Westeros

Valyrian Steel released the first photos of their rendition of the Stark Valyrian greatsword Ice—under license from George R.R. Martin, who works closely with them in developing and approving their designs—after all the hullaballoo over HBO’s teaser and featurette release, and so we lost it in the shuffle. But now you can see how the sword has developed from the concept stage.

As GRRM and Valyrian Steel have noted, these replica weapons—so far including Longclaw and Needle—are the only such weapons currently licensed, and so HBO’s versions of the weapons made by their own production team will not be turned into replicas for the forseeable future. As we recall, after Ice is out the door, Valyrian Steel intends to turn their attention to making a replica of King Robert Baratheon’s warhammer.

We’ve added screencaps fromHBO’s Fall/Winter 2010 preview video, featuring Sean Bean as Eddard Stark and Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy, to the gallery. These shots are interesting in that they probably give us our best idea of how the series will look when it hits the air, as the teaser footage makes use of a very dark filter and the behind the scenes is straight-up documtenary footage.

I’ve been remiss is not having taken note of Gestalt Mash’s chapter-by-chapter read through of A Game of Thrones. The twist on this one is that it’s a duo tackling it: one brand new to the series, Elena Nola, and the other familiar with it, Jay Tomio. It’s interesting to see a fresh perspective on the text from Nola followed up by Tomio’s riffing off of her remarks from his more informed context. It makes for interesting reading.

One of the details to come out of the new material from HBO is a hint of what directors are doing. We’ve previously reported on the fact that Northern Irish director Brian Kirk was confirmed to be filming two of the episodes of the series. The behind-the-scenes twice show slates bearing Kirk’s name as director of the depicted scenes, with episodes #3 apparently featuring the Dothraki and Viserys sequences seen in the preview, and with episode #5 featuring Lady Catelyn in the Vale.

However, a recent report reveals that Kirk was involved in reshooting at least one scene from the pilot, originally directed by noted actor and director, Thomas McCarthy. Given the loss of the Doune Castle location as well as the recasting Catelyn Stark, it seems likely a very large portion of the scenes set in Winterfell will need to be reshot (much as the recasting of Daenerys and the move to Malta for filming Dothraki scenes likely means heavy reshooting there as well).

If Kirk is handling the reshoots in their entirety, rather than filling in for McCarthy for certain scenes, that would suggest he’s a lynchpin in determining the shooting style of the production.

As reported last night, Castle Ward is once again being used to film Winterfell scenes. Being open to the public on a number of occasions, some fans of the series have been able to drop by and take a look at the constructed sets there, getting a glimpse of a number of interesting features. We have new pictures taken today, courtesy of silverjaime, while filming was actually in progress on a scene featuring Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark. In fact, in one of them, you can just glimpse his lower body behind some sort of screen:

Word has it that many different locations will be used throughout Northern Ireland. Among those we know of that have or will be used are Magheramorne Quarry, Shane’s Castle, Castle Ward, Tollymore Forest Park, sites in Ballymoney and Ballycarry, and doubtless quite a few more.

HBO has informed us that the character of Magister Illyrio Mopatis, scheming benefactor to Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen, has been recast. Roger Allam, a well-known actor of stage and screen, has been cast in the role after Ian McNeice had to withdraw from the part. McNeice had filmed the role for the pilot, butthe recasting of Daenerys and the consequent necessary reshoots led to a scheduling conflict that could not be sorted out.

Among notable roles played by Allam are Inspector Javert in the first London staging of Les Misérables, two Laurence Oliver Award-winning theatrical roles in 2000 and 2001, sleazy television presenter Lewis Prothero in the film adaption of Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, and a leading role in the new film Tamara Drewe. Below is an interview with actor from September 8 during the U.K. premiere of the film:

Update: HBO has been in contact with us regarding Minister McCausland’s blog post, clarifying that the meeting in question was more of a formal meet-and-greet, where “the Ministers acknowledged the positive impact that filming Game of Thrones has had on the local creative industries and regional economy and encouraged HBO to continue filming here if a second series is commissioned”. That quote being from our source at HBO, though the emphasis on if is ours. In fact, we’re told Mr. Roewe was there primarily to check-in on the current production.

Our take on all this is that the Northern Ireland ministers are naturally very keen on a second season, and so this colored the minister’s description of the meeting. From HBO’s perspective, any references to a second season were purely hypothetical. That said, our original report can be found below.

The first clear hint of this was Winter is Coming receiving a report via Samantha Hirst that the role of Lommy Greenhands was being cast for the end of the season (suggesting he’ll be glimpsed in the final episode), when that character is primarily to be found in the second novel (and season). Now we know that the talk for a second season is going on at high levels, thanks to Northern Ireland Minister of Culture, Nelson McCausland.

On his blog, he writes that he and Arlene Foster, another government minister, has met with Senior Vice President for Production, Jay Roewe, this last week to discuss the production. To quote Mr. McCausland:

Emphasis ours. For those who are unaware, the U.K. uses the term series for what we call seasons in the U.S.

This is not to say that the series is already a go for a second season. If they want to be able to have a second season, they must start planning efforts now, but it’s a good sign to see HBO sending their Senior Vice President for Production to start hammering out details with the local authorities.

As a side note, we noticed that Samantha provided more details of the casting call for Lommy, with rehearsals in October and filming ... in Malta. If that’s accurate, we’re guessing that not only is Malta being used for scenes in the East, one of its medieval towns or cities could well be used to represent areas of King’s Landing such as the quarter called Flea Bottom.

We’ve collected screen captures from HBO’s latest video releases (missing just a couple of Ned shots from the 2010-2011 preview) and have posted them at our gallery. If you’ve seen our dissection of the videos, you’ll have seen all of these, but if you click through you’ll find that each image has additional commentary from us. Much of it pertains to comparisons to the novels, especially in regards to thematic details such as armor, clothing, and the like.

Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts on the images. We plan to add the original teaser screencaps to the gallery in time.

For those concerned about spoilers, there are none which are not already self-evident from the trailer and behind the scenes video.

One other thing that HBO has released is their overall 2010/2011 preview, featuring a number of the productions they’re readying to knock the socks off of subscribers. At the very beginning and towards the very end, we get glimpses of Sean Bean as Eddard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell and one of the central characters of Game of Thrones. These clips are not part of the promo teaser or behind-the-scenes material, so are worth a look!

This two brief clips are from the very first scene where we see Ned, executing a deserter from the Night’s Watch.

Images coming later (sorry, folks, it’s quite late!). First, the teaser:

9 seconds: Jon Snow (Kit Harington) on the Wall.

10 seconds: Ser Hugh of the Vale jousting at the Hand’s Tourney.

10-11 seconds: Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and someone we can’t identify.

14 seconds: Arryn men-at-arms, presumably in the Vale.

15 seconds: Tyrion in the Vale held prisoner by a unknown man-at-arms (possibly Bronn’s fellow sellsword, Chiggen, who may be unnamed)

16 seconds: Sandor Clegane fighting his brother, Ser Gregor Clegane. The Mountain that Rides looks MASSIVE. His armor is a hauberk of steel plates, rather than plate armor as with some other knights glimpsed earlier on.

17 Seconds. Eddard Stark, King Robert, Varys, and Grand Maester Pycelle at the small council table. Robert and Eddard are arguing. Big tapestry in the background.

19 seconds: What we believe is the final Game of Thrones logo, or near enough.

And now the behind the scenes promo:

8 seconds: Shot of the tourney ground. Baratheon banner notable.

9 seconds: Targaryen banner… where would that be hanging? Hmm. Alas, the dragon has four legs—this may be our fault! It’s supposed to be two, in fact, but perhaps it’s a creative change.

9-10 seconds: A youth fighting with a stick. We guess this is Prince Joffrey, heir to the Iron Throne.

11 seconds: What we guess is a wildling fighting someone. Don’t want to spoil. ;)

11-12 seconds: Catelyn Stark. Michelle Fairley looks amazing.

19-21 seconds: Jon Snow sparring. We suspect this is Grenn, played by Mark Stranley. A lack of helmets noted, tut-tut.

29 seconds: A bunch of Baratheon guards and what we intially believed to be a blurry glimpse of Jaime Lannister with a positively leonine mane of blond hair. The red cloak is certainly suggestive. However, now we think that he is in armor in this scene. Another set of arms are glimpsed here as well, which is nice: a rooster on red. Perhaps one of the hedge knights attaching themselves to the king’s train?

29 seconds: On the monitor, Ned Stark cleaning Ice, from the start of the novel.

32 seconds: A brief glimpse of someone we don’t recognize. We are told by HBO that this is in fact an extra.

32 seconds: We’re told these men in the foreground are Lannister guardsmen.  A distictly Asian flair to their armor, but still recognizably plate armor. The helmets are the most striking pieces, seeming quite like samurai helmets, but it’s hard to say what they look like when the visors are down. Behind them is a gold cloak.

32 seconds: Some sort of Northern lord or Stark servant? Not an identifiable actor.

37-38 seconds: Viserys Targaryen, played by Harry Lloyd, using a single-edged sword which we initially thought might be an arakh. However, the Dothraki in the background, who may be Jhogo (Elysa Gabel), seems to have a long-hafted, sickle-like weapon hanging from his horse. He also seems to be wearing some sort of vest or lamellar armor. A bit of a change from the novels, in which the Dothraki disdain armor.

43 seconds: Dothraki travelling through willows. This would be the material that was shot in Ballymoney.

45 seconds: Ser Jorah Mormont, played by Iain Glen. Part of the same travelling sequence.

56 seconds: George! With Richard Madden. Shortly after, David Benioff dates the interview: a couple of weeks after George visited the set for the pilot.

1:00 minute: The Stark direwolf on the Wall.

1:01: Ser Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale) and who we believe to be Rast (Luke McEwan), possibly attacking poor Samwell.

1:03: Very padded Bran fighting against Prince Tommen.

1:04: Catelyn Tully hiding from danger, and Tyrion Lannister enters the scene from behind the camera.

1:07: The massive Conan Stevens practicing his fight choreography.

1:08: The lovely Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and a very brief glimpse of Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) sitting next to her. I’ll bet the fastening of his doublet is a mockingbird. On Sansa’s other side, Arya. Jeyne Poole seems to have fallen by the wayside, which I believe has been previously confirmed.

1:09: Kit Harington practicing with Mark Stanley.

1:10: Sean Bean as Eddard Stark in ... well, King’s Landing certainly.

1:10-1:11: Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, hair dyed, and a great crimson-and-gold leather jerkin.

1:11: Mark Addy as King Robert (looking very relaxed with a styrofoam cup and a bar of chocolate! Obviously between takes) and Lena Headey looking marvelous as Queen Cersei. Their children, Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella,  can be glimpsed just at the end. Just off camera is Sandor Clegane.

1:12: Arya (Maisie Williams) and Bran (Isaac Hempestead Wright) having fun. Wonderful!

1:17: A knight in armor. Ser Hugh of the Vale? Hard to tell.

1:19: Two direwolf pups. Awww!

1:25: Daenerys Targaryen among the Dothraki. We beleve that’s Jhogo behind her, and his armor seems more like woven leather than lamellar or scale.

1:26: A better glimpse of Princess Myrcella and Prince Tommen. Followed by some direwolf emboridery, and then a shot of Kingsguard in ceremonial armor. Alas, it lacks the white cloaks, or any nod to it (even their armor is white in the books), but it’s an interesting look at least. Of all the things we’ve seen so far, we’d call this the most “stereotypically” fantasy. But hey, at least they have the “intricate suit of scales” thing going. Then they’re followed by some Lannister men, if the red that predominates reveals anything. Finally, that character from earlier. He and the other individual are extras, HBO tells us.

1:27: Michelle Fairley as Catelyn. Love the look, love the blue with her hair. Behind her, some of the sellswords who accompany her. And then the black-helmeted Ser Gregor Clegane followed by Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, is a truly magnificent helmet that evokes flowers and plant life. Marvellous!

And to wrap up the initial burst of new media from HBO for Game of Thrones, here’s their new still of Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke. Gorgeous!

Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO. Used with permission.

HBO’s listened to what you wanted to hear, folks! Visit Making Game of Thrones, a new site where the producers will be blogging a bit about the process behind making the series, sharing unique details and information with all the fans.

Watch the new Game of Thrones promotional video below!

And here is the In Production preview!

Brilliant, isn’t it? More in a bit as we provide our preliminary dissection of what we’ve all just seen courtesy of HBO.

After digging around a bit, we’ve learned that the preview of Game of Thrones that’s part of the True Blood pre-show will feature both new footage as well as an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the production. And on top of that, as previously reported, media sites such as Westeros will be receiving a new still to share with everyone on the web.

Via e-mail, HBO has informed media sites that the True Blood pre-show starting at 8:40 EST will feature “previews of upcoming HBO Original Programming including Game of Thrones,  Boardwalk Empire,  Mildred Pierce, In Treatment, Big Love, Eastbound & Down, Bored to Death, Enlightened and Curb Your Enthusiasm.” A little bird has whispered to us that there’s some sort of long trailer already floating around in the labyrinths of HBO, but whether the pre-show preview will be that or another short teaser like the first teaser remains a question.

HBO promises to have the video up on the web—probably at the official Game of Thrones sub-site—within minutes of its airing, which is good news for those of us overseas (*ahem*). Also, a new still from the production will be sent to media sites to post online. Suffice it to say, Linda and I will be getting to bed late…

Notice how Game of Thrones leads the list of shows? Could be coincidence… or it could be a sign that HBO is aware of just how massive the interest is in the series on-line. A little bird has also whispered that some eyebrows were raised at how many hits that first little teaser earned…

Any odds that this time around, Daenerys Targaryen will be featured? Emilia Clarke has some gorgeous new portrait photos posted, taken by renowned celebrity photographer Lorenzo Aguis. Could be sheer coincidence, of course, but… one never knows.