My favourite characters are Tyrion and Sansa. Both are outsiders and have to use their wits to survive rather than brute force. I also like Sandor and Danys.
I think Eddard and Catelyn were really stupid and totally clueless. I started re-reading the books (listening on audiobook really) and I have to say that although I absolutely loved the series for the action and intrigue in 1998 (when I first read it) now I juse see how stupid and annoying a lot of the characters are. For instance...
Spoiler: show
Ned wasn't the best "Game of Thrones player" as mentioned by certain Master of Coin
Spoiler: show
http://pics.livejournal.com/grrm/pic/00079h6f
Illyrio Mopatis - Ian McNeice, he also played as the news guy in HBO's Rome
http://pics.livejournal.com/grrm/pic/0007bt84
Ros - Esme Bianco is playing the character of Ros who wasn't in Martin's novels.
And lastly, Khal Drogo is...
Spoiler: show
In obvious/unsurprising news:
HBO has greenlighted highly anticipated fantasy series "Game of Thrones."
The premium network has picked up the project for a first-season debut next spring. Nine episodes plus the pilot have been ordered. Production will begin in Belfast this June.
The pickup comes on the heels of another HBO big ticket series order, for Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese's drama "Boardwalk Empire."
From the moment "Thrones" was first announced in development, the series based on the George R.R. Martin novels has generated enormous, perhaps unprecedented, online interest for a series at such an early stage.
The sprawling tale set in the mythical land of Westeros tells the story of the noble Stark family who become caught up in high court intrigue when patriarch Eddard (played by Sean Bean) becomes the king's new right-hand man. The four-and-counting books in the series would each be used as one season of the series.
Unlike many fantasy novels, the "Thrones" series largely avoids relying on magical elements and instead goes for brutal realism -- think "Sopranos" with swords. Martin, a former TV writer ("Beauty and the Beast"), writes each chapter as a cliffhanger, which should lend itself well to series translation.
Oh man I am so excited for this!
Has so much potential... they better not screw this up.
His blog and the articles linked there say 2011.
recasting news from <redacted>
O.o This is weird. I had no idea about this being made into a show, but I started reading the first book a couple weeks ago, lol. Haven't been reading it hardcore, so I'm only about halfway through, but I'll probably end up finishing it tonight.
Wait what? How fast do you read? Or do you just read a lot cause halfway through still leaves you with what 350-400 pages left? In any case it's about three quarters of the way through the first book that the series really starts to get rolling. Consider yourself lucky that you're only starting now, so you haven't had to go through the endless waiting for the next book.
I'm still kind of wondering how they're going to deal with Martin's love of killing off major characters like they're nothing. While it may work in the books killing characters off on TV is tricky and can make you lose a good portion of the audience depending on the character.