, the fight with the Hero of Meereen will go to Daario and will make her more enamored with him and Jorah utterly jealous.

[cade]

I'd like to see a combination of Quaithe and Dany dreams used to reveal some of the Undying's prophecies, but given D&D's avoidance of so many fantasy elements, I'm not hopeful. Also, some personal, character-driven scenes would be nice, but I question how much interest D&D have in writing about Dany unless they're advancing the plot. Last season she only had about 45 minutes of screen time, even less than in season 2, and if you thought season 3 was dominated by King's Landing, just imagine what they'll do with it when they actually have a lot of material to adapt.

I'll be surprised if D&D only use Dany's last two ASoS chapters for season 4. I think they'll either invent a new arc or expand into ADwD. What worked in one book would play a lot differently spread across two years of a tv show. Few will be interested in seeing a whole 'nother season revolve around taking a city. Until she goes to Westeros, Dany's story is going to be unpopular regardless, but her struggle to rule a city will at least give the audience something new.

[Ordos]

I'm still predicting that Danaerys will choose to govern Yunkai instead of take Mereen because of how they conquered Yunkai on the show the same way they conquered Mereen in the book. Like many people have pointed out, taking another city will feel repetitive (even though I personally prefer she take Mereen).

I predict the following: Dany chooses to stay in Yunkai, some drama which reveals what Mormont did in season 1 which leads to his banishment (fill in how), restraining her increasingly uncontrollable dragons, struggling with feeding thousands of freed slaves shutting down and reopening the slave trade and fighting pits. If all of this sounds boring, it's because Dany will only be appearing in a handful of episodes breifly (like Balon and Yara in season 3 or Robb and Theon in season 1). This will anger many unsullied Dany fans but there is no other way.

Everything else from marrying Hizdar (or however you spell his name) to Drogon whisking her away from the fighting pit can take place in season 5.