Westeros

We have completed annotating the latest two Artisans videos (featuring set decorator Richard Roberts and weapons master Tommy Dunne), starting from the second row of our Behind the Scenes gallery. Some terrific details here, from shots of the Red Keep’s interior to a myriad of amazing weapons including Ice and Needle.

Remember, this evening HBO will be airing a brand new teaser for the show, and we’ve already annotated the preview for next Sunday’s “Inside Game of Thrones” as well as the brand new, high-res gallery of production stills featuring many favorite characters.

Making Game of Thrones has kindly shared the promo for the upcoming “Inside Game of Thrones” promotional documentary due next Sunday, December 5th. Here’s the embed. Our annotated screencap gallery can be found in the Previews section of the gallery, starting here:

EW’s exclusive images are now available at Making Game of Thrones. We’ve also placed them in our own gallery, with commentary concerning the appearances of costumes and locales that may be of interest.

More gallery images to be added soon, we hope.

HBO has clarified that the promo showing up tonight before the 8PM film is, in fact, a promo spot for the Inside Game of Thrones 15-minute program which we’ve already reported on. It may well contain some new, quick shots that give a sense of what the promo piece will show on December 5th before the Boardwalk Empire finale, but it’s not the promised 3rd teaser.

Instead, the new 3rd teaser will start airing on Sunday, not Saturday. Again, we fully expect it will air just before or just after Boardwalk Empire, but we’ll try to get more specific information.

HBO has not only confirmed last night’s report of a 15-minute long “Inside Game of Thrones” program on Sunday, December 5th, but they’ve also revealed that there’s going to be a brand new teaser scheduled to air this Saturday and

Sunday.

We don’t have specific times as of yet, but we’d expect the teasers to air in the vicinity of major original programming (after or before this weekend’s Boardwalk Empire seems a likely bet), and in any case we’re told that they will be placed on the Making Game of Thrones site in short order. Expect Westeros.org to provide its usual embedded links and thorough analysis when we get a hold of them out here!

Additional: HBO indicated to us that it will run just before the 8PM film, so we’re thinking tuning in at 7:45 would be a good idea to make sure you don’t miss it on your TV screen.

Thanks to a tweet, it seems we’ve discovered that HBO is getting ready to roll out the big promotional guns for Game of Thrones starting December 5th, which happens to be the finale of their big costume drama, Boardwalk Empire. At first there was some confusion… but a quick check with ogebaba led me to HBO’s on-line schedule. Put in Game of Thrones and what you get is two showings on Sunday, at 8:45 and 11:45, of what’s said to be a 15 minute program. You can see the initial listing here. The program description is, “A special sneak preview of the highly anticipated HBO series Game of Thrones”.

After that, the program will be put into regular rotation at least through January 6th, though it’s listed as being 10 minutes there. At a guess, the 15 minute version could contain some exclusive, one-time extras like a scene… or it could be material connected to Boardwalk or other programming. Regardless, at least 10 minutes of Game of Thrones-centric material seems a shoe-in.

The question is then ... what’s the material? At a guess, we’re likely to see some of the Artisans material, at least, which has not been aired on HBO as far as we know. But it seems quite likely that there’ll be at least something new as well.

Thanks to long-time forum member ogbebaba for tipping us off!

Natalia Tena, cast in the role of the wildling spearwife Osha after wowing the producers with her audition, is off to Belfast to film more scenes for HBO’s Game of Thrones. This news comes via the official Twitter account for Molotov Jukebox, the band which Tena is lead vocalist for. You can watch their latest video for their song “Laid to Rest”, with a saucy performance from Tena, right here:

Tena has also resumed her supporting role of Tonks in the latest installment of the Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

HBO’s Making Game of Thrones site has a new photo up from the set:

Click through to see our discussion of just what we’re seeing, but lets just say it’s an important dagger, and an equally important book on which it lies…

They also ask fans to share their views as to what other props they’d like to see. Here’s Westeros.org’s list:

• Dragon egg (one or all three)
• A dragon skull
• Notable weapons (Longclaw, Needle, an arakh, a dragonbone bow)
• Notable armor (the Hound’s helm, Gendry’s helm, Loras Tyrell’s armor)
• The Iron Throne
• The heart tree at Winterfell

Entertainment Weekly‘s print edition has hit the stands today (with this fetching series of covers that should be hard to miss), and inside it contains a bit more information (rather spoilerish, but so it goes) and several new photos from their exclusive. Below, we’ll discuss the new pictures, using the captions EW provides with each image.

Mark Addy, playing King Robert Baratheon (featured in one of EW’s new photos), is profiled in the York Press for his part in a Kidstory fund-raising event. However, there’s quite a lot of Game of Thrones commentary to start with, with Addy noting that he had just completed his last day of filming and is soon looking for a new gig (at the Moot, I asked him when he was done filming, but with all the noise it seems he thought I was asking when filming in general would wrap.) He reiterates that the series will film into December (we’ve been told by production members and GRRM that December 18-19th is the planned wrap date), and that he’s been told it will start airing in April.

He provides some insight into his role as Robert. Here’s some choice quotes:

Description sparse on this, as it appears to be region blocked so only those in the U.S. (and possibly Canada) can get a look at it. In any case, here’s an amusing interview with actress Amanda Peet, who happens to be executive producer David Benioff’s wife, trying to explain what her husband’s latest project, HBO’s Game of Thrones, is about. Because it’s off-the-cuff and because Fallon is a joker, well, there’s a few amusing stumbles.

Starts at the 25 minute mark:

Following up the amazing gallery of stills from the production, Entertainment Weekly now has a new report by Jennifer Armstrong with some details. There’s a reference to a “pivotal scene” being moved from Catelyn’s bedchamber to a meeting place, which we suppose means they’ve moved her receiving a certain message to the scene corresponding to her first chapter. If true, this is a rather interesting change, immediately introducing the main mystery of the first several novels.

Also, Jason Momoa is apparently naked more often than he talks (hah) and there’s references made to unicorns (which do exist in the setting, but probably aren’t anything like you imagine!)

Here’s the opening paragraph, clearly describing the scene in the godswood. I actually saw the heart tree’s face in the prop room at Belfast, but it was in fact from the pilot and they had redone it for the reshoots:

An exclusive gallery of stills from HBO’s Game of Thrones, complete with short blurbs from the actors, has gone on-line. A fair warning for those followers who haven’t actually read the books, though: there are spoilers. EW’s newsstand edition will have more information (and possibly additional photos)!

Lets comment (and link) those ten images:

• Night’s Watch Recruits: Here we see Kit Harington, John Bradley West as Samwell Tarly, and Josef Altin as Pypar in the courtyard of Castle Black. Now you, too, can see how muddy the grounds are! They’re dressed in a padded armor for sparring practice, as one can see other recruits going at it in the background.



• Men-at-arms of the Vale: Though Mark Addy is quoted on the horse riding scenes, this particular one comes from the Vale of Arryn, as one can tell by the blue banners. These appear to be the same men-at-arms as seen here. The figure in the lead is Ser Vardis Egan, captain of Lord Arryn’s guard, who we’ve been told has been given some of the role of the Blackfish in discussing matters of the realm and the Vale when Catelyn first arrives. Played by Brendan McCormack, you’ll see more of him later in EW’s final still.



• King Robert: Here we see Mark Addy at Winterfell, with a number of Stark guards behind him with the snarling direwolf of Winterfell on their shields. Their round shields, one notes, much as we’ve noted with the Valemen. A departure from the books, but a minor detail. Addy looks terrific in leather here. In the blurbs, he remarks on some early fan concerns that he’s best known for comedic roles, but having met him, I think fans are likely to be pleased with his depiction of this once-mighty king.



• Queen Cersei: Can’t have the king without very well having the queen. Here’s the beautiful Lena Headey (of The Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles fame) in costume, at what happens to be Winterfell’s Great Hall for the welcoming feast that the Starks throw for the royal party. That decorative piece in the background is quite impressive, I can say, having seen it up-close. as per the recent Artisan’s video, one can see that the Stark’s table is not so bounteous as that of King’s Landing (meat, meat, and more meat is the order of the day), and a lot more rustic. Cersei has quite a beautiful shawl, and light blue gown that we haven’t seen before.



• Ser Jaime Lannister: The Kingslayer in the flesh. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Queen Cersei’s twin, one of the greatest, handsomest, and reviled knights in the realm. Despite this infamy, he is a knight of King Robert’s Kingsguard (although EW gives away the fact that he’s not very good at it), and wears the Kingsguard armor which we’ve discussed before. One extra detail? We’re told that his armor is gilded in ways that that of the other Kingsguard isn’t, which should be apparent in scenes, as a nod to the quite different gilded suit of armor he wears in the novels (eschewing the Kingsguard’s traditional armor). He’s wearing his equally-infamous sword, with an ostentatiously gilded lion’s head pommel and a very graphic hilt wrapping that I’ve never seen the likes of before. I had a chance to speak with one of the lead armory smiths for the production, and a lot of time and thought has gone into producing weapons like this.



• Lord Eddard Stark, Hand of the King: Here we have the incomparable Sean Bean as Lord Eddard at the small council’s chamber in King’s Landing, in a scene we suspect is the same as this teaser shot of what turns out to be a fairly tumultuous event in the novels. Julian Glover can be seen here as the aged Grand Maester Pycelle, one of the king’s councillors. For the uber-fans out there, you can just glimpse a part of his chain through the decorative carving of the king’s chair to the right.



• Jon Snow and Bran Stark: Lord Eddard’s bastard son watches his young half-brother Bran Stark (played by Isaac Hempstead-Wright at archery practice. This was possibly taken at Castle Ward, where a good deal of filming of Winterfell exterior scenes have been filmed.



• Daenerys Targaryen: A terrific profile photo of Emilia Clarke as the young Targaryen princess Daenerys, who is now also khaleesi of a barbaric Dothraki tribe after her wedding to Khal Drogo (played by Jason Momoa). Here we get a great look at the rough materials that the Dothraki wear, as we’ve seen before. The Targaryens are “the kingsblood, the old blood of Valyria, the blood of the dragon,” and so are marked both by an almost inhuman beauty, with purple eyes and silver-gold hair.



• Tyrion and Mord: Here we have Peter Dinklage as the Imp, Tyrion Lannister. The dwarf brother of Queen Cersei and Ser Jaime, he gets caught up in the webs of intrigue that develop through the series. Behind him is the gaoler (as it’s spelled in the books) at the Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn, Mord, played by Ciaran Bermingham. I can say that George and Parris were both very impressed with Ciaran in this role, having nothing but good to say. I’ve stood in the sky cell set—it’s a long, long way down… in the series, in any case!



• The Eyrie: And at last, I think the very watchful can figure out that here we’re in the High Hall of the Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn ... and it’s not a narrow, rectangular hall, but rather a great circular chamber. We marvelled at it as we were there, as it looks quite terrific. Besides Dinklage is Michele Fairley in the role of Catelyn Stark. A better shot of her can be found here. The armor of the Vale guardsmen is rather nice, but it’s Ser Vardis’s armor that really stands out here. It’s a full suit of plate armor, much as Ser Vardis is actually described as wearing, although McCormack is rather younger than the novel’s original version of the character, and his armor certainly looks amazing with these hammered bumps or pyramids (referencing the mountainous Vale?) all over it. It’s an exceptional example of the armorer’s craft.

We’ve been told that these images are exclusive to EW for the time being, but we should expect high-res versions at HBO.com in the future.

Some various tidbits from around the web:

• As of the 12th, filming in Malta seems to have wrapped, given this tweet indicating that much of the cast and crew had departed.


• GRRM has confirmed that the planned wrap date of filming is December 18th. Which is what I heard while in Belfast, but didn’t feel free to say. This means that we’re just a little over a month away to seeing the last scene filmed for the season!


• Reports from the Days of Ice and Fire, some of them touching on the HBO production, can be found at the So Spake Martin collection, and more have been shared over at Winter is Coming. Some notable details: we can confirm George told us that his cameo—shot in Morocco (IIRC, it was in the manse scene where Daenerys meets Drogo, not the wedding as others have been reporting)—was cut with all the rest of the Morocco footage, and has not been reshot; we can also confirm that the cast is huge, the biggest HBO has ever done ... and very possibly the biggest ever assembled for a regular hour-long series in the U.S. (bigger than Boardwalk Empire‘s 200 speaking parts? Yes.); don’t expect huge battle scenes ala Peter Jackson’s LotR (David Benioff mentioned much the same to a group of reporters I was tagging along with at Magheramorne), but do expect what they do show to be very well done (and not so light as Rome‘s first episode); and much more.


• Actor David Scott revealed via tweet that he played the role of Lord Beric Dondarrion in recent filming. It’s a small role this time around, but who knows what future seasons will bring.

For those wondering where the rest of my Belfast set visit reports have gotten to, there’s been a bit of a delay. This is, however, a potentially very cool delay, as it involves whether I might in fact be able to share some photos from my visit. But naturally, this takes time to get sorted out, so ... they’ll start up again as soon as things are worked out. Keep an eye out. :)

Our gallery has been updated with 34 new screencaps from three of the four Artisans behind the scenes videos released via HBO’s Making Game of Thrones website. We have added our commentary when we have something substantive to remark in, such as how certain costuming choices reflect Martin’s descriptions, details of heraldic depictions, or how architectural elements can be placed to specific historical architectural styles.

We hope to add the fourth of the Artisan’s video shortly.