A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Spoiler-Filled Discussion

Indie band Sigur Rós will appear in season 4. Musicians at Joffrey's wedding, perhaps? They're part of the Croatia filming, anyway.

 

^ So they'll be learning how to play The Rains of Castamere, I assume?

 

I think they're more likely to be doing a new song, though admittedly there are only a couple full numbers from the books left to adapt. But I do hope the gags about every singer performing "The Rains of Castamere" make it into the episode.

 

In a sign of just how popular and recognised the show has become, its music and the style of the opening credits have been used in a trailer for the kids' show Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom. The trailer uses the GOT music and pans over the little kingdom they way the GOT credits pan through Westeros. Likely to be lost on B&H's target audience, I imagine (at least, I hope they're not watching GOT as well!) but will doubtless get some recognition from parents.

YouTube only has home-made recordings of the trailer so far but it's airing on Nick Jr and variants of that channel if anyone is curious.

 

Peter Dinklage on Sesame Street

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkj4i-QjWrQ[/yt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkj4i-QjWrQ

 

Another new casting: Struan Rodger as Bloodraven. Or as "Three-Eyed Raven," anyway. Rodger has done some voice acting, so it may be that he's just voicing the raven in dream sequences, but he's certainly the right physical type for Bloodraven, and it seems more likely to me that Bran will meet him by the end of the season.

 

Maybe Bran in the show can finally become interesting now. Show-only people are baffled as to why I like his chapters so much in the books.

 

I wonder if they will feature Coldhands in this season and, if so, will they bring back the actor who played Benjen Stark in S1?

 

Yeah, they haven't done a terribly good job in the show demonstrating the power of a green seer. Aside from the Dragons and Others, Bran is the embodiment of the mysticism of this world, at least as it applies strictly to humans. I hope they start digging into his seeing and warging capabilities more this coming season, or else I fear they will be doing the character and the story's bigger picture a great disservice. As the strength of magic grows in general, I suspect it should playing a major role in the next two books. The show needs to reflect that so they don't paint themselves in a corner and have to retcon something. I'm surprised - I know GRRM is involved with the series, but I don't know why he didn't push for more mysticism in the Bran scenes, and they kind of glossed over how significant it was for him to warg into another human (Hodor).

I suspect they'll run into Coldhands, yes. IIRC, they don't get far beyond the wall before running into him.

As for Benjen, I don't think it's been confirmed that he really is Coldhands, but I think most people agree that it probably is. Throughout Bran's interactions with him, however, Bran does not recognize him as such - I think his face is always hidden by a cloak hood or something - so they could theoretically get anyone of similar build to play Coldhands until his reveal in later seasons, once it is determined who he really is.

 

Lots of magical elements from the books have been cut. The showrunners prioritise tits over magic, as a means of making the show more accessible to non-fantasy fans.

I do like this show quite a bit, but it's hard for me to discuss it without launching in to a negative rant about.. just about any element.

 

Yeah, I know it's not spelt out in the books that Coldhands is Benjen. I'm just curious as to whether the show-runners are in the camp that says he is and, if so, they bring back the original actor. I agree entirely with your post. It wouldn't bother me if someone else played the role (though others may feel differently).

 

I think the prevailing theory on Reddit is that Coldhands is not Benjen. Personally I've no opinion, these books are so involved I can't keep it all straight.

 

The main evidence against Coldhands = Benjen is the Child of the Forest saying he died long ago and that why would a very, very long lived being like a CotF claim a guy who died approx. two years before died "long ago?" Personally, I think there's been way too much focus on that line, but I dunno if Coldhands is Benjen or not. Could see it happening; could it not as well.

Either way, I don't think they'd cast Benjen's actor as Coldhands if they bring CH into the show. His very enigmatic nature means they'd have to cast someone else to play the concealed character even if they plan on revealing him as Benjen later.

 

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Krz-dyD-UQ[/yt]

 

And as we wind toward the end of filming, there's still time for one new casting: Russian actor Yuri Kolokolnikov as Styr, the Magnar of Thenn.

 

Do you think they are going to combine father and son into one character to cut down on the people to keep track of?

 

I actually thought that the TV version of Thormund Giantsbane was a bit of a mix of the books' Thormund with the Magnar, so I'm sort of surprised that they've opted to include the Magner also.

 

I imagine there'll be better-quality versions of of this up in the near future, but here's a whole five seconds of surprisingly spoilery new footage from Season 4 of Game of Thrones, as part of HBO's year-end teaser.

 

Spoilery? Howso?

 

Tyrion in chains... although thankfully the clips don't show you why this is