Westeros

Yesterday, the news rolled in that Game of Thrones had secured the #2 overall sales spot for DVD and Bluray sales according to Nielsen VideoScan, registering about 78% of the sales of another newcomer, the film Immortals and well ahead of last week’s top sellers, Puss in Boots and Hugo. 57% of sales were in the Bluray edition, as well, which is an enormous figure for a television series.

Now Yahoo.au was among the first to post this Reuters report, which states:

On top of that, the show is said to have, “set an HBO series record for sales of digital downloads from outlets such as iTunesapple, the network said, but it did not provide figures.”

As promised, HBO Canada and TIFF have posted the “In Conversation” with George R.R. Martin, hosted by Teri Hart. Looking at it, it looks to just be the first part of the interview, but there’s definitely plenty to watch as Hart and Martin discuss his work, his fans, and the television show. You can see it below:

Other interviews, and reports about the full “In Conversation” interview, can be found at the March section of the So Spake Martin collection.

First up in EW’s big Game of Thrones coverage? An interview with the lovely Emilia Clarke regarding the second season of the show.

Among the topics discussed is the challenge of working with dragons, the changes from book to screen (“slight different” she says), and the popularity of the show, its fans, and whether she’s getting recognized. I do believe she’s mentioned getting a free yogurt before thanks to the role, so that’s something.

Remember, this month’s issue of Entertainment Weekly comes with four different Game of Thrones covers. Inside, there’ll be more cast interviews and exclusive photos, some of which EW.com has shared. Featuring Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Daenerys Targaryen, and Kit Harington, the pictures range from the hilarious rocking-out cast members to a tender Cersei and Jaime moment. And wait, there’s more: an additional gallery of behind-the-scenes photos, covering a number of actors, including young Callum Wharry (Tommen) and Aimee Richardson (Myrcella).

Or vice versa, perhaps! It looks like Entertainment Weekly has some major coverage coming this way in the coming days, both on-line and in print, with not one, not two, not three, but four collectible covers featuring Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Lena Headey.

And speaking of them… don’t miss this shot from the cast photoshoot in Belfast. Hilarious.

At the article, James Hibberd already brings a bit of news regarding budgets and effects for direwolves and dragons—go over there to check them out. There’s one bit that caught my eye, however:

We mentioned yesterday that GRRM was going to appear on the CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos Hour, and to keep an eye out on the official site for the online video. But the show’s producers went the extra mile and posted the full, extended interview on Youtube. We’ve added it to the So Spake Martin collection, along with links to reports and interviews from the TIFF “In Conversation” and other media appearances by GRRM, but you can see it embedded below:

And for those of you in Canada? HBO Canada has the “In Conversation” video up already, and posted here, but it’s region-locked for Canadians only (for now—TIFF.net plans to post it on their Youtube channel next week).

I heard a rumor that this existed…

And now it’s out for everyone to see. To promote the second season of Game of Thrones (mark your calendars: April 1st in the U.S. and Latin America, April 2nd in the U.K.), HBO‘s released a gruesome new poster… and it’s a big spoiler, so if you don’t know anything about the series or have just started watching, don’t look. For those who want to get a closer look, on the other hand, make sure to visit Wondercon this weekend, where you’ll be able to get a photo taken and have yourself inserted into the picture.

You’ll see what I mean by that, below the cut:

Atlus USA has provided a sneak peek of the combat system used for the Game of Thrones RPG being created by Cyanide Studios, due May 15th: (Pre-order: Amazon US Xbox, Amazon US PS3). It gives a look at both the class and leveling system, and a more detailed look at their combat mechanics which enter a “bullet-time” like mode whenever selecting options or issuing commands, rather than fully stopping the action.

Built using the Unreal 3 engine, the game follows two characters—Mors Westford and Alester Sarwyck—in a campaign that starts just before the first novel, taking them to various locations including the westerlands, the riverlands, King’s Landing, and the Wall. For more information, check out our most recent post which links to the Podcast of Ice and Fire’s recent interview with two members of Atlus.

Access Hollywood had a great interview with Tom Wlaschiha recently… and now they’ve gone and gotten us our very first look at him in costume (and wig!) for his role as Jaqen H’ghar, that international man of mystery who plays an important role in Arya’s story this season.

Jaqen indicates he comes from the Free City of Lorath, which in some ways is the remotest of the Free Cities, and we know very little about them… but we do learn a bit about him, as the books progress, and suffice it to say many fans of the novels are looking forward to seeing how he translates to the screen.

Access Hollywood promises to have an interview with Maisie Williams up tomorrow, but their article with the photo excerpts a brief bit touching on her first meeting Tom and figuring out who he was playing.

Quite a few interviews with George these last couple of days, thanks to his visit to Toronto, courtesy of HBO Canada and Random House. Yesterday, of course, was the Teri Hart-hosted “In Conversation” with George, sponsored by TIFF, and that’s led to a couple of reports (and there’s the promise of a video from the event, to be posted some time next week). Both reports from the invent join two other interviews with the CBC’s Canada AM morning news program and the Q radio program. The Q program is particularly interesting, with some great questions.

You can find the reports from “In Conversation”, plus links or embeds of the CBC items, over at the So Spake Martin entry for March.

Also, for Canadians, George will also be appearing on television tonight, on the George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight program. That should be online tomorrow at the latest, by the looks of it, at the show’s online video page.

Straight from HBO come a press release touting the second season, and providing title, credits, and summary information for the first half of the season. We already have all the titles, but now we see the first of the two episodes Vanessa Taylor has written—episode 4, “Garden of Bones”—and learn a bit more about the breakdown of episodes.

There are some mild spoilers, which I’ll be following up a little bit with commentary between episode summaries.

Having fallen behind a fair bit due to various things going on, we’re now working to get our screencap gallery up to date, with our usual commentary covering details connected to the books, to the production, and more! First up, we’ve gotten very nearly 100 images together from the latest two trailers, which you can find starting on this page of the Previews gallery, with the first image being this one from the “Seven Devils” trailer.

Next up? The four new character  featurettes, as soon as we can get to them.

Lots of Jon Snow here, his character featurette joining the others that HBO have busily putting up on Youtube. Including what I believe is our first look at Ben Crompton as (that’d be the third person with the short beard between Sam and Jon in one or two shots) and Robert Pugh as Craster:

We’ve learned this recently, but sat on it for awhile… but it seems the cat is out of the bag, so to speak! Last season, David Benioff & Dan Weiss, Bryan Cogman, George R.R. Martin, and the incomparable Jane Espenson wrote the ten episodes of season 1. Espenson wasn’t able to write for this second season due to her other commitments (including as a producer on Once Upon a Time, which recently had a sly reference to the show in an Espenson-penned script). Some assumed that that meant that the four remaining writers from last season would cover all the episodes…

But not so! In fact, two episodes of this season are written by Vanessa Taylor, who’s an HBO veteran and has extensive producer credits (which may explain why she’s a co-executive producer on this season of the show, joining director Alan Taylor in getting that credit). Among her prior projects? Co-producing HBO’s Tell Me you Love Me and executive producer on the Washingtonienne pilot from 2009, as well as a writer and co-producer on J.J. Abram’s Alias.

As to what episodes she wrote? One wonders….

Today is a good day, as HBO has decided to release a mass of new videos over at its official Youtube channel for Game of Thrones. Not only is the HD version of “The More You Love” now available, but three character featurettes—focusing on Joffrey, Daenerys, and Renly, and their supporting cast (yep—lots of Natalie Dormer as Margaery and Gwendoline Christie as Brienne!)

See them below:

Cyanide’s Game of Thrones RPG is nearing release, with its publication (both in North America via Atlus and Europe via Focus Home Interactive) set for the middle of May. We’ve been covering the news of the game over the course of the last months, including the most recent news regarding a free art book with pre-orders, but I have to say, the good folks at the Podcast of Ice and Fire have gotten a real scoop: an interview Aram and Scott from Atlus to discuss the game. Good stuff—Amin and Mimi are gamers and they (and their forum members) ask the questions many gamers would like answers to.

Make sure to give it a listen!

And from late last month, here’s another of the taste of the game, with a look at another new location: the seat of Castlewood, where part of the game plays out.