Westeros

In what has to be considered an upset, Peter Dinklage has won the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama category, beating out stiff competition from John Slattery, Walton Goggins, Andre Braugher, Alan Cumming, and Josh Charles. There was a clear trend among critics on-line liking Dinklage and often selecting him for their “should win” hedges, but still, the money was on someone else winning…

And as it turns out, the oddsmakers were wrong. A well-deserved victory for Dinklage, who brought Tyrion Lannister to vivid life. Congratulations, Peter! And congratulations to all the winners, especially Mad Men for their taking Best Drama Series—it may be a bit of a broken record, but the show’s fourth season was amazing.

Game of Thrones finishes the award season with two wins out of thirteen nominations, for Main Title Design and Best Supporting Actor. Hopefully the first of many to come! Below, we’ve collected a few photos and a brief red-carpet interview with Dinklage.

We’re just a few short hours from the start of the Emmy Awards, for which HBO’s Game of Thrones is up for four categories for the primetime broadcast: Best Writing (David Benioff & Dan Weiss for “Baelor”), Best Direction (Tim Van Patten for “Winter is Coming”), Best Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage), and Best Series.

Now, after the Creative Arts Emmys lead to one win in nine categories, it seems unlikely that Game of Thrones is going to do very well in the primetime awards. There’s incredibly strong competition in every single category the show is nominated in. Experts and critics did seem to think there’s an outside chance at Peter Dinklage snatching victory from John Slattery (of Mad Men) for a fourth time in a row, and certainly he Dinklage seems a critical darling. But… you know, three straight losses—it’s probably Slattery’s time, isn’t it?

Now, the Red Carpet cover is going out, and as it happens, we know that a number of cast and crew members—the nominated exec producers/writers, Tim van Patten, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, and perhaps others—are present… and, as it happens, so is one George R. R. Martin with his wife, Parris McBride. PopSugar is streaming Emmy coverage live, so on the off-chance they’ll speak with some of the GoT attendees, we’re embedding their coverage below.

There’s a lengthy profile of Natalie Dormer, one of the first Season 2 castings we learned about when it was revealed that she was Margaery Tyrell, is profiled by Gerard Gilbet in a lengthy piece at the Independent. A lot of details about her early life and career, including how she wanted to get away from the Anne Boleyn image of The Tudors for awhile… and then some tidbits about Game of Thrones, of course.

The quotes below are spoilerish for those who’ve not read the second book, A Clash of Kings, on which this season is based:

Entertainment Weekly has published the results of its EWwy Awards!

it was a pleasant surprise to learn that Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) has won in the Best Supporting Actress, Drama category. Scoring 25.22% of the vote, she narrowly edged out Sara Ramirez of Grey’s Anatomy.

As for other Game of Thrones actors, Sean Bean was nominated in the Best Actor, Drama category, and made a solid showing at 15% of the vote, but well out of the winner’s circle, where popular actor (and Game of Thrones fanatic!) Nathan Filion crushed the competition with over 37% of the vote.

Thanks to ElaineLua for the note, and congratulations to Emilia and all the other winners!

Over the last couple of weeks, it’s been noted that actor Steven Cole—best-known in the U.K. for his role as Leo Johnsons in the soap Brookside—has been noting that he’s been taking riding lessons, had a costume fitting, and so on, and it was clear he was cast in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Today, newly arrived in Dubrovnik (during which there’ll be 4 weeks of shooting or so), he tweeted the following:

Fans of the novels will, of course, realize that that name doesn’t appear in the books. He is, it seems, a new character—or maybe a renamed one—and we know he’s playing a Dothraki, as Dothraki language creator David J. Peterson responded to a query from us, indicating that Kovarro’s name is based on rules for creating Dothraki names that he provided the production. Bryan Cogman then noted that the name means “to be standing up”. 

It should be interesting to see what his role is, when the show airs or the first interviews start coming out in the run up to the premiere.

Conan Stevens, the 7’ Australian stuntman and actor who played Ser Gregor Clegane for the Hand’s Tourney, will no longer be holding the part.

We got wind of this back in early August (as well as the name of his replacement), but waited to see if all this would be officially confirmed. The production is reticent to discuss recasting (and according to our sources, this isn’t the only recasting, although the roles in question are not major) and so HBO hasn’t provided confirmation from its side; however, Stevens has since publicly stated that he is in fact no longer with the production. Stevens has detailed the steps he took to get the role on his site (and in our interview), going all-out, and it clearly opened doors for him as he’s now busy with The Hobbit (which he specifically remarked was an opportunity that came out of Game of Thrones) and also had a speaking role in the second season of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

However, unofficially we can say that another 7’ tall actor and stuntman, Welshman Ian Whyte, is taking over the role. Fans who followed the early production may remember him as one of the actors who appeared to have auditioned for the role of Ser Gregor, and then nothing was heard of him. In October, when I visited the set, I learned that Whyte was playing the part of the lead White Walker in the prologue, which only came to be confirmed when that episode aired and he was listed in the credits. Since then, Whyte’s filmed scenes last week as Ser Gregor for this second season, scenes which started up the rumor mill.

Looking at Whyte, he’s very tall, but he’s also clearly a deal leaner than Stevens. Of course, Stevens as Ser Gregor had his bulk greatly enhanced by the armor—a second suit of which a stunt rider used for the jousting scene, and who could tell the difference?—and we’re sure that Simon Brindle and company will be able to give Whyte that same sense of massiveness as the Mountain that Rides.

We’re certainly looking forward to seeing Whyte’s turn… as well as seeing Stevens in next year’s Spartacus, and (especially) as the orc Azog in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit.

Below you’ll find a clip of Whyte being interviewed at Toronto’s Comic Con, in relation to his role as the lead Predator in Alien vs. Predator

In other casting news, Winter is Coming has received confirmation that Fintan McKeown has been cast in the role of Ser Amory Lorch, one of Lord Tywin’s lead foragers who helps bring fire and steel down on the Riverlands. Among many other roles, McKeown appeared as the antagonistic King Odin in the British Merlin series.

Valyrian Steel has announced that they’re putting their replica Longclaw and Needle on sale for a limited time, knocking $20 off the price. These official, approved replicas are based on the weapons as described in the novels, with George R.R. Martin’s direct input, unlike the weapons for HBO’s television show. The announcement also includes updates on a number of fronts, including the fact that George has signed off on production of a very limited run of a Damascus steel Ice, Robert’s warhammer is being prototyped, and so too is their next replica, a Night’s Watch obsidian dagger, and a Damascus steel Oathkeeper.

The PC strategy game, A Game of Thrones: Genesis, is now available for preorder at the Focus Home shop at the digital download vendor Gamesplanet, which should be available internationally. The game is due to release on September 29th (at exactly one minute after midnight), but digital download preorders are 10% off and if you’re in the States you’ll actually be able to get the game on the evening of the 28th.

I’ve consulted a little bit on the game and had a chance to play with a beta and it is, I think, a pretty unique game. It’s real time, and it’s a strategy game, but it’s not anything like a typical, resource-gathering RTS (at least, none that I’m familiar with,). If I had to compare it to anything, it’d be something like a real-time board game with abstract mechanics that open up some very different approaches to the game than your typical resource-gathering, military-focused RTS. Up to 8 players can be involved in multiplayer games, and I can just imagine a very Diplomacy-like wheeling-and-dealing, with alliances and backstabbing and all that good fun.

The single-player game itself begins with Nymeria landing in Dorne and then covers many significant events in the course of the history of the Seven Kingdoms, including the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror and the unification of the Seven Kingdoms, the Dance of the Dragons, and Robert’s Rebellion. To learn more about the game, check out the official site.

Following the news listing all five directors for this season, George R.R. Martin has followed up with a post focused on the latest director to join the directorial team, Neil Marshall. Martin is clearly a big fan of his work, calling his The Descent possibly the best horror film o the last twenty years.

But it’s not just to praise him that Martin has commented—it’s to reveal that Marshal will be directing the episode titled, “Blackwater”, written by Martin himself. Suffice it to say, this is a big, pivotal effort, and a director of Marshall’s experience may just be the thing to bring it to the screen.

In an unrelated note, after digging around a little, we’ve learned that director Alan Taylor (who directed the well-received final two episodes of the first season) is still set to direct four episodes. With Marshall taking episode nine, that leaves five episodes for three directors.

The full list of directors for the second season of Game of Thrones has been revealed, thanks to The Hollywood Reporter‘s report on feature director Neil Marshall (perhaps best known for cult horror classic Dog Soldiers) joining the crew. He joins the previously-reported Alan Taylor (who, so far as we know, is still set to direct 4 episodes this season) and David Petrarca.

Also revealed are two other names, which we hadn’t had connected to the show previously: veteran TV director David Nutter (he’s directed episodes of The Sopranos, The Pacific, and Entourage for HBO, as well as Smallville, ER, and Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicle) and first season cinematographer Alik Sakharov. HBO has directly confirmed these to us, so that’s quite solid.

Five directors this season, with Taylor originally slated for four episodes… that doesn’t seem quite right, does it? If I had a guess, Taylor’s committment has been reduced by an episode or two, something that we’re looking into.

The Creative Arts Emmys were handed out last night, and this was a category where many fans hoped Game of Thrones would do very well, with a total of nine nominations. It was not to be, however, as the list of winners go. In categories such as casting, hair styling, costume design, and more, the Emmy voters went with other shows, including HBO sibling Boardwalk Empire and Showtime costume drama The Borgias.

There was one bright spot, however: the show did take one award, namely Main Title Design, for the extraordinary opening title created by Angus Wall and his team! This seemed as sure a thing as it could possibly be, and it seems the voters agreed. Congratulations to Angus Wall and company, to the producers who decided to go with Wall’s vision, and to HBO! You can see the unforgettable title below.

Due to a possible bug or exploit, the A Song of Ice and Fire forum has had all passwords reset. No vital data or private information was lost or compromised, but we wanted to make sure that there was no way someone could access accounts despite this.

To get a new password, just use the ‘I forgot my password’ option and have it send a validation e-mail to you, which on response will provide you with the new password.

If you no longer have access to the e-mail with which you registered on the forum, please contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your login name and an updated e-mail address.

We should caution that we’re not absolutely sure that the bug/exploit will not be a problem again in the future, but we’re taking steps to make sure that if this happens again, we’ll be able to fix it in a more permanent way.

HBO’s Game of Thrones is gearing up for the Emmy Awards, with the Creative Arts Awards (in which category the show has a number of nominations) being held on the 10th, and the primetime event taking place on the 18th. However, the awards season comprises more than just the Emmys. For example, there’s Spike TV’s popular Scream Awards (which are devoted to genre film, television, and comics).

In fact, the show has done very well for itself with these awards—of the 14 categories in which it was eligible, it’s scored 7 nominations! Selected by a distinguished panel of judges (including Neil Gaiman, Damon Lindelof, Darren Aronofsky, Matthew Vaughn, and more), the show has been nominated in the following categories: Best TV Show, Best Fantasy Actor (Sean Bean), Best Fantay Actress (Lena Heady), Best Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage), Breakout Performance Female (Emilia Clarke), Best Ensemble, Most Memorable Mutilation (Head Covered in Molten Gold), and the top category, The Ultimate Scream (which means it’s also up against a number of Hollywood blockbusters).

The award is given out on October 15th, but until then, there’s the matter of voting—yes, you, the fans, vote for these awards from among the selected nominees. Just head on over to Spike’s award page and start voting.

Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio have set the releae date for their forthcoming strategy game, A Game of Thrones: Genesis: September 29th. Mark your calendars! They’ve released a few new images—I’m fond of the shot that shows both Sunspear and Storm’s End, I admit; and unless I’m mistaken, they’ve worked further on the model of the Eyrie to make it more reminiscent of Ted Nasmith’s masterful depiction in the 2011 calendar—to go with the following press release, so be sure to check them out.

A fan-run memorabilia shop in the UK, Fan Favourites, is having a special event with Maisie Williams (Arya), Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle), and David Bradley (Lord Walder Frey) on hand as guests.

Entry to the event is entirely free, although autographs from the actors will incur a small charge. Best of all, the event will help raise money for Our Disappearing Planet, a registered charity helping endangered species and their threatened habitats.

The “Winter is Coming” event will take place on October 1st at 12PM, at their shop in the Brunell Arcade in Swindon. More details here, and you can follow fanfavourites on Twitter for any updates—latest word is that they’re getting the Iron Throne actually used on the show in for photo opportunities!