Westeros

There have been many reports and tweets covering the panel (with reports stating as many as 7,000 people were waiting in line for a relatively few vacant seats), and we expect to have some fuller reports down the road, but in brief one of the main questions on the minds of many—whether the panel might unveil any cast-but-unannounced roles—was answered quite succinctly: no.

This was a celebration of the first season, the actors and the writers and the fans, and though the second season was discussed somewhat, it was not in any great detail.

One question I dearly wanted answered was, however: George asked Jason Momoa who would win in a fight, Drogo or Conan… and Momoa answered that “Drogo would kick Conan’s ass.” I’m not sure I agree, but I certainly wouldn’t tell the 6’4” Momoa that!

The second season will feature growing dragons and wolves, the introduction of new characters such as “the red priestess”, and more. Talk turned to the the third season, where David Benioff apparently stated that for them, there’s a major scene in the third book that they want to get to, and if they can pull that off, they’d be happy. They think they can get to it. Whether the third book could be covered in a season or would need more time, they’re not sure. Benioff also stated that the third season may be when the show starts to deviate most from the books.

Lots of excellent things said besides, but one that makes us just a bit proud was the fact that David Benioff apparently mentioned our forum for having brought Jason Momoa to their attention. According to Benioff, he had no knowledge of the actor prior to reading a post and looking at a picture the poster linked to, suggesting him for Khal Drogo. And if we’re not mistaken, the post Benioff is thinking of is probably this one from way back in 2008, from a member of the forum who was originally from our roleplaying game. That’s quite cool—especially when you consider Momoa having stated in the past that the audition for Drogo brought him to the attention of the producers of the new Conan film.

Three cheers for the forum!

The DVD/Blu-ray extras were discussed as well, with the executive producers indicating that there was very little footage that was not used, so there will be no deleted extras. However, auditions from various actors will be included, as well as some amazing supplemental features.

To read more and get a few photos, check out the HitFix liveblog of the panel and Warner Brothers photos of the panellists. Plus, below, a video from Skywarpgold  from the start of the panel, and EW’s pre-panel interviews:

There’s also been some individual interview with actors, such as this EW interview with Peter Dinklage, and Wired’s interview with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) which you can see below:

And now, for your delectation… a full video from the panel, plus HBO’s exclusive season 1 recap that was aired before the panel: