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[Steelyuhas]

***Please read the rules regarding spoilers below.***

Game of Thrones is a television series on HBO based on the best selling A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. Game of Thrones is an epic, high fantasy series about the fight for control of Westeros which was inspired by The War of the Roses in medieval Europe. Though it's been labeled as fantasy, Game of Thrones is more about the struggle for power and family dynamics than it is about typical fantasy tropes like magic and elves. As co-producer and writer David Benioff put it: “If you have to just pick one word to describe it, it’s the word ‘power’ and how it affects those who are pursuing it, and how those who already have it try to retain it, and how those who are caught in the crossfire between the two are mutilated in the process.” In addition to complex characters living in a well thought out and developed world, the story boasts plenty of violence, sex, and other adult oriented content.

The third season premieres Sunday, March 31st at 9PM on HBO. The 10 episode season 3 will cover roughly the first half of “A Storm of Swords”, the third book in the ASOIAF series.

HBO’s Press Release on Season 3:

As Blackwater Bay cools, the victors consolidate their power and rebuild King’s Landing. But new challengers for the Iron Throne rise from the most unexpected places. Characters old and new must navigate the demands of family, honor, ambition, love and – above all – survival, as the Westeros civil war rages into autumn.

Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal. The Emmy®- and Golden Globe-winning series returns for its ten-episode third season SUNDAY, MARCH 31 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, followed by other episodes on subsequent Sundays at the same time.

As season three begins, the Lannisters hold absolute dominion over King’s Landing after repelling Stannis Baratheon’s forces. Yet Robb Stark, King in the North, still controls much of the South as well, and has yet to lose a battle. In the Far North, Mance Rayder has united the wildlings into the largest army Westeros has ever seen. Only the Night’s Watch stands between him and the Seven Kingdoms, but nobody knows what happened to its Lord Commander and the force he led beyond the Wall.

Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen – reunited with her three growing dragons – ventures into Slaver’s Bay in search of ships to take her home and allies to conquer it.

Cast
The cast of Season 3 will see 45 members of the cast, not including recurring characters. There will once again be a host of new cast members joining the fray this season. To see the full cast for the first three seasons, check out WiC.net's cast page and HBO’s cast page.

Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Aidan Gillen (Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish)

Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Richard Madden (Robb Stark), Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark)

Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Rory McCann (Sandor “The Hound” Clegane), Conleth Hill (Varys), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly)

Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), James Cosmo (Commander Jeor Mormont), Stephen Dillane (Stannis Baratheon), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), Rose Leslie (Ygritte)

Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Ciarán Hinds (Mance Rayder), Diana Rigg (Lady Olenna Tyrell), Mackenzie Crook (Orell), Clive Russell (Brynden “The Blackfish” Tully), Nathalie Emannuel (Missandei)

Kerry Ingram (Shireen Baratheon), Paul Kaye (Thoros of Myr), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Jojen Reed), Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed), Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane)

Philip McGinley (Anguy), Tara Fitzgerald (Selyse Baratheon), Tobias Menzies (Edmure Tully), Anton Lesser (Qyburn), Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton), Noah Taylor (Locke)

There are 3 members of the cast that I left out for spoiler reasons. They are (Season 3 Spoilers)

Spoiler

Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), and Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy)

Crew
The same writing staff from season 2 will return to write season 3 including David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Vanessa Taylor, and George R.R. Martin. The directors for season 3 is a mix of returning and new directors. Returning directors include Dan Minahan, David Nutter, and Alik Sakharov. New directors to the series include Alex Graves (The West Wing), Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead), and show runners David Benioff & D.B. Weiss.

Trailers & Promos

• Trailer #2
• ”The Beast” Promo
• Extended Trailer #1
• Trailer #1
• "War" Promo
• ”Enemies” Promo
• Season 1 & 2 Recap
• Season 2 Recap Show

Clips

• Ep 1: Tyrion and Cersei
• Ep 1: Dany and her Dragons
• Ep 2: Jaime and Brienne

Behind the Scenes

• Invitation to the Set
• In Production
• Vlog #4: Down to the Smallest Detail
• Vlog #3: Intensity of Iceland
• Vlog #2: Molding the Book Into a Series
• Vlog #1: Art Direction

Promo Images

• Promo images
• Season 3 Key Art Poster
• Character Posters

Season 3
Game of Thrones returns for its third season on March 31st, 2013. The season will once again consist of 10 episodes. For those that have read the novels, the third season will cover roughly the first half of A Storm of Swords.

Episodes

301: Valar Dohaeris (Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Directed by Dan Minahan) | Content Roundup
302: Dark Wings, Dark Words (Written by Vanessa Taylor, Directed by Dan Minahan) | Content Roundup
303: Walk of Punishment (Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Directed by David Benioff) | Content Roundup
304: And Now His Watch is Ended (Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Directed by Alex Graves) | Content Roundup
305: Kissed by Fire (Written by Bryan Cogman, Directed by Alex Graves) | Content Roundup
306: The Climb (Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Directed by Alik Sakharov) | Content Roundup
307: The Bear and the Maiden Fair (Written by George R.R. Martin, Directed by Michelle MacLaren) | Content Roundup
308: Second Sons (Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Directed by Michelle MacLaren) | Content Roundup
309: The Rains of Castamere (Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Directed by David Nutter) | Content Roundup
310: Mhysa (Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Directed by David Nutter) | Content Roundup

Links

• Winter-is-Coming.net (aka WiC, the most up-to-date source for news about the series.)
• WiC's Cast page
• WiC's Crew page
• WiC's FAQ page
• Tower of the Hand (Chapter summaries, news, forums, and other information)
• Tower of the Hand Locations Gallery
• Westeros.org (Fan site with forums, discussion, and lots of other information
• HBO's official site for Game of Thrones
• HBO's Viewer's Guide
• Making Game of Thrones (HBO's official production blog)
• HBO's Twitter account for GoT
• Wikipedia entry for A Song of Ice and Fire *spoilers*
• Official pronunciation guide

GAF Threads
TV Threads:

• Game of Thrones - George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire - Season 1 - Sundays on HBO
• Game of Thrones (NO BOOK SPOILERS) - Season 1 - Sundays on HBO (read the rules in OP)
• *NO BOOK SPOILERS* Game of Thrones - Season 2 - Sundays on HBO (read rules in OP)
• Game of Thrones - Season 2 - George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire - Sundays on HBO
• Game of Thrones |OT| The offseason thread – Season 3
• Game of Thrones *NO BOOK SPOILERS* |OT| Season 3

Book Threads:

• OK nerds, you win. Song of Ice and Fire is gud. (spoiler tagged discussion of all books)
• A Dance with Dragons |OT| - Read the rules or Melisandre casts magic missile (spoiler tagged discussion of ADwD)
• A Song of Ice and Fire -- **Unmarked Spoilers For All Books including ADWD** (everything is fair game, no spoiler tags)

In this thread we will use the spoiler rules that have been in use the tagged spoilers TV threads. Your spoilers are allowed in the thread, but please tag them with the appropriate book or tag “series” for series spoilers for something that would give away if a character is still alive or dead at a certain future point in the series.

Properly using spoiler tags:

Good usage:

• [ASOS]

  Spoiler

  Put your spoilers from A Storm of Swords here and talk about whatever you want from that book.

  It’s obvious which book you’re talking about and all content is tagged.

Poor usage:

• Example #1:

  Spoiler

  There's no label on this one, so no one knows what books it's from.

  Label which book you’re talking about.
• Example #2:

  Hodor’s best Hodor is when [ASOS]

  Spoiler

  HODOR

  Don’t confirm which characters are alive in which books. Always put the character name and content inside a spoiler tag.
• Example #3:

  I don’t like it when Hodor does the Hodor in that scene.

  [ASOS]

  Spoiler

  HODOR

  This is the same problem as above. We know which character you're talking about because of what you quoted, and then you confirm that he's alive in the third book. Your best bet is to just label it as a [series spoiler] and leave it at that.

The Daily Beast:

Season 3, which will depict roughly the first half of Martin’s A Storm of Swords, will present Benioff and Weiss with their greatest challenge yet, as both sides attempt to pick up the pieces after the last season’s climactic Battle of the Blackwater. The first four episodes of the new season, provided to critics ahead of its premiere, demonstrate a canny ability to fuse the literary with the visual, resulting in an exhilarating and magnificent thing of beauty, particularly in those scenes that make full use of locations as diverse as Iceland, Croatia, and Morocco.

While Season 3, like the novel on which it is based, takes a little while to get going, when it does pick up speed, it soars—particularly in the sensational third and fourth installments (“Walk of Punishment” and “And Now His Watch Is Ended”), both written by Benioff and Weiss. The first episode back lacks energy and intensity, but provides a necessary foundation off of which to build dozens of separate plots for the scattered characters.

Cultural Learnings:

At any given moment, Game of Thrones is a very satisfying series dramatically, with lots of rich, well-drawn scenes featuring characters we’ve become attached to and new characters that continue to demonstrate the skill of the show’s casting department. There are big, exciting moments in these opening episodes, and the fourth hour ends on what is one of the most satisfying sequences in the show’s three seasons. However, that big climax comes at the cost of intriguing but ultimately thin glimpses of that story in the previous three episodes, slivers of narrative that are enjoyable but lacking in the substance necessary to leave an episode feeling like you’ve seen something, well, substantial.

Variety Review

Success hasn’t spoiled the HBO series, but rather enriched it — rendering the sets and visual effects seemingly more sumptuous, and the array of gaudy British talent within the sprawling cast even deeper. Perhaps more ostentatiously than anything else on the pay service, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ unflinching adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s books straddles the line between theatrical blockbuster and dense multi-pronged TV serial. At its best, it’s big, bloody and downright glorious.

Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter loves it:

And in keeping with the no-spoiler rule, all that really needs to be said about Season 3 is that the first four hours are immensely enjoyable and leave you, at the end of each, pleading like a junkie for the next six. This, of course, is the curse of Thrones’ finest achievement and it does have one unfortunate side effect for the individual episodes: this sprawling story being told in only 10 episode, doles out in an hour only precious morsels of plot from a variety of characters and clans, then abruptly switches to the next character or clan and so on. The end result is, despite the brilliant quality, a bubbling frustration for more, more, more.

Mike Hale of The New York Times, as with the first 2 seasons, isn't quite as enamored as most:

As this popular adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” novels returns on Sunday night, it falls into an already familiar pattern. Tiny bursts of action are separated by wide expanses of conversation — veritable kingdoms of explication during which medieval spreadsheets of plot, history, geography and family lineage are explained in the mellow tones of stage-trained European actors. Presumably the balance will slowly shift toward action as the plot builds, over the course of 10 episodes, to some climactic mass bloodletting

• The season starts on March 31st at 9PM, and will continue each Sunday after for 10 episodes.
• Winter is Coming.

 

[ComputerMKII]

I hope it doesn't suck.

 

[Kud Dukan]

It's almost here! Nice OT! It's crazy how large the cast is on this show.

 

[Amir0x]

man that cast sure is big... and that's just the 42 you highlighted

 

[Battle Born]

This season is going to be amazing.

 

[NathanMcMahon]

let the "fan" whining and griping commence. Ros says hi.

 

[EviLore]

I'm catching up right now and and will be watching mainly for the visualization of the pivotal story moments, which have been well done so far. Much of the rest hasn't been all that hot. Will continue my random impressions in here rather than the old thread.

 

[Amir0x]

let the "fan" whining and griping commence. Ros says hi.

"fan" in quotations, as if being mum about the show's plethora of problems and taking them lying down makes you a "fan."

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Good work. Hopefully it will be great this season.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

1 week to go and then the season will be over all too quickly.

 

[EviLore]

let the "fan" whining and griping commence. Ros says hi.

Official threads aren't intended to be delusional superfan circle jerks. If you can't handle criticism of the show then don't participate.

 

[NathanMcMahon]

"fan" in quotations, as if being mum about the show's plethora of problems and taking them lying down makes you a "fan."

how exactly are you standing up to them and making them change? you aren't and you won't cuz you elect to keep watching. make me richer "fans." make me richer.

Official threads aren't intended to be delusional superfan circle jerks. If you can't handle criticism of the show then don't participate.

apparently having an opinion opposite the whine fest isn't welcome? I'd call that circle-jerking at the opposite end.

 

[Divius]

Hope it'll be better than the first two seasons which were fine but very overrated.

 

[Cornballer]

Great work on the thread, Steely. Looking forward to S3 starting up next week!

 

[EviLore]

apparently having an opinion opposite the whine fest isn't welcome?

The hell are you talking about? You're preemptively thread whining. Go away.

 

[Amir0x]

Edit: Nevermind

So, my biggest hope for Season 3 is that they can get Arya's story back on track.

 

[Fry]

People need to die on this show.

 

[cubicle47b]

Official threads aren't intended to be delusional superfan circle jerks. If you can't handle criticism of the show then don't participate.

Only the Enlightened thread comes close to that. As bad as the Game of Thrones threads can be, at least they aren't the Walking Dead or Girls threads.

 

[Symphonic]

Bring it on. Season 1 was great, Season 2 was better, and I've heard nothing but good things about the (presumed) content of Season 3.

 

[Trojita]

Nice OP.

I'm hyped.

lol at Moop.

Also Tyler let me know what you think of Arya's weekend at Harrenhal in Season 2 when you get to it.

 

[Fry]

Only the Enlightened thread comes close to that. As bad as the Game of Thrones threads can be, at least they aren't the Walking Dead or Girls threads.

Or Homeland.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

People need to die on this show.

There's a good chance at least one person will die.

 

[Amir0x]

Bring it on. Season 1 was great, Season 2 was better, and I've heard nothing but good things about the (presumed) content of Season 3.

Do we know how big the budget is for Season 3 yet? Season 2 got a substantial boost over Season 1 and still looked fairly weak between the major episodes like Blackwater, so I'm wondering if they'll be increasing the budget even more now.

 

[CorvoSol]

People need to die on this show.

GOOD NEWS: People will die on this show.

 

[Fry]

There's a good chance at least one person will die.

Joffrey Baratheon plz

 

[Symphonic]

Do we know how big the budget is for Season 3 yet? Season 2 got a substantial boost over Season 1 and still looked fairly weak between the major episodes like Blackwater, so I'm wondering if they'll be increasing the budget even more now.

Judging by the

Spoiler

dragon CG

in the trailers, I'd say it's safe to bet the budget increase this season is fairly substantial.

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

 

[Balphon]

Most of the characters' facial proportions look really weird in that top banner.

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

And I see what you guys mean by the Cersei head-cocking and eyebrow raising. Now I have noticed it, it's going to annoy me this season.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I sure hope this is a lot better than season two.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Apparently this is the right thread, subscribed

 

[3N16MA]

 

[Soyongdori]

Oh yeah, a show about backstabbing the backstabbers that backstabs good people.

 

[mr stroke]

Subbed!


Season 1 was ok, but Season 2 was amazing. Really loved were they left Season 2. Can't wait!

 

[NathanMcMahon]

Do we know how big the budget is for Season 3 yet? Season 2 got a substantial boost over Season 1 and still looked fairly weak between the major episodes like Blackwater, so I'm wondering if they'll be increasing the budget even more now.

yes, we do

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

I THOUGHT IT WAS TODAY!!!!!

 

[Amir0x]

yes, we do

ok what is the budget

 

[Zabojnik]

As always, I expect I'll enjoy Season 3 much more on a rewatch later on, when the blu-rays come out. It happened for S1 and S2, S3 should be no exception.

 

[woodchuck]

awesome OP!

this is my favorite book in the series

 

[Steelyuhas]

Nathalie Emmanuel talks Missandei (some spoilers)

 

[Judderman]

Oh look, moop2000 is in another GoT thread feverishly defending it from any criticism. It's almost as if he worked on the show or something.

Can't wait for this season!

 

[Trojita]

Do we know how big the budget is for Season 3 yet? Season 2 got a substantial boost over Season 1 and still looked fairly weak between the major episodes like Blackwater, so I'm wondering if they'll be increasing the budget even more now.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

yes, we do

how is this helpful?

 

[-Mikey-]

Cast is too large. Kill everyone!

 

[3N16MA]

$70 million budget. Never forget.

 

[28 Posts Later]

Looking forward to it. Upon reflection I found season 2 to be pretty dire; but it's pretty difficult to stay too cynical, what with the apparently increased budget, the splitting of the novel over two seasons and that this is easily the best source material in the series. It's at least a strong formula for an impressive couple of seasons.

 

[sammex]

Excellent OP - The wait for the new season has been agony. Only one more week now.

 

[3N16MA]

Can't wait for the first "It's an adaptation! It does not have to be exactly like the book!" post.

 

[IAmtheFMan]

And away we go!

Can't wait for the first "It's an adaptation! It does not have to be exactly like the book!" post.

And I can't wait for the deluge of "oh they changed that? Well it's automatically bad." posts.

 

[PhoenixDark]

let the "fan" whining and griping commence. Ros says hi.

We get it, you have a connection to the show. That doesn't mean everyone has to like it or can't discuss the multitude of flaws that kept the first two seasons from being "great" television like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, etc. Get over it.

I hope this season is good, everything looks nice so far. But it's still Benioff and Weiss writing.