Westeros

ImagineFX, a leading fantasy and science fiction art magazine published in the UK, has revealed its May 2014 issue, featuring a spectacular depiction of Daenerys Targaryen by Mélanie Delon.

Delon provides a step-by-step breakdown of the work that went into the piece (the magazine is filled with tutorials for fellow artists), while Grzegorz Ruthkowsk does something similar with a battle sequence drawn from A Song of Ice and Fire. Best of all, a brand new interview with George R.R. Martin will be featured in the magazine.

The magazine can be purchased on newstands as well as via ordering at the ImagineFX site, where both print and digital copies are available.

Are you in the area of London? Do you have a great Melisandre, Arya, White Walker, Cersei, or Drogo costume? BBC One needs someone just like you to help them out! They’ll be filming a piece on Game of Thrones, with Charles Dance on board as a guest, and they’d love to have some cosplayers on hand who can dress up and help them convey something of the story.

Would-be cosplayers are needed in London for Monday, March 31st—yep, short notice! If you’re interested, see below for contact details:

We’ve previously reported on exclusive featurettes for season 4 of Game of Thrones that Verizon and Comcast released, but it looks like HBO has now put them up on the official Youtube channel in 720p quality. Definitely worth a look, but beware spoilers (especially in the weapons and fighting video):

And as GRRM teased yesterday, the chapter is now on-line. For those who want to see discussion of it, you’re welcome to visit the dedicated discussion thread over at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum.

Please, no spoilers in comments here, for those who choose not to read it!

Well, this is a fascinating development: Sky has announced that every episode

the premiere episode of season 4 of Game of Thrones will air simultaneously with the premiere airing in the US. That means diehard fans in the UK will be able to watch it at 2AM, if they feel like it, right at the same time as fans in the US. The usual 9PM Monday airing will also take place, for those who prefer their prime time television at prime time.

[Edit: It’s come to my attention that I was off the mark on this—initial reports that all episodes would be aired at 2 AM appear to be incorrect, only the premiere will be simultaneously aired with the US airing.]

This may be a publicity stunt, or perhaps dipping a toe into the water to see what would happen—and if it works, it’d be a clear response to piracy of the episode in the UK. The economic arguments have been undercut somewhat: streaming packages offering Sky Atlantic, including the £15 monthly Sky Go and the £4.99 (introductory) price on NOW TV, are available without needing a full TV package. The other most common argument after that, however, was the fact that many die-hard fans want to be able to take part in the conversation after a new episode as soon as possible. They may not stay up to 3AM watching an episode, but there are many who’d get up a bit earlier in the morning to watch the show so they could immediately leap on to the forums, or at least be very happy to have the episode waiting for them when they get back from school or from work. Sky Atlantic’s 9PM airings prevented that, however, and the wait was simply too long…

But it may be that the future will invalidate that argument as well. It will be very interesting to see if this makes a dent in illegal downloads of the premiere of Game of Thrones in the UK, which was ranked as the country with the fourth highest illict downloads of the show last year.

April 2nd will see the first episode of Game of Thrones receive a red carpet premiere in Stockholm, and in collaboration with HBO Nordic we’re offering fans the chance to be a part of it—and besides that, a chance for fans to attend a special fan event planned for the 6th of April. The winner of the competition will receive not one, not two, not four, but ten tickets to bring their friends along with them to the premiere; all other prize winners will receive pairs of tickets to the fan event.

See below for full details (in Swedish!), including instructions for how to enter the competition. Please bear in mind that the subject of the email should be exactly the same as noted below—makes it much easier for us to sort through entries!

George R.R. Martin has revealed over at “Not a Blog” that a brand new preview from The Winds of Winter will soon be up at his official website, replacing the current sample (do we have to say that following that link leads to spoilers?) Martin teases the fact that it’s in fact a chapter he’s written long ago, prior to any of the previous sample chapters, but it’s a chapter he’s rewritten many times indeed. He notes that it’s a chapter that very few have seen to date—his editors, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, Parris, a few others (*ahem*) number among them—and goes even further to tease it by revealing the name at the top of the chapter… which we’ll put in spoilers below:

Game of Thrones merchandising is burgeoning, to say the least, and this has led to the occasional oddity (like mini football helmets) and things you’d otherwise not expect them to make. Case in point? The newly released Game of Thrones: A Pop-up Guide to Westeros (Order: HBO Store, Amazon UK). I admit, the last pop-up book I owned featured the Transformers—not the new ones from the Michael Bay movies, the old Hasbro Transformers of the 80s. But a look around suggests that pop-up books aimed at fannish culture are certainly a thing, and the designer of this particular book—Matthew Reinhart—has cut a niche for himself bringing his abilities to the world of geek culture with Star Wars, DC comics, and… x80s Transformers, too; it’s a small world!

A lengthy interview with executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss—the longest I think I’ve ever seen—covers a huge range of topics, from the origins of their acquaintance to their current work on the unannounced season 5 (it’s happening, no need to wait for HBO to make it official). It’s insightful. Here’s an excerpt related to working from the template of a published series, and having the author on hand:

There’s more to be found over at Vanity Fair, including a fascinating bit discussing the influence of Anthony Mann, Roman Polanski, Akira Kurosawa, and Andrei Tarkovsky on the visual style of Game of Thrones; getting to watch an original, well-preserved 35mm print of Ran would indeed be something special.

Last month, I had the opportunity to sit down with a number of the actors involved in Game of Thrones, to talk about the journey so far, and perhaps to draw out a few hints about what’s to come. First up in this interview series—leading up to and into the next season—I had the pleasure to talk with Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane), the latter of whom I’ve never had the pleasure of interviewing before. We have a chance to talk the joys of Vine, the pleasures of Iceland, and how their characters get along as season 4 commences.

Interview

Maisie, many people have mentioned you as a very impressive actress. Do you have any method you use, or have you just picked things up since you started the show?

How does it feel not to get to act with Sophie?

To read the rest of the interview, visit our Features!

VerizonFIOS has a couple of exclusive videos up touting the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. The first is misnamed—it claims to be about the Red Wedding but is in fact about the wedding feast scene for the marriage of Joffrey and Margaery—while the second is a great look at the weapons and fight training. Note that the latter definitely is spoilerish in its way:

These are shorter promo pieces, half a minute long each, but they offer more tantalizing glimpses from the upcoming 4th season:

It’s been in the work for a few months, and at last, those of you with iOS or Android devices have a good chance (regional availability aside) to get a hold of the latest update to the World of Ice and Fire app (not the same thing as the forthcoming The World of Ice and Fire book), also known as the Game of Throens Guide for Android devices (Order: iTunes, Google Play). It’s a very substantial update, including dozens of new character entries, and scores of entries for many of the locations in the Lands of Ice and Fire maps. Especially all those new, never-before-mentioned locations found on the map of Essos, all taken straight from notes and details GRRM shared with us.

And for more casual fans who aren’t so interested in entries and the accompanying art? A Tyrion chapter from The Wind of Winter is included in the app, which is free to download (info packs—detailed entries that carry the app through the various books of the series—must be paid for as in-app purchases, but are unnecessary to get the excerpt).

Now, there’s lots of questions surrounding the app and its availability, so we’ll try and answer them below.

That Game of Thrones is a global phenomenon is without a doubt. It appears in scores of foreign markets, has events around the world where actors are eagerly sought after as guests, and the fan base reaches to some of the remotest places in the world. So it’s no surprise that the exhibitions of the show’s props and costumes have ranged widely, across both hemispheres. Usually, these have been specifically tied to promoting the TV show, but in at least one case they have been used for quite a different purpose: educational. At Stockholm’s Royal Armory, Sweden’s oldest museum and part of the royal palace complex (which happens to be one of the largest royal palaces still in use as a royal residence), a new exhibition titled Power Games (Maktspel) was launched last week exploring depictions of power in television and cinema. Set alongside costumes and artifacts from Sweden’s 16th century were costumes from the films Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age as well as Game of Thrones.

Linda and I were invited by the armory to take part, and so off to beautiful Stockholm we went! You can read more about what saw at the exhibit, and what’s in store for visitors, over at our Features page.

HBO has been on a tear with releasing content in the lead up to the April 6th premiere of Game of Thrones. After the NYC premeire, this new trailer was streamed—but now you can get it in all its 720p goodness via Youtube:

More to come, we’re pretty sure!

James Hibberd scores another exclusive, revealing that David Benioff and Dan Weiss have renewed their contracts with HBO, setting them on course to run the show through a prospective sixth season. As Hibberd puts it:

So, just to emphasize, a two year contract renewal is not a guarantee of a sixth season… but at this point it seems that, short of some catastrophe happening to HBO or the production, a sixth season is all but assured.

And then Weiss and Benioff will be up for contract renegotations again… and so, too, will a number of actors, we suspect, as six year option contracts are pretty normal in TV.

Week 3 challenge posted below!

Fans in the UK have a lot of reasons to be excited about Game of Thrones this season… not least that it’s now more accessible than ever thanks to NOW TV! The streaming service has all three past seasons available for streaming now, and will be airing season 4 within 24 hours of the US premiere date. Viewers can sign up on a month-to-month, no-contract basis, and besides Game of Thrones will have access to many other programs on demand and live showcasing a selection of Sky’s very best program offerings.

To help get the word out, NOW TV and Westeros.org are pleased to announce a contest series. The prize? An iron throne of your own, of sorts—one much more comfortable than the one Joffrey is sitting on. Approved by HBO, these numbered, limited edition Iron Throne seat backings will allow you to rule the Seven Kingdoms from the comfort of your own home.

Open to UK fans, the contest will run over three weeks, with one winner selected each week. See them below:

Week 1: DONE. Thanks for all the entries, and congratulations to the lucky winner!

Week 2: DONE. Thanks for all the entries, and congratulations to the lucky winner!

Week 3: Every ruler must have their words. Share with us your house motto , whether here in Comments (via Facebook) , on Twitter, or on Google Plus, and get a chance to win an Iron Throne!

We’ll have more on costuming soon, once we’re done with our report from Stockholm’s Royal Armory and its Power Games exhibition, but Time Warner Cable has a special feature on season 4’s costumes, courtesy of HBO. You can see it below. Among other things, I believe it gives us the first, absolutely official glimpse at Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Mace Tyrell:

A lot of new shots here, a few new bits of dialog, and at least one very, very interesting scene (see if you can guess which one we mean), can now be found over at the official Game of Thrones Facebook page.

Visually stunning work, as usual!

Thanks to Facebook Live, fans can now watch the red carpet as the premiere of season 4 takes place in New York City! Cast members are present in plenty, and have been answering questions put to them by fans. And most importantly of all, a brand new trailer will debut during the stream:

Although George announced his completion of work on The World of Ice and Fire (Pre-order: Amazon US, Amazon UK) in a post on Not a Blog last week, Linda and I have held off a similar post because our side of things wasn’t yet quite done: a sidebar we felt was important needed adding, an afterword needed tweaking, and GRRM’s Iron Islands material needed trimming…

But now all that is done, and outside of art approvals, final copy edits, and the like, Linda and I are essentially done as well. From 2004, when the subject of such a book was first broached while having dinner with George and Parris in Santa Fe, to 2006 when bidding among publishers finally led to our signing a contract with Bantam in 2006, it’s been a long effort—not a continuous one, mind, after the initial discussion, outlining, and the very first draft, as the bulk of the work waited until A Dance with Dragons was more or less done and George had more time to consult. Consult he did, and he made a number of contributions which, as Tolkien before him said, “grew in the telling”. Some of these narratives have since been published in partially abridged form—“The Princess and the Queen” in Dangerous Women (Order: Amazon UK), “The Rogue Prince” in the forthcoming Rogues (Pre-order: Amazon UK).

Following the big reveal of the April issue of Vanity Fair having an Annie Leibovitz-photographed feature on Game of Thrones, Vanity Fair has busily been releasing material from the shoots and interviews to whet the appetite. Most notably? This extended interview with George R.R. Martin. Lots of interesting tidbits therein, including his apparent hope that the production slow its tempo a bit by taking time off for a prequel series (as Spartacus did) or a split season (as many, many shows are currently doing these days). Executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss also get an extended interview piece, focused on the production side of things.

There have also been some excellent videos released with the cast members from the Leibovitz shoot, featuring everything from advice actors would give to their characters to what other characters they might want to play:

HBO has let us know of a wonderfully-amusing vignette, narrated by Charles Dance, recounting how David Benioff and Dan Weiss came to adapt George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series into Game of Thrones. It’s definitely just a bit on the comedic side:

Very charming! The list of just how many locations, cast members, costumes, and more go into a typical season is a particularly fun set of factoids

Over at “Not a Blog”, George R.R. Martin provides some news on the forthcoming cross-genre anthology he’s co-edited with Gardner Dozois, Rogues (Pre-order: Amazon US, Amazon UK)... and in the course reveals that he has decided to contribute a story himself, another piece of the “fake history” of House Targaryen. Here’s Martin in his own words:

Best of all, though originally slated for quite a late publication, it looks like all the stories are in and ready to go… so Rogues will hit shelves in the US on June 17th.

Fans of “The Princess and the Queen” will be in for a treat. As we’ve told fans on our forum in the past, Prince Daemon was one of the most remarkable men of his age, and what you saw of him in “The Princess and the Queen” is only a taste of the enormities and feats of which he was capable.

You can find the full table of contents for Rogues below:

Following up the Vanity Fair piece with its remark that the producers are thinking of seven or eight seasons, James Hibberd at EW has a somewhat more definitive quote from the David Benioff:

Of course, it’s not 100%, as HBO executive Michael Lombardo implies a possibility of 8 seasons, which matches Vanity Fair’s earlier quote. But at the moment, 7 seasons appears to be the end goal of the producers.

Vanity Fair has unveiled the cover for the April issue… and Game of Thrones features heavily indeed. It’s not just any Game of Thrones photo shoot—world famous photographer Annie Leibovitz turns her practiced eye, photographing the actors and creators of the show, while there’s plenty of interview material… including this fairly definitive quote from Benioff and Weiss:

Below, see a video showing the cover shoot, featuring Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Peter Dinklage. The April Issue will be available to digital subscribers from March 13th.

A few new things to look at in this trailer. titled “Secrets”:

Music by Losers, from their song “Turn Around”.

HBO seem to determined to make sure that the entire world knows that season 4 of Game of Thrones is coming, because another trailer is due this Sunday evening, doubtless airing just before the finale of True Detective (very much looking forward to that, myself). HBO has teased it using Vine, which can be seen below.

Fully embracing the season’s “All Men Must Die” tagline, HBO has announced a new website: Beautiful Death, dedicated to providing an illustrated death-by-death countdown towards the premiere of season 4. There’s two already up, and more are promised.

The illustrations come from Robert M. Ball, who is no stranger to Game of Thrones art, as his portfolio features some character illustrations he was commissioned to do for Wired.
The second image, depicting the Hound’s killing of Mycah, is quite striking.

In one of the more unique marketing efforts out there, HBO has convinced a number of hip hop and rap artists to put together a mixtape specifically inspired by Game of Thrones. Dubbed Catch the Throne, artists such as Big Boi of Outkast, Common, and Wale have provided ten tracks covering the gamut of themes from the series: ambition, revenge, sexism, and more. And I have to agree with Victoria McNally’s review  at Geekosystem—Dominik Omega’s “Arya’s Prayer” is the stand out, thanks to his deeper understanding of the novels allowing him a wider range of material to reference. Good stuff.

Of course, the mixtape is free, and is already available on Soundcloud. You can listen to it below:

Straight from HBO is the press release officially revealing the titles of the first four episodes of season 4, as well as providing synopsis information which provides some interesting insights as to what’s to come. Episodes 2 and 3 sound particularly interesting…

        Encouraged by the Red Wedding slaughter in the Riverlands that wiped out many of their Stark nemeses, the Lannisters’ hold on the Iron Throne remains intactâ`¦but can they survive their own egos, as well as new and ongoing threats from the south, north and east? While an unbowed Stannis Baratheon continues to rebuild his army in Dragonstone, a more immediate danger comes from the south, as Oberyn Martell, the Lannister-loathing “Red Viper of Dorne,” arrives at King’s Landing to attend Joffrey’s wedding to Margaery Tyrell, and perhaps act on an ulterior agenda. In the north, a depleted Night’s Watch seems overmatched against the inexorable Wall advances of Mance Rayder’s army of wildlings, which in turn is being trailed by an even more formidable foe: the undead White Walkers. As if that weren’t enough, Daenerys Targaryen, accompanied by her menacing trio of dragons and army of Unsullied, is poised to liberate Meereen, the largest city in Slaver’s Bay, which could ultimately provide her with enough ships to sail to Westeros and reclaim the Iron Throne.

The Emmy®- and Golden Globe-winning GAME OF THRONES returns for its ten-episode fourth season SUNDAY, APRIL 6 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, followed by other episodes on subsequent Sundays at the same time. Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, the hit series is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal.

Returning series regulars on GAME OF THRONES this season include: Emmy® and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister), Aidan Gillen (Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish), Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Diana Rigg (Lady Olenna Tyrell), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark).

Additional returning series regulars this season include: Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Conleth Hill (Varys), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Stephen Dillane (Stannis Baratheon), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), Rory McCann (Sandor “The Hound” Clegane), Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Snow) and Carice van Houten (Melisandre).

Returning cast members include: Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Jojen Reed), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Ciaran Hinds (Mance Rayder), Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell), Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed), Kristian Nairn (Hodor) and Gemma Whelan (Yara Greyjoy).

New cast members for the fourth season include: Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell), Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand, Oberyn’s paramour), Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Lord Mace Tyrell), Michiel Huisman (Daario Naharis, a mercenary ally to Daenerys), Yuri Kolokolnikov (Styr, a wildlings chief) and Hafþór JúlÃ%ADus Björnsson (Ser Gregor Clegane, a.k.a. “The Mountain”).

While Brooklyn gets the new-sold-out screening and Seattle gets the art show—and a number of other places are getting the international exhibition—there’s quite a lot going out there in the world of Game of Thrones curation…

Such as “Maktspel” in our native Sweden! Hosted by the Royal Armory (Livrustkammaren) in Stockholm, beginning March 14th through January 4th the event will feature costumes from Game of Thrones as well as the films Elizabeth and its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age set beside historical costumes from the 16th century. The museum, the oldest in Sweden, is part of the historic royal complex in Stockholm’s Old Town (Gamla stan), making it even more worth the visit if you happen to be in the vicinity in the coming months.

The evening before will feature an official opening that’s invitiation only (Linda and I will be there)... but as part of the event, the museum is hoping to have re-enactors and cosplayers on hand dressed as their favorite Game of Thrones characters. If you or anyone you know has a show costume in their closet, make sure to take a look at this file with information about what they’re looking for! An important note, however: if you’re interested, they’d like to be contacted no later than tomorrow, so get to it (and hope to see you there!)

While New York may get a lot of the interesting events around Game of Thrones—the “Epic Fan Experience” at the Barclays Center being a case in point—it’s not the only thing going on out there. Of particular note for fans of A Song of Ice and Fire is Seattle’s LTD Art Gallery current exhibition: “Winter is Coming”, a presentation of artwork influenced by the novels, presented by George R.R. Martin and put together with his direct input. All the works on display in the gallery are available for sale, in some cases as originals, in many cases as prints. There’s an amazing trove of treasures, including original works of art by Ted Nasmith and Donato Giancola, and prints from the likes of Amok (with an awesome depiction of Aegon and his sisters), Marc Simonetti, Jim Burns, Jen Zee, and many more.

An excellent preview of the exhibit, including interviews with the gallery’s owner and participating artists, can be found over at Wired.com. The exhibit runs through March 23rd.

HBO has released word of a truly massive sneak peek of season 4 of Game of Thrones.... at Brooklyn’s renowned, state-of-the-art Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dubbed “The Epic Fan Experience”, up to 7,000 fans will be be able to look at the traveling exhibition of costumes and props before filing into the arena to witness the premiere episode of the new episode. This event will take place on March 20th, more than two weeks before the season premieres on HBO.

It’s not a free event; tickets will be released on March 6th and can be purchased via Ticketmaster, with net proceeds going to the very worthy charities, Nothing But Nets and Books for Africa. So, not just an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, but one that helps some good causes. Definitely worth keeping your schedule open for!

See the full press release below: