Westeros

In an interview with The Indian Express, award-winning writer and director Brian Helgeland shared some thoughts on his work on one of five (or perhaps four) possible successors to Game of Thrones following its final season. This makes the second screenwriter attached to the successors to talk publicly about their work, following Jane Goldman‘s comments in an IGN interview last year.

The first take away: fan speculation that Helgeland had moved on, due to his being attached to write and direct a new film, seems to have been mistaken.

Worldcon 76 is coming to San Jose in August, but a couple of days prior to this the SF in SF organization has put together a special event: an evening with George R.R. Martin and award-winning artist John Picacio.

Organized as a benefit for Locus Magazine, the chief trade magazine of SF/F publishing, the event promises to feature “a discussion on literature, art, and life” between the famed writer and artist. Signed copies of their works will be available for purchase.

The event takes place at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City on August 14, the Tuesday before Worldcon. For more information, see the event site.

Culturefly has unveiled their second subscription box in their Game of Thrones series, as well as its theme: the North and the Lands Beyond the Wall.

You can glimpse hints of what exclusive items the box will contain at ”>their page, which seem to include the inevitable Stark-branded item, as well as what we’re guessing are artworks depicting giants and wights, and what may be a sculpted weirwood.

A couple of months ago we had the pleasure of unboxing their first entry in the series, which you can see below:

A press release from HBO announces that for the first time ever, Game of Thrones will get the 4k treatment. Available from June 5th, the first season of Game of Thrones will be available to be purchased as 4K Ultra HD Bluray or 4K digital download. Bonus features all sound like the same from the original season 1 DVD release.

We’ll have the full text below, but it’s worth noting that the first season was recorded to HDCAM-SR tapes in high bitrate 1080p. The next two seasons were also shot at 1080p, and only the fourth and following seasons were shot at the 2880p resolution. So far as we know, VFX for at least the first four seasons were all done at 1080P as well, and it’s unclear if that has ever changed.

Long and short of it, this and any future 4K Ultra HD Blurays are going to be upscaled to 4K rather than be native resolution, although they should gain substantially from the higher bitrates the media allows.

Here’s the press release below:

In his latest “Not a Blog” post, George R.R. Martin has posted a cryptic message featuring Froggy the Gremlin, which means he’s having fun presenting a puzzle to fans. Given the television tag in the post, and the reference to the dragon having three heads, thoughts certainly turn to his presenting some new information regarding HBO’s follow-ups to Game of Thrones.

As we know, originally four concepts were being developed by Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Carly Wray, and Brian Helgeland—but early on George hinted at a 5th pitch, which came to pass when HBO announced that Game of Thrones writer and producer Bryan Cogman was also working on a proposal with George.

That seems to easily explain the first two sets of images: Four series became five. As to the rest?

Reports in the entertainment press have brought attention to remarks from HBO executives at the INTV Conference that have touched on Game of Thrones. Variety reports that Francesca Orsi—the HBO’s senior VP for Drama—promised that the final season of the show will be a satisfying climax, including the anecdote that cast members at the table read of the six scripts openly wept and that there were “15 or 20 minutes” of applause when the last page was read.

To benefit Whale and Dolphin Conservation, the leading charity to protect whales and dolphins around the world, Jerome Flynn—everyone’s favorite mercenary sellsword, Bronn—will join a lucky winner on a trip to Iceland to tour various of the locations featured in Game of Thrones... as well as some extra treats.

The fundraiser, hosted at Prizeo, is a sweepstakes where every $1 donated gets one entry in a draw (minimum donation is $10).

Read Jerome’s message to supporters explaining the details:

The WDC fundraiser ends on April 23rd.

Big news out of Lucasfilm, as their official Star Wars site announces that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are planning to go to a galaxy far, far away. Per the announcement:

From Benioff and Weiss’s statement, they plan to jump into this as soon as Game of Thrones is done, meaning they’re keeping themselves quite busy as they’re also supposed to be executive producing the controversial HBO project Confederate.

After a long trip through Swedish customs, CultureFly’s Game of Thrones Box has arrived for Linda to unbox. The very first entry in a quarterly series of boxes, which can be bought individually or subscribed to annually, is inspired by the noble houses of Westeros and features a number of exclusive items that will only be found in this limited edition box. See the video for the unboxing!

Intrigued? Put in WESTEROS20 when ordering—yes, they do ship internationally, though bear in mind import fees may apply—and get a 20% discount!

More videos to come…

A brief press release from HBO has confirmed what has long been understood: the final, 6-episode season of Game of Thrones will not air until 2019.

Here’s the press release in full:

Back during the 6th season, the UK’s Royal Mail and Tourism NI collaborated on a series of 10, limited edition Game of Thrones stamps. Now to start off the New Year, the Royal Mail has announced a brand new series of Game of Thrones stamps featuring characters and notable creatures and items from the series:

The ten set of individual stamps feature popular characters such as Arya Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, and Cersei Lannister, while an additional sheet of stamps feature “the Night King and White Walkers; Giants; Direwolves and Dragons, as well as a stamp of the contested Iron Throne.”

The stamps can now be pre-ordered at the Royal Mail shop, ahead of the January 23rd release date; fans in the UK can visit any one of 7,000 Post Office branches across the UK to purchase them directly, or they can call the Royal Mail at 03457 641 641 and order stamps over the phone.

There’s a dizzying variety of options to choose from for collectors and fans, including some collectable covers and other items that are apparently limited editions with no more than 1,500 copies to be made.

Thanks to HBO, we have an exclusive from the forthcoming Season 7 Blu-ray/DVD set. This animated featurette, one of many included with the set (more on that below), gives fans a look at the Dragonpit’s dark history with narration from Conleth Hill (Varys) and Anton Lesser (Qyburn). Using details from the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series as well as our own The World of Ice and Fire, it’s a fun piece that covers its creation to its final fate:

HBO has also sent out some expanded/revised details on the the full compliment of extras included with the season set. You can read that below!

As usual, HBO is making sure that the release of the Game of Thrones Season 7 set makes a big splash. This time, there’s three screening events featuring some iconic thrones and more. The episode “Spoils of War” will be screened, followed by the full 45 minute Conquest and Rebellion animated feature detailing the history of the Targaryens. Earlier this year we shared a clip from the feature:

Fans can pre-register and attend provided they have proof of purchase of one of the sets. Here’s the full details of the events below:

Ahead of the release of the Game of Thrones Season 7 box set (which includes one of the more elaborate set of extras to date, as previously reported), HBO UK and London’s Prince Charles Cinema have teamed up for an ambitious marathon of the entire Game of Thrones series, non-stop save for evening dinner breaks which will feature food from MOD Pizza.

For those in London, this sounds like it could be an excellent opportunity to see some of the best episodes of the show on the big screen with an audience. Here’s the full details below:

The HBO store is promoting a number of fun items ahead of Halloween. There’s a terrific mask for the Wun-Wun fans, a foam sword, a Night’s Watch shirt, and more. While browsing the store to see what other goodies had appeared, we also came across these pretty neat looking decorative masks inspired by the great houses of Stark, Targaryen, and Lannister (and, curiously, House White Walker):