I just found out Natalie Dormer is playing Margaery. Why???? I can't stand her, she was horrible and annoying in The Tudors. The only pay off was knowing she was going to end up being a head shorter. While that certainly makes it easier to hate Margaery which is one awful character anyway, I'm a bit disappointed they decided to cast 30-year old as a 16-year old girl.

I loved her as Anne Boleyn on The Tudors.

Yes, I've been ranting about this for some time. Two seasons will actually make it quite dull. Swords is an awesome book but there is no doubt that the first half isnt as action packed or exciting as the second half.

One 12-14 episode season for Book 3 is more than enough (10 episodes would be rushing it).

Dont get me started on those who want Feast/Dance as two seasons. These two should strictly be 1 season.

Could they at least jam portions of book 2 into season 3? Book 3 wasnt that much longer than book 2

There are SO many characters, I have a hard time buying that you couldn't find material to fill 20 episodes from book 3. Maybe the pace slows a bit, but I think that's a good thing.

With 20 episodes they are risking too much filler and slowing things down a little too much. I do think 14 episodes would be better (as I agree it shouldnt be too jam packed without room for character development etc).

El Murato - yes they will be moving some things from Book 2 to Season 3 and vice versa.

Actually I suspect they will do something like this
Season 3 parts of book 2 and 3
Season 4 parts of book 3 and 4
Season 5 book 4 and 5

I think they have to do somethings in a different order from the books because otherwise certain characters would just disappear for whole seasons, particularly the popular ones.

I saw this on a fashion website I like: Delish: A Game Of Thrones-Inspired Recipe, Just In Time For The Premiere
http://www.refinery29.com/game-of-thrones-recipe?page=1

Can't wait for the premiere! I finished Season 1 a couple of weeks ago.

I thought it was great, especially the acting and cinematography. They had to cover a lot in the first episode, but that was to be expected.

You cunt. You stole what was supposed to be my next avatar.

Well, considering Robb and Jon are what, 15 in the books?... Everybody gets aged up.

Fantastic premiere. I think it was the best episode of the whole series.

lol sorry I just beat you to it :p

In the case of Margaery it's a drastic move though. Joffrey is supposed to be 12 and the actor playing him is definitely under 20 years old.

I think Robb and Jon were around 17 in the books. Im not sure about the time line but Ygritte was 2 years older than Jon and they mentioned her name day being around 20

I only wish they developed the scene more with Stannis, Davos and Melisandre. It felt pretty rushed and the show doesnt show that much about why the Maester wants to have Melisandre dead. Im warming up to Stephen Dillane as Stannis. Before that I thought he was too old but his delivery is making him into a bad ass

Those scenes did feel a little rushed. I the premier probably needed an extra 15 minutes to handle those issues. The episode really didn't have much new that wasn't in the book outside of the Littlefinger scene which I actually liked. I really liked how they . I agree with you about Stannis I loved Dillane's performance. He is a great actor. I always thought he gave a tremendous underrated performance as Thomas Jefferson in the John Adams miniseries. I can't wait for his later scenes in this season.

The show introduced a lot however its still great.

It feels like a movie really.

The huge scope of the series.

There is the King of the North and then the great Unknown of the Far North.

The political infighting in Kings Landing, a New threat from the South and the Dragons in the East...

We had a huge lightening strike which came close to me by the window - it killed our net connection so couldnt download this episode or Mad Men. Damn im pissed.

Just finished season 1 and really enjoyed it.

I haven't read the books, so is reading this thread and checking back a bad idea?

You could check back - there are spoilers but most are covered in Spoiler tags. Still its always a risk.

What a great first episode. The show has stepped up a notch in production value and the actors are more confident and assured than they'd previously been.

Im also warming to Dillane as Stannis and Van Houten as Mel is just perfect. The Cressen scene could have been handled better but still very happy with the episode.

Great start!

The babies and teenagers they were slaughtering. They're Mark Addy's bastard children, right?

Yep, I liked they showed that scene. It showed the evilness of certain characters.

I just watched episode two. The show's doing a great job of showing things that are only mentioned off-screen in the book. The slaughter of King Robert's bastards in episode one, and...



...in episode two.

The second episode was better than the first. I really liked the reveals about Caster and his sons that was something the book only hinted at.