Westeros

Great news! The latest episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, “The Ghost of Harrenhal” has not only climbed a tenth of a point to a 1.9 share and 3.9 million viewers, but it also tied the NBA playoffs to lead Sunday night cable. Adding the second airing that night pushes it to a 4.7 million final on the day.

It’d be terrific to see it crack 2.0, 4 million, and 5 million respectively by the time we see the season’s final episode, “Valar Morghulis”. You have to think the buzz for the 9th episode, or at least after it, should do it, but we’ll have to wait and see.

For those who’ve wondered, it seems that Varese Sarebande and HBO have announced that they’ll be releasing a Season 2 soundtrack for Game of Thrones, due to be published on May 29 (Pre-order: US, UK). With a number of new themes for Dragonstone, Pyke, and others, plus re-worked renditions of various themes from the first season, it certainly seems like a season 2 album is a no-brainer.

What I’m really wondering? Will Blackwater introduce a new theme or two…

As usual, our full coverage of the latest episode is now online, featuring our complete recap, analysis, and chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the episode. 

The one thing is missing is the video extras we’ve done for prior episodes—that will be available some time tomorrow, didn’t quite have time to film in advance this week!

Suvudu has posted the first fifty pages of George R.R. Martin’s Antebellum vampire horror novel, Fevre Dream (Amazon: Paperback, Kindle).

It’s one of Martin’s best novels outside of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and especially recommended for those who are fans of horror fiction. With a then-unique take on the vampire myth, the novel takes place largely on the Mississipi, and features meticulous research on areas such as New Orleans and Nachez in that era, as well as on the all-important steamboats; the title of the book comes from the fictional steamboat that features in the novel.

Fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones and its source material, George R.R. Martins A Song of Ice and Fire, have a chance to weigh in and make their voice heard in the development of Big Point’s official Massive Multiplayer game based on the TV series.

Bigpoint has put together a survey that they hope fans will spend some time with, to share their thoughts and feedback on what’s important to them in bringing the series to life in an MMO environment.

Completed surveys will be entered in a drawing for an Amazon gift certificate, but really, 10-15 minutes of your time to help the game be the best possible game it can be seems to us to be a no-brainer—if you love games, if you love Game of Thrones, you’ll want to take the survey!

Each year, leading business magazine Forbes, publishes a list of the richest fifteen fictional characters, using various criteria. And this year, for the first time ever, the Lord of Casterly Rock, Tywin Lannister, has entered the list. According to analysis from Forbes, Lord Tywin is worth $2.1 billion. How did they come to that conclusion? Beats me, but being put on the list—alongside Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, and Richie Rich, among others—is certainly yet another example of Game of Thrones entering the cultural zeitgeist.

And speaking of that, so is this from last night’s South Park episode.

Thanks to fiendebass for pointing out Tywin’s presence on this year’s list.

For those who’ve always wondered a bit what the series might have looked like at various stages during conceptualization of the people and places, Kimberley Pope—a concept artist who’s worked on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Agora, Elizabeth: the Golden Age, and of course Game of Thrones—has shared a number of examples of concept art, both for this season and last. There’s some spoilers in the season 2 material, rather mild… but there’s also a lot of amazing material, including various iterations of the Dragonstone and Harrenhal designs, good looks at the Eyrie with a kind of cable car (instead of a winch cage), and more.

Very much worth a gander.

The licensed Game of Thrones action roleplaying game, developed by Cyanide Studio and published by Atlus USA (in the US) and Focus Home Interactive (Europe), is approaching with a June 1st release date. The PS3and XBox versions have been available for pre-order for awhile, and include an incentive in the form of an art book… but finally, the PC version can be readily ordered thanks to Steam’s pre-purchase option.

We’ve given the game extensive coverage in the past, that’s worth checking out, plus make sure to visit the official site for more information!

Thanks to Adam Whitehead for pointing out the pre-purchase option now being available.

Besides our analysis and recaps posted in the Episodes section, Linda and I provide commentary in various other places: our Youtube channel, Sky Atlantic’s Thronecast, MTV News’s Watching the Thrones covers the video angle. But besides that, I provide a bit of additional commentary on the episodes, and the setting and story in general, via Random Houses’s SF/F/H portal, Suvudu.

Each week, an additional review—generally focusing on and providing a bit more detail on thoughts raised in our own analysis of each episode—but, perhaps of more interest, brief essays touching on various topics relevant to the past episode. You can find all of these posts by keeping an eye on the Game of Thrones tag over at Suvudu. Next essay will be up later this week, focusing on Melisandre of Asshai, and the magic she performs.

One of the key deviations from the novels this season is that Robb Stark, played by Scottish actor Richard Madden, will be followed in his journey through the narrative when the book pulled away and kept him in the background.

In past interviews, the executive producers have said a large part of the reason was that they loved Madden and his presence on the show, and they wanted to see more of him. It’s difficult not to see their point: handsome, capable of playing stalwart and naive by turns, and charismatic, Madden draws the eye whenever he’s on screen portraying Eddard Stark’s son, who is now the King in the North.

We had a chance to speak with Madden on the phone while he’s in L.A. doing the press thing, and decided to ask him questions (and, in one case, make a proposal) based on what fans submitted to us.

Read the interview!

With the episode just completed, we’ve posted our full coverage of episode 4 of Game of Thrones, “Garden of Bones”. A detailed recap, a lengthy analysis, and a breakdown of transforming the book to the screen are all available, plus a video Linda and I made in the “Extras” section to provide some additional background and share our thoughts on the best and worst scenes.

Check it out!

Gold Derby has a mass of pictures and details concerning HBO’s “for your consideration” package that they’ve sent out to the 15,000-strong Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to help provide material for them to decide their Emmy nominations. Of particular note to fans will be the Game of Thrones actors and actresses that HBO has submitted for consideration with the academy:

• Best Actor/Actress: None. Which is interesting, to say the least. Is it because the ensemble cast suggests there’s no single lead actor? That’s fair enough, but it does seem strange to not have Dinklage here when he’s now heading the credits…
• Best Supporting Actor: Peter Dinklage, of course, joined by Alfie Allen, Kit Harington, and Richard Madden. As Gold Derby notes, eligible performers can submit on their own, so nothing is stopping Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Stephen Dillane, Liam Cunningham, or others for submitting themselves.
• Best Supporting Actress: Maisie Williams, Michelle Fairley, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Sophie Turner.
• Best Drama: Game of Thrones joins Boardwalk Empire, Luck, and True Blood.

Thanks to a post at our forum, we’ve learned of a report at Variety that discusses just how well HBO’s Game of Thrones has done for itself. The most salient detail:

These are very strong numbers indeed. From a bit of Googling, at its height True Blood managed 12.7 million viewers per week… and it feels like there’s room to grow, both in the overall averge and in the initial airing ratings as well. After the very strong “What is Dead May Never Die”, it’ll be interesting to see how “Garden of Bones” performs. Will it climb a little thanks to the buzz? Will the weekly average pick up a bit more quickly?

TV Guide has an exclusive story looking at the many women of HBO’s Game of Thrones, with what seems to be quotes from interviews with a number of the actresses, as well as the executive producers. Nice idea, and I suspect there’ll be some juicy bits of information in there. It’s a digital exclusive, as well, or at least it’s showing up first on their digital platforms for those with access to the Kindle Fire or the Barnes & Noble Nook.

Ah, this reminds me of the late 90’s, when web and IRC chats were the way to chat with authors on-line. These days it’s all interviews with a few sent in questions at times, which has its advantages and disadvantages, but it certainly feels a bit less participatory. I wonder if HBO might ever borrow a page from Starz, where at several points

In any case, Empire Onlne—the portal of the UKs Empire Magazine, which covers film and television with a particular interest in genre—will be hosting a live web-chat with George R.R. Martin this coming Monday at 1PM British time (that’d be 8AM Eastern, 5 AM Pacific). Only room for 500 people to sit in on the chat, which will be moderated by Empire Online’s staff. Some of them have even read the books, so one hopes they’ll grab some excellent questions which aren’t so often asked (please, please, Empire: skip the “Which character is most like you” and “How did you start the series” questions that seem to be a staple of these things!)