Planet Sillicon

Almost the entire cast

By blog on Jul. 18, 2010.

George R R Martin has announced nearly all of the cast roles for A Game of Thrones!

We had quite a few cast members already, but now that the show has the green light and HBO has committed to filming the entire season, more characters needed to be cast. I thought many of the actors were very well suited, but some stood out as not being suited at all, though I hope to be surprised when I actually get to see the show!

Now that the show is actually going ahead, quite a few more roles have had to be filled, and some characters were being recast to find a better fit. George has put up an entire list of the cast so far and there are few that I don’t think are right on the money for the roles. I’ll include the list below so anyone feeling like it can Google them, but I’ll also include a link to George’s Not a Blog as there are pictures on there as well.

I’m honestly quite excited to see this come together, though still trepidatious as with any novel to screen cross-over. My boss read my post a while back on recycling my old mobile phone by selling it and now he wants some help doing the same thing – read, he wants me to do all that for him and I can’t say no as I’m an employee – with his collection of old phones. He said he’s got seven that need to go off, as they’re taking up an entire draw in his office desk…

Now for the cast!

SERIES REGULARS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

Mark Addy as King Robert Baratheon
Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy
Sean Bean as Eddard “Ned” Stark
Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jamie Lannister
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark
Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger
Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon
Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
Kit Harington as Jon Snow
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen
Richard Madden as Rob Stark
Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane (Hound)
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark

FEATURED CAST IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel
Jerome Flynn as Bronn
Conleth Hill as Varys
Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo
Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin

GUEST CAST IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

Josef Altin as Pyp
Gethin Anthony as Renly Baratheon
Ciaran Bermingham as Mord
Esme Bianco as Ros
Susan Brown as Septa Mordane
Dominic Carter as Janos Slynt
Antonia Christophers as Mhaegen
Kate Dickie as Lysa Arryn
Roy Dotrice as Grand Maester Pycelle
Emun Elliott as Marillion
Lino Facioli as Robin Arryn
Jefferson Hall as Ser Hugh of the Vale
Derek Halligan as Alliser Thorne
Rhodri Hosking as Mycah
Margaret John as Old Nan
Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell
Dermot Keaney as Gared
Francis Magee as Yoren
Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark
Brendan McCormack as Ser Vardis Egan
Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy
Luke McEwan as Rast
Kristian Nairn as Hodor
Rob Ostlere as Ser Waymar Royce
Eugene Simon as Lancel Lannister
Jamie Sives as Jory Cassel
John Standing as Jon Arryn
Conan Stevens as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane
Peter Vaughan as Maester Aemon Targaryen
Miltos Yeromelou as Syrio Forel

Green light for Game of Thrones

By blog on Mar. 18, 2010.

HBO’s version of A Game of Thrones has been given the green light!

I know, I know, I’m dreadfully late in reporting this, but yes, A Game of Thrones, by George R R Martin – FINISH THE NEXT BOOK, GEORGE – has been picked up by HBO after the pilot was shot late last year and earlier this year. I’m excited, I must say, to see this come to pass.

I do know that I’ve said in earlier blog posts about this that I was trepidatious, that I was concerned for the ‘corny’ factor, the clichés that could arise, but I have to say, after watching Rome recently, and having just bought three more seasons of The Wire because the first was so bloody good, I’ve got confidence in HBO. They put on some damn fine shows, I have to say. More on that story later.

So yes, the show has been given the go ahead, and the first season shall cover the first book, and will contain ten episodes in total. That seems a little on the skimpy side for such a massive book, but so much can be said without words that I suppose it should be alright. I’m just hoping to see the story play-out as faithfully as possible to what happened. No missing certain awesome characters – Tom Bombadill is noticeably missing from The Lord of the Rings! – or just altering things for the sake of making it easier to understand or some such. I hate to see that sort of thing happen, but I do look forward to seeing this play out.

Of course, I have no expectation that all the books will be made into a season of the series. I mean, seven seasons of A Song of Ice and Fire would cost quite a fortune, I believe, and HBO does have a history of cancelling shows if the cost is getting too high.

I suppose, though, that this show will have a huge following before anything is even shot. That’s the bonus of working with non-original content, I suppose. Anyway, this particular geek is most anticipating this one!

Game of Thrones – Filming

By blog on Nov. 2, 2009.

Filming has begun for the series, and I’ve very mixed feelings, but anticipating nonetheless.

Okay, to explain where I’m coming from… If you’ve seen Rome, which is sort of an equivalent to this series in terms of production values, and the production group – HBO – but I have to say that many of the actors are of a much better calibre than Rome, anyway, back to my point. If you’ve seen Rome, you’ll know what I mean when I say there are moments of complete cringing. It could be a line in the dialogue here, or a gesture there, but sometimes you are ripped so forcibly from your tentatively shallow level of immersion that all of a sudden you realise you’re watching a bunch of guys prancing about in little dresses, taking themselves very seriously…

It’s not like that all the time, and I think Deadwood didn’t quite have this going so much as Rome – again, made by same group, HBO – but I’m still very highly aware of the fact that that just because these are great books, doesn’t mean they’ll make a great TV series… Can you imagine watching some of the stuff that happens in that book in the form of a TV show? I’m concerned I’m going to feel like I’m watching a school play the whole time. The seriousness of whether or not Jon will be allowed to go and join the Night’s Watch or not… yeah, goodness me I hope all the actors really do this well, and that the sets work and everything.

So far all the filming has been completed in Scotland, at Doune Castle in Scotland to be precise, which is where they shot all the scenes that took place in the courtyard of Winterfell. Next they move onto Paint Hall Studio in Belfast which is where everything will be shot, except the stuff that’s supposed to be happening in Pentos and all that, which is being shot in Morocco.

So yeah, I respect many of the actors involved in this, but still feel like I’ll be wearing a grimace throughout the entirety of the first episode.

A Game of Thrones – The Cast

By blog on Aug. 19, 2009.

HBO will soon be shooting the pilot of the TV series of George R R Martin’s epic fantasy novel A Game of Thrones.

Now, I think these books, A Song of Ice and Fire, are the best fantasy series I’ve ever read. I’ve read a lot, and these are the best, in my opinion, so far. That’s a pretty big call, but I’m making it. The people behind this series are the same who created Deadwood and Rome; two good shows, in their own ways. Today I’m going to outline my response to each of the announced cast choices. George R R Martin also said on his Not a Blog recently that six more characters are about to be cast, but we will have to wait some time for the announcements. When they are announced, I will do a follow up post. I’m interested to see how this series works out, because as I said, this is an amazing book they are working with, and Martin has even been involved with the screen plays, I believe he is writing one episode himself. Now, onto the cast and my impressions!

Sean Bean will do quite well as Eddard Stark, in my opinion. He voiced Martin from The Elder Scrolls Oblivion game quite well, and the character has a similar sense of… rigidity or dourness, so I think this was a good choice.

Peter Drinklage as Tyrion Lanister will be awesome, I think. Drinklage has a tenacious and sardonic personality in many of his roles, and I think this will suit The Imp so very well.

Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark will work very well, even as Elizabeth Bennett in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice she had an austere coldness that I think will work wonders – now that she is older – as cold and hateful Catelyn. I dislike Catelyn intensely.

I’ve never seen Kit Harington in anything before, but he looks okay for the part. I would have liked to have seen someone perhaps a little longer in the face, but this serves, and there could be – with hair and make-up – similarities brought out with him and Sean Bean.

Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon is interesting… I’ve no doubt he can play it, I just envision him as being… bigger, swarthier, and at least somewhat intimidating… But I still think this will work out well.

Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon I’m not sure about because I can’t see a picture of him that is anything like recent on the net, so I don’t know. It’s going to take a good actor to portray that horrid little abomination.

Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen… he seems too old, to me. This one sticks out a bit… but with a lot of alterations, silver hair, lilac eyes, maybe it’ll work.

So far only the pilot is sure to be shot, but if the reception is good enough, more could follow, and I for one, bloody hope so!