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

Winter is Coming is saying they have sources telling them that the role of Myrcella has been recast for the fifth season, with Nell Tiger Free (what a name!) replacing Aimee Richardson. They also pass on the following:

Edit to add: looks like the report of the recast is true based on some retweets Aimee Richardson has made (she's been very active on Twitter, interacting with fans and saying how much she's looking forward to returning to the show, so this is quite a blow for her):

 

I was thinking about next season and what could happen. With the changes they made, how it could play out for a few story lines. With Stannis at the wall, will they use Gilly's baby instead of Mance's? Will them want to use Gilly's baby be the cause for Sam to take Gilly & baby to his father? Will this also lead to Sam going to Bravos?

 

If he had left it at the logistical argument, I wouldn't have any issue. But there's an element of "it's just a shock plot twist" in his response that's pretty ironic given how often the show has gone for shock effect at the cost of nuances in the source material.

Anyway, new interview with Benioff and Weiss. Mostly the usual "next season will be awesome/we've talked to George but we have our own priorities/our job is, like, so complex" stuff, but they do confirm that they're still planning seven seasons total.

 

Lady Stoneheart will probably be introduced in season five, but I didn't like that twist in the books - or at least I haven't liked it so far - and wouldn't mind at all if they cut it entirely from the show if that's possible.

 

Battle of Meereen for S05E09? I can't imagine season five not including content from Winds of Winter.

 

I'd imagine a lot of people will be pissed if they do a double cliffhanger with no climax, like the book did.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaannnd I'm out!

I really hate A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. Martin should have done a flashforward at the end of A Storm of Swords. I'll see you guys two seasons from now.

 

They should be done with Feast and Dance by the end of the fifth season. There'll be a lot of streamlining, cutting, and reworking of the material.

 

Are there any official statements to that effect, or is everyone just assuming?

 

At this point it's an assumption, but one highly likely to be borne out given that there are official statements that they're currently aiming for seven seasons and there's no way to finish the show in seven seasons if they're still dealing with Feast and Dance beyond the fifth season. Plus, they've already burned through all of the published material for some of the characters and, while Feast and Dance together have a high page count, the pace slows way down. The show will require a faster narrative, with at least one, and perhaps more, of the climatic moments delayed to the start of the sixth book brought forward to cap off the season.

Even if the producers change their mind and expand the show to eight seasons it'll be to give more time to adapting Winds and the outline of the final book rather than to give more time to Feast and Dance.

 

Is it possible that they could make the final events in the tv series BEFORE he writes the book at this point? And he would technically be writing a novelization then?

 

It's not just possible. It's probable.

 

Not just probable, but highly likely.

I argued for years (ultimately correctly) that the Harry Potter films wouldn't catch up with Rowling despite rampant fears to the contrary. However, I can't make such an argument here. Unless we get some kind of bombshell that Martin has actually been writing both novels at the same time and they get released a year apart, there's no way A Dream of Spring will be released before the production and airing of the seventh season (or even a possible season eight).

 

There's always a way.

For instance, Martin could bring on a cowriter to do some of the heavy lifting on Dream of Spring while he wraps up Winds of Winter alone.

Or Martin could give up the Internet. Or the New York Jets. Or writing a script a year for the television series and having a role in the production.

It's a question of how he decides to allot his time.

And no, I don't think any of these ideas are likely.

By the way, Nate Silver's Five Thirty Eight analyzes the stats and comes to a conclusion about when Winds of Winter will be released.

 

March 2014 to August 2018 isn't exactly going out on a limb in narrowing down a prediction.

The conclusion is "I have no idea" and "whenever he damn well pleases".

My guess is that The Winds of Winter will be published no sooner than summer 2015 and (hopefully!) no later than early 2016. Some of the climatic moments delayed from the end of A Dance with Dragons to the beginning of Winds will probably be seen on screen before they're published, but at least fans will be able to read most of Winds before the material airs on the TV show. I think A Dream of Spring will only be published in the early 2020s, while the TV show will end in 2017 or 2018.

 

Finished the final episodes tonight. Nice ending to the season. I like that Brienne and the Hound confronted one another, and I like the direction of Arya's character. Most of the changes from the books seem to work in the context of the series.

I really think now that we are going to see a different ending to the series than we will get in the books. That's fine. I like the fact that Walking Dead has gone in a much different direction than the comics, and it would work for this too.

 

I think they'll go with the ending Martin has outlined for them. Whether he ends up sticking with that same ending when/if he finishes the books is another matter.

 

Martin having given them an end-point outline will undoubtedly have left miles of wiggle-room. All he has to have done is say "this person ends up on the throne" and they can take wildly different routes to get there.

Which is actually good for both sides- if there are differences between show and books, this means there will always be surprises for the audience who has experienced the series in the other medium.

 

Perhaps even greater differences than this. Now that Martin has the rumored 8th book planned, and several plot lines now diverge from the books, I can only see the differences growing over the next few years.

 

Now I think just the opposite - although there may be some big differences along the way, the endpoints should be pretty similar. The same major characters survive or die, the same big battles and outcomes and the same person on the throne.