Game of Thrones Season 5 News and Discussion (1 Viewer)

First, spoiler alert!




Season Five trailer to appear in IMAX along with some season 4 shows:

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/game-thrones-headed-imax-20150106

Game of Thrones is still a few months away from its official return; Season Five is slated to premiere this spring, though an official date has yet to be announced. Only a few details about the upcoming season have leaked, most significantly that it will not feature Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead) and his helpers Meera Reed (Ellie Kendrick) and Hodor (Kristian Nairn). After Nairn accidentally let the news slip last September, GoT show runner David Benioff later explained that their absence is crucial to constructing the narrative scope of the show.


"Even though we’re making changes to the books and adapting as necessary, we’re trying to keep the various storylines the same as the books and trying to keep them roughly [chronologically] parallel," Benioff said. "And last year, we caught up to the end of Bran’s storyline [in George R.R. Martin’s most recent A Song of Ice and Fire novel, A Dance with Dragons]. So if we pushed him forward this season, then he’s way ahead of where the other characters are."

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Season Five begins April 12.

I finally go my wife to watch the show -- we started marathoning episodes in November and finished up around New Years. She was convinced there was nothing appealing to her about the show, but she can't wait for season 5 now. And I must say, on rewatch, season 4 is crazy jam packed with stuff. So many huge plot twist and deaths. So many deaths.

I got two of my friends hooked, both of whom normally hate "fantasy stuff" We just got past the Red Wedding - needless to say they were a bit surprised by that one. A season 4 marathon is imminent.

Finally, HBO released the full length Season 5 trailer. Unfortunately it's a low quality Facebook video:
[media]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152715877082734[/media]

HBO also released a slew of new photos from the upcoming season:

It will be interesting to see if this season ushers in the end of the honeymoon period for the series.


If they hew closely to books 4 and 5 - it's going to be a slog - even if they combine the books over the next season or two to balance out character appearances. If the show runners want to get inventive, now is the time to do so.


I'll be monitoring fan reaction this season more so than ever.

Lou Sytsma said:

It will be interesting to see if this season ushers in the end of the honeymoon period for the series.


If they hew closely to books 4 and 5 - it's going to be a slog - even if they combine the books over the next season or two to balance out character appearances. If the show runners want to get inventive, now is the time to do so.


I'll be monitoring fan reaction this season more so than ever.

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I feel books 4 and 5 get some unfair treatment from fans. While I agree with the general consensus that splitting up the narrative (and the characters) was a mistake, Feast and Dance are still really good books in my opinion. In particular (spoilers on books 4 and 5's POV chapters):

Splitting the narrative is the smaller issue. The content of the narrative is the big problem. We'll have to agree to disagree on the quality of Books 4 & 5 - big drop IMO.


But who knows - maybe the fact that the TV series has to drop or condense a lot of material each season will allow it to elevate the TV series above the source material. Sure hope so.

The narrative problems of book 4&5 mainly stem from the unfinished repetitive quality of book 4s writing style, which is less refined and focused compared with the other four books. Since the adaptation will helpfully trim the fat and combine repetitive chapters and arcs into tight single episodes of television, it will probably be one of their best seasons, given that the narrative structure of the character arcs are mostly strong, they have a great opportunity to demonstrate how good the story is and how good books 4 and 5 could have been.

Lou Sytsma said:

The content of the narrative is the big problem. We'll have to agree to disagree on the quality of Books 4 & 5 - big drop IMO.

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Fair enough. A Storm of Swords was so strong that Feast definitely felt "different" (and a bad different, for many). I found my re-read to be more enjoyable; I also really liked the Dorne stuff, for reasons I can't quite explain. I guess there was enough that I liked in Feast and Dance to compensate for the stuff I liked less. I can totally see why some would think otherwise, though.

Adam_S said:

The narrative problems of book 4&5 mainly stem from the unfinished repetitive quality of book 4s writing style, which is less refined and focused compared with the other four books. Since the adaptation will helpfully trim the fat and combine repetitive chapters and arcs into tight single episodes of television, it will probably be one of their best seasons, given that the narrative structure of the character arcs are mostly strong, they have a great opportunity to demonstrate how good the story is and how good books 4 and 5 could have been.

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Agree. I think that there is some really good stuff in books 4 and 5, but there is so much bad a reader has to slog through. So, hopefully, the adaptation will give the story the extra edit/rewrite that the books need.

I marathoned the first 4 seasons a few weeks ago in preparation of the IMAX release and then it never opened in my IMAX theater. Can't wait for season 5.

HBO aired a great half-hour documentary on the immense logistical challenges that go into making a single day of "Game of Thrones", and now they've posted it in on YouTube:
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Mi17nLflY[/media]

I hope it appears on the eventual Season 5 Blu-Ray special features.

Really helps explain by there are only ten episodes a season.

The trio at the head of this vast enterprise are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Bernie Caulfield. You hear a lot about the first two because they're the creative visionaries that are translating GRRM's vast epic to the screen. But when you do hear about Bernie Caulfield, it's usually with awe that she has found a way to translate that creative vision into an immense, intricately plotted practical plan that makes the whole thing a reality. Seeing her in this, you can see how she fits that role, because she is completely level headed and unrattled.

Season 4 finale upset me so much that I think I will not get upset or surprised anymore. Anyone is dispensable now. I think they are making a great mistake if they think it will be more suspenseful if we think they can kill anyone. That actually works against them. I liked Tyrion but after I saw what they did to him and made him do last season, I say what the hell, let them all die!


A friend jokingly told me that this writer (George R. R. Martin) is like a deranged serial killer. It seems he enjoys killing people!

In a world as violent and intrigue-filled as Westeros (and Essos), having all characters survive would actually strain believability.

I was listening to the first episode commentary with David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and actor Pedro Pascal last night, and they discussed how their plans for Ellaria Sand expanded from a minor character to a major character once they cast Indira Varma in the role.

My guess is that her casting is why:

I am about half way through Dance and I hope to finish it by April 12th. (Kind of hard when I only read a few pages per night at bedtime.) Anyway, I saw some glimpses in the trailer of things in Dance. I think I will trust the showrunners to get to the key plot points and avoid the fat.

"Anyone is dispensable now". You mean like the entire Stark family including its head? That's the whole point of GoT, compared to everything else, nobody is safe.

Sam Posten said:

"Anyone is dispensable now". You mean like the entire Stark family including its head? That's the whole point of GoT, compared to everything else, nobody is safe.

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I think that's a big mistake. Stark family head doesn't count, he died in the first season. You can't sustain a series where the audience doesn't care about anyone. If you go the route that you are going to kill everyone, no one is going to care anymore.


You have to have at least someone, something people can route for. You make Tyrion or other people doing things completely out of character and at a certain point, you break the line and nothing matters anymore.

SamT said:

I think that's a big mistake. Stark family head doesn't count, he died in the first season. You can't sustain a series where the audience doesn't care about anyone. If you go the route that you are going to kill everyone, no one is going to care anymore.

You have to have at least someone, something people can route for. You make Tyrion or other people doing things completely out of character and at a certain point, you break the line and nothing matters anymore.

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Very few characters are out and out villains in this show. Joffrey was one, Burn Gorman's renegade Crow was one, certainly Ramsay Snow is one. Mostly though, the characters have a mix of likable and unlikable qualities much like people in real life. There have been a few moments where I thought they went too far, like having Jaime Lannister rape Cersei, but mostly when characters do immoral things it's grounded in the story and the circumstances. Given the depth and extent of Tyrion's sense of betrayal by both Shae and his father, I don't think his killing them in the heat of the moment was at all out of character. Shae's death was tragic, but Tywin's death was just rewards.