This is how I see the story going for Tyrion:
Season 5.
Arrive in Pentos and spends some time with Illyrio.
Head off on the boat and meet Grifin and Aegon (under other names).
Get attacked by Grayscale men.
Meet Golden Company.
Arrive in Volantis.
Run into Jorah.
Season 6.
Taken oon ship to Astopore by Jorah.
Attacked by pirates.
Sold as slaves.
Joins the Second Sons.
witnesses Dany and the dragon take off.
True this could be told in one season, it would feel a little rushed and there wouldn't be much room for any other character's storylines. When you consider how many new characters get introduced in this storyline alone. They all need to be explained and that takes screen time. There will need to be a lot of exposition and to avoid it being too clunky and wordy it needs to be done gently and over some time.
You can see how little screen time each character gets now as there are so many. In season 3 Bran walked from north of Winterfell to south of the wall, a journey of a couple hundred miles maybe. Each character gets one or two scenes per episode, and usually not even every episode. There are plenty of storylines to cover.
Jon's leadership of the Night's Watch and the bringing the Wildlings into the North.
Stannis building an army to retake the North.
Maderleys and Umbers plotting against Bolton.
Bolton's rebuilding of Winterfell and preparing for siege.
Theon and his rescue of jeyne (or whoever the fake Arya will be).
Sam's journey from Wall to Oldtown via Bravos.
Arya's adventures in Bravos
The rise of the church and trials of Margery and Cersei.
Qyburn's experiments with zombies.
Jaime going north to assault Riverrun.
Brienne heading off to find Sansa.
Sansa heading to the Vale.
The King's Moot on the Iron Islands.
The Ironborn journeying to Dany attacking The Reach et al along the way.
Jon Connington, Aegon and the Golden Company invading The Stormlands.
The introduction of Dorne, the plot to put Mycella on the Iron Throne.
The journey of Quintyn Martell to Dany and his attempt to sell Dragons.
All Dany's politics, war, rommance et al in Slaver's Bay.
I agree many of these storylines are thin and some don't go very far but there is no way to condense them all into 10 episodes of 55 minutes. These are just a random selection off the top of my head and there more I've not thought of just now.
I'd love them to spend 10 hours solely on arya- add a little depth to her induction into the faceless men, but its not going to happen.
The producers have said that 80 hours is the ideal timespan of the entire series.Assuming that a lot happens in books 6 and 7, they are going to have to wrap up book 5 by the end of season 5 so that they have 15 hours for each of the final books
Iron islands 30 minutes
Dorne an hour
Kings landing an hour
Riverlands an hour
Bravos(arya and sam) an hour
Eyrie 30 minutes
Essos(dany and tyrion) 90 minutes
The wall 90 minutes
Beyond the wall 30 minutes
The north 90 minutes
There's your ten hours for season 5
They can start a lot of this stuff in season 4 as there's only a third of book 3 left.
To people who think book 4 and 5 will be two seasons, do you think there's enough material without the storylines being overstretched? Most of the character's arcs are perfect for one season- Cersei's breakdown and imprisonment; Arya's training as a faceless man; Samwell's journey to Oldtown; Theon's rescue of Jeyne and Brienne's search of Sansa. Now, imagine those storylines as two seasons long...there's just not enough material.
So I guess they're bringing in The Reduced Shakespeare Company for season four? A rushed synopsis of books 4 & 5 is possible but book reader would struggle to follow it and non reader wouldn't have a clue what was going on.
I agree that none of the story arcs are particularly meaty but it's the number of arcs that could not be squeezed in one season. You're either going to have thin them out and rush them so much to fit every arc in or cut out quite a few storylines to concentrate on four or five. Sure Quintyn Martell could be dropped, so could possibly brienne's search, although she's a very popular character and possibly plays a role later.
There is going to be a lot of new characters, in Dorne and Bravos and in Dany's storyline especially. These are going to need explanations for the non readers. Without having a POV narration these storylines will need more screen time to explain what's going on.
Also with Bran's storyline there is a lot of cool stuff they could do to introduce some of the history of the Starks or Westeros in general through visions.
Roughly the same length of time peter Jackson had to film the 3 LOTR books
OK, the POVs make it seem more complex, but the show doesn't use POVs. Divide it up by location and condense some of the plots(Jaime can tie up one loose end in the river lands instead of a few, Brienne won't have as many wild geese to chase, sansa won't go to the Fingers, tyrion might never get a dwarf companion or go to volantis, Davos will go straight to white harbor and miss out the sisters, dread fort stuff can be brought forward to season 4 as can the introduction of dorne and some of the meereen story.
Could be, but hasn't Kevan Lannister already appeared in the series- albeit, very briefly. I can't even remember what he looks like in the series, but he has had one or two speaking lines- not just a background cameo which makes me think they wouldn't have recast him. Saying that, Mark Gatiss as Kevan would be awesome, and they need to reintroduce the character again soon because he has quite a big role in the future. Having a big, recognizable actor as Kevan would make him more memorable for the audience.
Damphair's another good guess but surely they wouldn't waste Mark Gatiss on a character that would hardly appear in season 4- he's hardly a big character. I have a feeling Damphair might be completely removed from the show anyway, and they'll just focus on Victarion and Euron- could Mark Gatiss play one of those characters? If I was a betting man though, I'd put money on either Mace Tyrell or a recast Kevan Lannister.
Ian Gelder plays Kevan Lannister and has appeared in four episodes in Seasons 1 and 2. I doubt he'll be recast. I'd suspect Gatiss is down for either one of the three Greyjoy brothers (my guess would be Euron or Victarion rather than Aeron/Damphair) or for Mace Tyrell.
Hmm. I can't see him being Victarion or Euron. Victarion is a very strong warrior; I'm imagining someone a bit more bulky, plus, as fine an actor as Mark is, I'm not sure he could pull off the intense warrior figure that Victarion is.
Same for Euron. I think it would come across as a bit campy, and we don't want that for Euron! Besides, there is no conformation either of these guys are appearing in the show. It seems it's all being stalled, while Asha or Yara takes a trip to rescue Theon from Ramsay that we know she HAS to fail for the story to follow the same route.
And he's too thin to be Mace Tyrell, though if they are taking that in a slightly different direction I could maybe see that. He is a little young though; I'm not sure if he could really pass for Natalie Dormer's father. Yeah, in the books she's 16, but in the show she's clearly much older. In fact, it's never quite made clear how old she actually is.
Having said that... maybe he's playing Coldhands? Though that would seem to suggest they are kind of confirming that Coldhands is not Benjen Stark. Then again, maybe it's a red herring there. Casting the same actor who played Benjen kind of gives that away.
I agree though that some storylines from book 4 and 5 will have to be moved up if they intend to wrap it all up in 7 or 8 seasons. To be fair though, half of the book Dance with Dragons could be cut and the story would not suffer; in fact I think it would benefit.
To people who think book 4 and 5 will be two seasons, do you think there's enough material without the storylines being overstretched? Most of the character's arcs are perfect for one season- Cersei's breakdown and imprisonment; Arya's training as a faceless man; Samwell's journey to Oldtown; Theon's rescue of Jeyne and Brienne's search of Sansa. Now, imagine those storylines as two seasons long...there's just not enough material.
I thought the writers would make one series from the first half of AFFC and the first half of the first part (a little confusing haha)of ADWD and then a series on the latter part of AFFC and latter half of first part of ADWD. This way it makes sure all the big and popular characters are still kept in the series without them not appearing until the next one(Jon,Dany,Tyrion)Then the series that follows this one would just be part 2 of ADWD. This could make sense as AFFC and the first part of ADWD are happening at the same time, just in different places around Westeros/Essos. Then part 2 of ADWD are events that happens after both these books. So these series would presumably be 5 and 6 as I imagine series 4 is going to be the latter part of ASOS.
Hope people followed that, was a little confusing writing:p
Whilst I agree that many of the storylines (Brienne or Arya) would fit well into one season I think that there are a few storylines that would suffer a lot by such condensing, Tyrion's and Jon's for example.
Also there are quite a few new groups to be introduced, Dorne, Wildlings, Iron Islanders (We've met a few but not most of those involved in the King's Moot etc). All these new groups will need screen time to explain and develop.
It may be that some storylines will start to overtake the books in season 6 but others will have some time to breathe. I don't think all of books 4 & 5 will be squeezed into season 5.
I'd expect books 4 and 5 will be spread out over Seasons 4, 5 and 6 (however Season 6 will also start using Book 6 material).
That seems reasonable. I don't see season 5's Ep9 spectacular event being the pending Battles of Meereen or Winterfell. This gives eight episodes for Tyrion's post Kings Landing storyline and Jon's storyline at the wall.
These stories could be done in eight episodes but there'd be little or less time for any other storyline.
I have read all the books but because he is taking so long in writing the next I have forgotten what happens. Perhaps that is a good thing as regards the TV show. If he doesn't hurry up they are in serious danger of catching up which means they will have to include things they might not have done to lengthen things out a bit.
Comments
Season 5.
Arrive in Pentos and spends some time with Illyrio.
Head off on the boat and meet Grifin and Aegon (under other names).
Get attacked by Grayscale men.
Meet Golden Company.
Arrive in Volantis.
Run into Jorah.
Season 6.
Taken oon ship to Astopore by Jorah.
Attacked by pirates.
Sold as slaves.
Joins the Second Sons.
witnesses Dany and the dragon take off.
True this could be told in one season, it would feel a little rushed and there wouldn't be much room for any other character's storylines. When you consider how many new characters get introduced in this storyline alone. They all need to be explained and that takes screen time. There will need to be a lot of exposition and to avoid it being too clunky and wordy it needs to be done gently and over some time.
You can see how little screen time each character gets now as there are so many. In season 3 Bran walked from north of Winterfell to south of the wall, a journey of a couple hundred miles maybe. Each character gets one or two scenes per episode, and usually not even every episode. There are plenty of storylines to cover.
Jon's leadership of the Night's Watch and the bringing the Wildlings into the North.
Stannis building an army to retake the North.
Maderleys and Umbers plotting against Bolton.
Bolton's rebuilding of Winterfell and preparing for siege.
Theon and his rescue of jeyne (or whoever the fake Arya will be).
Sam's journey from Wall to Oldtown via Bravos.
Arya's adventures in Bravos
The rise of the church and trials of Margery and Cersei.
Qyburn's experiments with zombies.
Jaime going north to assault Riverrun.
Brienne heading off to find Sansa.
Sansa heading to the Vale.
The King's Moot on the Iron Islands.
The Ironborn journeying to Dany attacking The Reach et al along the way.
Jon Connington, Aegon and the Golden Company invading The Stormlands.
The introduction of Dorne, the plot to put Mycella on the Iron Throne.
The journey of Quintyn Martell to Dany and his attempt to sell Dragons.
All Dany's politics, war, rommance et al in Slaver's Bay.
I agree many of these storylines are thin and some don't go very far but there is no way to condense them all into 10 episodes of 55 minutes. These are just a random selection off the top of my head and there more I've not thought of just now.
The producers have said that 80 hours is the ideal timespan of the entire series.Assuming that a lot happens in books 6 and 7, they are going to have to wrap up book 5 by the end of season 5 so that they have 15 hours for each of the final books
Iron islands 30 minutes
Dorne an hour
Kings landing an hour
Riverlands an hour
Bravos(arya and sam) an hour
Eyrie 30 minutes
Essos(dany and tyrion) 90 minutes
The wall 90 minutes
Beyond the wall 30 minutes
The north 90 minutes
There's your ten hours for season 5
They can start a lot of this stuff in season 4 as there's only a third of book 3 left.
I agree that none of the story arcs are particularly meaty but it's the number of arcs that could not be squeezed in one season. You're either going to have thin them out and rush them so much to fit every arc in or cut out quite a few storylines to concentrate on four or five. Sure Quintyn Martell could be dropped, so could possibly brienne's search, although she's a very popular character and possibly plays a role later.
There is going to be a lot of new characters, in Dorne and Bravos and in Dany's storyline especially. These are going to need explanations for the non readers. Without having a POV narration these storylines will need more screen time to explain what's going on.
Also with Bran's storyline there is a lot of cool stuff they could do to introduce some of the history of the Starks or Westeros in general through visions.
Roughly the same length of time peter Jackson had to film the 3 LOTR books
OK, the POVs make it seem more complex, but the show doesn't use POVs. Divide it up by location and condense some of the plots(Jaime can tie up one loose end in the river lands instead of a few, Brienne won't have as many wild geese to chase, sansa won't go to the Fingers, tyrion might never get a dwarf companion or go to volantis, Davos will go straight to white harbor and miss out the sisters, dread fort stuff can be brought forward to season 4 as can the introduction of dorne and some of the meereen story.
Sansa 7
Jon 7
Tyrion 4
Jaime 3
Sam 2
Dany 2
Arya 1
Catelyn 1
Davos 0
Bran 0
Not a lot of story left to tell there, so books 4 and 5 are going to get a lot of screentime next year
My guess would be Mace Tyrell, even though he's not fat enough.
Maybe Kevan Lannister?
Or Damphair.........
Could be, but hasn't Kevan Lannister already appeared in the series- albeit, very briefly. I can't even remember what he looks like in the series, but he has had one or two speaking lines- not just a background cameo which makes me think they wouldn't have recast him. Saying that, Mark Gatiss as Kevan would be awesome, and they need to reintroduce the character again soon because he has quite a big role in the future. Having a big, recognizable actor as Kevan would make him more memorable for the audience.
Damphair's another good guess but surely they wouldn't waste Mark Gatiss on a character that would hardly appear in season 4- he's hardly a big character. I have a feeling Damphair might be completely removed from the show anyway, and they'll just focus on Victarion and Euron- could Mark Gatiss play one of those characters? If I was a betting man though, I'd put money on either Mace Tyrell or a recast Kevan Lannister.
I don't believe so. His first appearance will be him arriving at Kings Landing for Margaery's and Joffrey's wedding in season 4 most probably.
Ian Gelder plays Kevan Lannister and has appeared in four episodes in Seasons 1 and 2. I doubt he'll be recast. I'd suspect Gatiss is down for either one of the three Greyjoy brothers (my guess would be Euron or Victarion rather than Aeron/Damphair) or for Mace Tyrell.
I can see him as a grand vizier type
Mr. Stormborn?
Same for Euron. I think it would come across as a bit campy, and we don't want that for Euron! Besides, there is no conformation either of these guys are appearing in the show. It seems it's all being stalled, while Asha or Yara takes a trip to rescue Theon from Ramsay that we know she HAS to fail for the story to follow the same route.
And he's too thin to be Mace Tyrell, though if they are taking that in a slightly different direction I could maybe see that. He is a little young though; I'm not sure if he could really pass for Natalie Dormer's father. Yeah, in the books she's 16, but in the show she's clearly much older. In fact, it's never quite made clear how old she actually is.
Having said that... maybe he's playing Coldhands? Though that would seem to suggest they are kind of confirming that Coldhands is not Benjen Stark. Then again, maybe it's a red herring there. Casting the same actor who played Benjen kind of gives that away.
I agree though that some storylines from book 4 and 5 will have to be moved up if they intend to wrap it all up in 7 or 8 seasons. To be fair though, half of the book Dance with Dragons could be cut and the story would not suffer; in fact I think it would benefit.
http://www.wetpaint.com/news/video/2013-11-27-game-thrones-star-jack-gleeson
He originally said that quite a while ago (a couple of years) but looks to have repeated it in a recent interview.
He never intended Acting to be his full time career. He's currently at Uni and wants to go on to do a PHD.
I thought the writers would make one series from the first half of AFFC and the first half of the first part (a little confusing haha)of ADWD and then a series on the latter part of AFFC and latter half of first part of ADWD. This way it makes sure all the big and popular characters are still kept in the series without them not appearing until the next one(Jon,Dany,Tyrion)Then the series that follows this one would just be part 2 of ADWD. This could make sense as AFFC and the first part of ADWD are happening at the same time, just in different places around Westeros/Essos. Then part 2 of ADWD are events that happens after both these books. So these series would presumably be 5 and 6 as I imagine series 4 is going to be the latter part of ASOS.
Hope people followed that, was a little confusing writing:p
Also there are quite a few new groups to be introduced, Dorne, Wildlings, Iron Islanders (We've met a few but not most of those involved in the King's Moot etc). All these new groups will need screen time to explain and develop.
It may be that some storylines will start to overtake the books in season 6 but others will have some time to breathe. I don't think all of books 4 & 5 will be squeezed into season 5.
Some Book 4 and 5 storylines are actually going to be in Season 4, anyone familiar with the books can workout which ones.
I'd expect books 4 and 5 will be spread out over Seasons 4, 5 and 6 (however Season 6 will also start using Book 6 material).
That seems reasonable. I don't see season 5's Ep9 spectacular event being the pending Battles of Meereen or Winterfell. This gives eight episodes for Tyrion's post Kings Landing storyline and Jon's storyline at the wall.
These stories could be done in eight episodes but there'd be little or less time for any other storyline.