HBO orders "A Song of Ice and Fire" pilot

[Brendan Moody]

HBO has ordered production of a pilot for a show based on George R.R. Martin's best-selling fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. If the network likes the pilot, a full season of 13 episodes adapting the first book is a possibility. Martin's comments on the news are here; he describes the pilot script (by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss) as "very faithful."

I've been keeping my expectations for this project low, since there are so many ways it could go wrong or be cruelly cut short, but it is exciting to think that even a little of the series will end up on film.

 

[Shurik]

I'm almost sure it'll be great, judging by other recent HBO productions. I wonder if the casting has already began ...

 

[Roger Wilco]

Good, but I'd rather Martin finally finishes that damn Dance with Dragons instead of getting sidetracked all the time...

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

Good, but I'd rather Martin finally finishes that damn Dance with Dragons instead of getting sidetracked all the time...

I agree.. And I think that it would benefit tv-series to have full book series finished. That way they would better know which aspects of the book series to highlight more just in case they end up making whole series..

 

[tharpdevenport]

How would you all describe what the book is about, without spoilders?

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

I remembered that there was a old thread for this potential series, which had some descriptions of book series:

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=66870

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

How would you all describe what the book is about, without spoilders?

It's like the War of the Roses in a fantasy setting with a huge cast of characters and a vividly realized world (and lots of sex and violence). The series starts off with very little in the way of magic and fantastic creatures and then ramps up those aspects as it moves along.

I had just about given up hope that HBO would move ahead with this, so I'm jazzed that they've finally ordered a pilot. Here's hoping for a series order and a successful, high quality run.

 

[Venardhi]

A good day to be alive.

:: Squeeeeee ::

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

In The Hollywood Reporter's story on the announcement they mention that HBO has ten pilots in contention for series orders and that at least six of them will be ordered to series. They think the chances for A Song of Ice and Fire will be strengthened by the ratings success of True Blood and The Tudors.

 

[Venardhi]

I doesn't hurt that SoIaF has a fanbase about as hardcore as any I have encountered, knowing you have a built-in audience who are likely to subscribe just for the show(myself included) should push it forward to at least a full first season.

 

[Roger Wilco]

+ a good chance of making additional money selling the dvds.

 

[Nardpuncher]

How would you all describe what the book is about, without spoilders?

It's a big soap opera type fantasy ( but with very little magic, or any at all, but some mention of dragons) that has a lot of characters but is still easy to keep up with.
I think I've seen the first book, A Game of Thrones on sale for an introductory price of $3.99 US. it's got a gold cover with a lion on it. That's the US version. A used bookstore may have many copies.

 

[Evil_Kirkneivel]

Someone should film Sandkings or Fevre Dream...those are my George R. R. Martin favorites. I thought Fevre Dream in particular would make a great film.

 

[Venardhi]

Someone should film Sandkings or Fevre Dream...those are my George R. R. Martin favorites. I thought Fevre Dream in particular would make a great film.

'Dying of the Light' and 'The Armageddon Rag' could make a couple of good movies too with a few tweaks here and there. Who knows, this might raise his profile a bit in Hollywood and lead to such things.

 

[Evil Twin]

YES YES YES YES YES! Super happy to hear this news. The ironic thing is I was just pondering while on my way to work this morning what the current status of this project was.

 

[Brendan Moody]

And I think that it would benefit tv-series to have full book series finished.

Mmm. Somehow I don't see HBO responding well to "We love that you're interested in the series, but can you wait 5-10 years for it to be finished?"

That way they would better know which aspects of the book series to highlight more just in case they end up making whole series..

Well, Martin is going to be involved in the production of any series, to the point of contributing one episode a year, so it's not like he can't tell them if they're planning to cut something important.

I want A Dance with Dragons to be finished as much as anyone, but not to the point where I think Martin should neglect the rest of his career to finish it.

 

[Venardhi]

Assuming the first season goes ahead sometime early/mid next year, ADWD will probably be out around the time it does. That gives him 5-ish years to have the 6th book out for them, and another year or so for the next. Lets say 3 years each isn't impossible. Maybe even have the seasons come out in 18 month intervals to give him another couple years. Or you could stretch out book 3 to do 2 seasons easily. It isn't too hard to stretch for time and I doubt we're looking at more than 8 years for him to finish the series.

 

[Shakaar]

I gotta admit that I'm really excited about this, but I wonder just how long it can last. I don't see how this can be done without being at least AS expensive if not much more so than Rome and as great as that show was, it was cancelled due to cost despite rave reviews from everyone. I hope I'm wrong. This is probably my favorite book series and definitely want it to be done justice. That said, I don't think anyone other than HBO COULD do this justice.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Assuming the first season goes ahead sometime early/mid next year, ADWD will probably be out around the time it does. That gives him 5-ish years to have the 6th book out for them, and another year or so for the next. Lets say 3 years each isn't impossible. Maybe even have the seasons come out in 18 month intervals to give him another couple years. Or you could stretch out book 3 to do 2 seasons easily. It isn't too hard to stretch for time and I doubt we're looking at more than 8 years for him to finish the series.

The most likely timeline is that they'd film the pilot in spring or summer 2009 and then the series would start airing in 2010 if it was picked up. If ratings were strong enough for the series to have its full seven-season run (hope, hope!) the first five seasons (adapting the first five books) would air in 2010-2014. Martin would most likely need to have The Winds of Winter out by early 2014 and A Dream of Spring out by early 2015 to allow for the sixth and seventh seasons to proceed smoothly (unless, as you say, they stretch one of the books over two seasons).

 

[Venardhi]

It seems likely to me that the AFFC/ADWD split-characters dynamic could easily allow for quite a bit more material than we see in the books themselves that could spread the 2 books into 3-seasons.