Wednesday, November 30, 2011

THEY'D NEVER CANCEL IT--IT'S A CROSSOVER HIT! It's not confirmed yet, but it's heavily rumored that provided ratings/acclaim hold up, HBO will renew Game of Thrones for two more seasons shot back to back, which would cover the third novel and limit the issues posed by child actors aging out of their parts, as well as giving some breathing room for Martin to finish the last two books before the show gets there. If that model works, I wouldn't be surprised to see it followed by a 3 season renewal which mashed up books 4 and 5 over three seasons.

12 comments:

  1. So, I finally started reading this series.  I don't know whether to thank the posters who recommended it or curse y'all, because I can't put the books down.

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  2. bella wilfer1:40 PM

    BEST!  And love Matt's idea that books 4 and 5 would be 3 seasons total - doesn't feel like 1 season each would do them justice (and, to be fair, weren't books 4 and 5 meant to be one gigantic book anyway? Prob would be smart of the producers to integrate the book 5 storylines with book 4, otherwise viewers will be missing some fan favorite characters for a long while due to the way GRRM split those).

    Also, Jenn, I totally blame the posters here for getting me sucked in...however, I also say THANK YOU.  Obsessed.

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  3. The Pathetic Earthling1:48 PM

    Very thrilled.  Still haven't cracked DwD yet, but plan on doing that after the New Year.  There's a Season 2 teaser-cum-behind the scenes trailer over here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE12H1HorUU

    I, for one, think Margarey Tyrell has the most terrific look in her eye.

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  4. I would be so happy if they mashed books 4 and 5 together, because I hate the wat they are structured. And SO much happens in Storm of Swords that two seasons would be a good length for that. 

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  5. Duvall2:14 PM

    You'll probably settle on curse around year three of the wait for Book 6.

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  6. I'm not yet at Book 4 (took a break between Book 1 and Book 2 that has been rather extended) but as I understand, Book 4 absents a lot of the major characters--most notably Dany and Tyrion--and given that they're key to the series' appeal, I can't imagine HBO greenlighting a whole season in which Dinklage and Clarke don't appear.

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  7. Duvall2:50 PM

    It will be interesting to see how the rumored shift in production schedule would affect the airing schedule - would the show still air season 3 in 2013 and season 4 in 2014, or would the seasons air later back-to-back, with a basic cable-style midseason break?

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  8. I think it's going to depend on HBO's production pipeline and how long some of the shows continue--in particular, how long they can keep True Blood going and whether projects like More As This Story Develops (the Sorkin cable news project) and Luck (the Milch horseracing project) hit critically and commercially. 

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  9. MidwestAndrew5:58 PM

    I'm reading Book 4 right now, and while Dany and Tyrion aren't in it, Samwell and Brienne are. It's not as inherently compelling, but it's still interesting. I completely agree that Books 4 and 5 should be combined into at least two seasons, based on what I have heard from my wife, who's read all 5 books.

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  10. bella wilfer6:49 PM

    I think Brienne is such a snooze. 

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  11. Duvall8:35 PM

    The problem with using two or three seasons to adapt books 4 and 5 is that no character in either book has more than one season's worth of story.  Plenty of stuff happens, but it happens to two book's worth of characters.  There's no way to stretch any one character's plotline over two seasons without some serious padding.  I'm not sure how it can be fixed, but it doesn't look like it will be a problem before 2015 or so, so it hardly seems worth worrying about.

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  12. Frankly, I'd say that 4&5 combined have maybe 2/3rds of the story content of Storm of Swords, certainly if you are only count the interesting characters.  They are hugely padded and you could eliminate half the character threads (Dornes, Reek et al, Krakens) without much loss at all.  Then you have the more interesting characters, like Anya and Tyrion, and Duvall is right, they have barely enough story for a single season of air time. 

    In fact, after rereading the series a couple of months ago, I thought that books 4&5 together would make just about 1 good season.  The way it should have been just about 1 good book.  So seasons 3-5 for books 3-5 seems about right to me.

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