[Werthead]

Apprently we're down to just Khal Drogo and that's it. Everyone else is done

[Macros]

I could play drogo

[Tiste Simeon]

From "I only have a small pony and don't really know how to ride and am shy" to "I could play Drogo." Drogo, the horse lord. The feared and fearless master of thousands. The ruthless killing machine...

Wait, did Drogo have big hands? I can't remember...

[Morgoth]

Macros, on 14 October 2009 - 08:08 PM, said:

I could play drogo

Daintily sipping to your crystal glass of rose-wine


... Who was Drogo again anyways?

[HoosierDaddy]

Ivan Drogo. He must break you.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Drogo was the barbarian chief who married Dany in exchange of his army to reconquer Westeros

[Werthead]

And that's it. According to fans at a STARGATE convention over the weekend, Jason Momoa (Ronon Dex on ATLANTIS) announced he'd been cast as Khal Drogo, which gives us our full cast list:

Sean Bean as Lord Eddard Stark
Jennifer Ehle as Lady Catelyn Stark
Richard Madden as Robb Stark
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark
Kit Harington as Jon Snow
Joseph Mawles as Benjen Stark *
Alfie Owen-Allen as Theon Greyjoy

Lena Headey as Queen Cersei Lannister
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister

Mark Addy as King Robert Baratheon
Jack Gleeson as Prince Joffrey Baratheon
Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane, the Hound

Tamzin Merchant as Princess Daenerys Targaryen
Harry Lloyd as Prince Viserys Targaryen
Iain Glenn as Ser Jorah Mormont
Ian McNeice as Ilyrio Mopatis, Magister of Pentos *
Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo of the Dothraki

Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel *
Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin *

Jamie Campbell Bower as Ser Waymar Royce of the Night's Watch
Bronson Webb as Will
Richard Ridings as Gared *

Esme Bianco as Ros, a prostitute in King's Landing

The ones marked with a * are not yet 100% confirmed, but were very heavily hinted at by various sources.

[Stalker]

seems like a good choice for Drogo.

[Werthead]

All of the * actors on the list above are now confirmed by HBO. Sweet.

Ian McNeice is a great choice as Ilyrio. Loved him as the news announcer in Rome where he'd stand in the square and relate the big news of the day to the passing crowds. I believe it's true that they had to stand out in the rain and do it as well (as a technicality so the news would still have been 'officially announced', even if there was no-one to hear it!).

[Tiste Simeon]

Man I can't remember who half these characters are, I'm gonna have to find my ASOIAF series again and read through the first one...

[MTS]

Yeah, me too. Blerg.

[Gothos]

so when can I expect to drop my last penny on this awesomeness in the making on dvd?

[Werthead]

In the summer or winter of 2011. My current estimate for screening is January 2011.

Anyway, filming has now begun.

Shooting got underway at ridiculous o'clock this morning after several days of preperation, with Doune Castle in Scotland standing in for the exteriors of Winterfell and also some of its interiors. Peter Dinklage and a blonde Lena Headey were seen preparing for filming, whilst a Scottish battle re-enactment team were taking the roles of Lannister guardsmen. A white dog was seen as well, presumably the animal that's representing Ghost. Sean Bean was reported as not being around and not turning up until next week, leading to speculation that they were filming perhaps the Ghost/Tyrion/Jon scene in the courtyard and maybe the pivotal "The things I do for love," moment (since that's the only scene where Cersei is around but Ned isn't), or possibly new material not in the books.

From here filming moves to the Paint Hall in Belfast next week (I'm in Belfast on the 3rd for GRRM's signing and the after-party, which hopefully some of the actors might attend) and then to Morocco for the Dany sequences later in the month.

Some pics - none of the actors in costume as yet alas - are available on the Winter is Coming blog.

[Werthead]

Well, that was a fun few days. This was GRRM and some of the castmembers at the signing in Easons in Belfast on Tuesday:



From left to right that's Ron Donachie (Ser Rodrik Cassel), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark), with GRRM seated. More photos of the signing and the evening party can be found here.

The signing was packed. Someone at the bookstore said they weren't expecting too many people and for it not to take too long. My estimate was well upwards of 100 people showed up and it took well over an hour to clear the queue. GRRM introduced himself and Matt Hughes, who wrote an excellent story in Songs of the Dying Earth, and they mostly signed copies of that book, although many copies of ASoIaF were also presented for signing. George also introduced the castmembers who had arrived: all of the above plus Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane) who was on his way to the studio so could only stay for a few minutes.

GRRM took great delight in telling everyone that Richard Madden (Robb) had just won the 'Best-Dressed Man in Scotland' competition, whilst Alfie Allen (Theon) jumped the queue to get his own copies of the books signed.

As for the castmembers, Richard had read all of Book 1 but no further (though he knows his character's eventual fate); Kit Harington (Jon) had reached Book 4 and was happy with all the stuff Jon gets to do in the third book; Maisie Williams (Arya) and Sophie Turner (Sansa) had not read the books at all but were being fed edited highlights by their mothers; Alfie Allen had reached Book 2 and was happy to see Theon become a much bigger character; and Ron Donachie (Rodrik Cassel) had 'devoured' all four books in just a few days and was now bugging George by asking when the fifth book is out.

Everyone was brilliant. The actors weren't behind a desk, they just milled around in the back corner of the store, chatting to fans, signing books and posing for pictures. They were all really relaxed. I get the impression Alfie was very happy to be talking about himself and his job rather than fielding tedious journalist questions about his celebrity dad/girlfriend/sister. He told me he liked boats and was looking forward to those parts in Book/Season 2. I'd previously been skeptical over his casting as he doesn't look anything at all like I'd imagined Theon, but his attitude and good humour won me over. I think he'll be great. He and Richard Madden had a great double-act going which seemed appropriate given their characters are best friends.

If GoT goes to series, Richard Madden is going to be its biggest break-out star, I think I can comfortably predict. I can see the fansites going up already. He was tremendously outgoing, tried to make sure he had a word with every fan who stopped by, joked around with 'his little sisters' and so on. All my female friends seemed very taken with him (at least there was much giggling and requests for photos with him). He seemed convincing as Sean Bean's son and I think he's going to be a great Robb Stark.

Kit Harington was quite quiet and subdued, as he'd just come off three 17-hour days in a row. He was shattered, but posed for pics, talked to the fans and was happy to talk about the filming of the scenes with the direwolf pups, which were apparently very small and cute. The girls hadn't acted with them (no scenes of them and their pups in the pilot) but were looking forward to it in the series.

Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams were awesome. They were very convincing as sisters and both seemed to embody their characters: Sophie was doing great PR work, talking to fans, signing yet more books and being as diplomatic and friendly as Sansa is in the books, whilst Maisie seemed to take great delight in tormenting the boys (Alfie in particular). She turned very serious when discussing her character and interestingly said to another fan that whilst Sansa cried on the outside a lot in the first book, she thought Arya did her crying on the inside, which was a very astute observation (especially as she only had limited info to go on: the girls' mums thought the books a little too adult for them to read in full just yet). She also did a "Stick them with the pointy end!" for another fan, which was excellent.

Ron Donachie was very laidback and professional, full of excellent actors' stories, including some about filming Titanic with James Cameron which were very funny, such as one time where the cameramen thought they didn't have the right lighting to film a scene in the water, so Cameron got annoyed, grabbed a handheld and just waded out to do it himself. I was going to ask him about his recent appearance on Doctor Who, but erm, forgot. He was the most experienced actor present and I thought would be more reserved, but seemed to enjoy the experience of meeting the fans very much. He thought the books were excellent and wanted the chance to tell Rodrik's full story across the first two books/seasons.

GRRM himself was his normal friendly self, signing the books people brought in, assuring them that ADWD is looking good at the moment (more than that in another post) and so on.

[alt146]

Thanks for the great post Wert. I'm really excited about this and glad to hear it's all going well. Especially this part:

Werthead, on 05 November 2009 - 06:47 PM, said:

Ron Donachie (Rodrik Cassel) had 'devoured' all four books in just a few days and was now bugging George by asking when the fifth book is out.

[Werthead]

Picking up where I left off before, we returned from the signing to the hostel to freshen up before heading to McHughes, the pub where the party was to be held. Despite a slight signage hiccup ("GRRF AND FRIENDS") it was great. We got the large basement bar to ourselves, which comfortably fitted the 60-70+ people who showed up.

The attendance was similar to that at the signing: we lost Kit and Alfie, who were too worn out by filming, but gained Esme Bianco, who plays 'Ros', a lady of negotiable affection in King's Landing. Esme did some autographs and photos for fans eager to 'get the full set' and explained her role in the series to some book fans who hadn't been keeping up to date on the casting news. I think we settled on the idea being to give Tyrion a 'more HBO introduction' than he had in the books.

An American fan from Kentucky who'd been visiting Ireland took advantage of the occasion to propose to his girlfriend (she said yes), and they promptly were congratulated by GRRM and the castmembers, which was very cool.

I spent some time talking to Maisie and Sophie's parents, who were almost as enthusiastic and excited about the show as their daughters. They'd attended the cast read-through and reported that the rest of the actors are all terrific as well, taking time to especially praise Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys who obviously has a very challenging role but did a great job at the read-through.

George worked the room, sitting with each table of fans in turn, talking to everyone and discussing the books, the TV show and his other projects. He confirmed that ADWD is now well over 1100 pages long in manuscript and more is required. He didn't want to give out any dates, but indicated he didn't see the book getting as long as ASoS (almost 1600 MS pages). He also indicated that getting events to happen at the right time and in the right order to make sense compared to AFFC and the following books is part of the 'Meereenese Knot' problem, but he is working away at it. Someone asked if his blog post about his sword bouncing off the knot and cutting his nose off was a reference to Tyrion and he laughed and said that fans read way too much into every little thing he says.

It may be worth bearing that in mind during the next bit of news: at one point, whilst talking to everyone from the stage bit at the front of the pub, GRRM said the show was not greenlit yet, it's just a pilot and a lot of pilots don't make it to series, but he also said that HBO might give them a one-season order or maybe even a two-season order. He also expects to hear about the series by March. Whether that's HBO saying they'll make the decision in March or that's merely the latest time they'll decide (I was thinking January myself, based on some recent pick-ups they have given, but obviously GRRM is far better-informed) wasn't clear, but that was the first indication of a timescale involved.

The actors were great, continuing to sign books for people who'd missed the signing earlier that day and chatting to people. Ron Donachie turned out to be a fan of the New York Jets which GRRM was taken aback by (American football has a following in the UK, but not a very large one) before promptly jumping into a detailed American football discussion with Ron.

The actors had a 5am call the next day, so left reasonably early. Because it had been a fairly early start to the meet, we were left in the highly unusual state (for SoIaF fans anyway) of everyone deflating at around 10pm. Luckily, we were buoyed up by the arrival of Julia Frey, who is an effects supervisor on the project. Julia had (somewhat briefly and quickly edited) blogged about some very early work on the show, bringing her to the attention of the fans of Winter is Coming and Westeros.org, but she was diplomatically circumspect on her current work on the show (seriously, she has a terrific poker face). Eventually we gave up trying to get intel on the show and ended up listening to Julia's great stories about working on Alien 3 and other projects. Very cool stuff. She also has a funny website on safety graphics here.

And then it was time for everyone to go home. It was an excellent trip, some new friends were met and made, the cast were universally excellent and the buzz about the production was palpable. Nothing is set in stone and the series may not yet be commissioned, but I am firmly convinced that the the series is in great hands.

[caladanbrood]

Nice to be able to put some names to faces! Your facebook photos were confusing due to lack of any identification

[Werthead]

caladanbrood, on 06 November 2009 - 12:48 AM, said:

Nice to be able to put some names to faces! Your facebook photos were confusing due to lack of any identification

I spent ages labelling the pics and Facebook didn't process them. I had to go back and do them all again later, but they should be fine now.

[caladanbrood]

Ah, I must have just seem them too early

[drinksinbars]

damn i missed this signing somehow. on wednesday one of me work colleagues told me about it. would have liked to show up and see old george.