Surely that is not all of the new characters, or they are pushing a lot back to the next season.

Jonathan Pryce looking so old makes me feel old. :(

Nice to see Doctor Bashir back on the small screen. He's always been one of my favorites.

No Arianne. No Darkstar?

Those are pretty big omissions. How are they going to tell Myrcella's story going forward and how it affects the Lannisters with no Darkstar?

That said, they've done so well with the twists and turns from the book that I'm willing to give some leeway here.

Hopefully get to see some of those woman naked in the near future.

I think they are consolidating stories and moving further from the books. Apparently Jaime is going to Dorne, and they have aged up Trystan and Myrcella, so the whole Dorne storyline is going to be very different. They seem to be eliminating much of the Iron Islands story line as well. I guess Yara may replace Victarion in taking the fleet to Mereen. Not sure there is any Euron or Victarion coming at all.

I will definitely give them considerable leeway to divert from the books for several reasons.

1. who the hell knows if the books will be finished before the series, but it seems unlikely at best. As long as they stick to the "big picture" of what Martin has in mind, the details can diverge as seems best for TV, versus print.

2. Books 4 and 5 are pretty long, slow and without nearly as many exciting moments. The drama and tension are building as people position themselves for the final struggle for the Iron Throne, but it'd be pretty boring TV for the most part.

3. Some key characters don't get to do much for quite a while -- most significantly Jaime and Littlefinger/Sansa. Doubt they want to table them for the next two seasons...

So many of my favorite thematic elements emerge and take center stage in Feast. I'll be really bummed to see all of the Queen's Moot stuff cut. Same with Marcella's story.

All of the sort of feminist, rise of lady power stuff in book four is some of the most riveting material in the series, I think.

But as others have said, the show has done a phenomenal job with the adaptation. They've earned some leeway and trust.

Yeah I'm not willing to give leeway but whatevs. The show has dropped in quality since season 1 anyway.

Bonn training the King slayer. Extending the time of Arya and the hound in the story, Bran appearing in the north etc. all changes worked and stayed true to the story.
I think they need to combine 4 and 5 due to the lack of action in the books. There are several sections of those two books that are interesting in a book but I can see issues translating to TV
Women love the king slayer and supposely Sansa's role is going to beefed up more than the books. And I don't think the audience is going to want to see half-man getting pissed on by life the whole season. Maybe they don't have him travel with the dwarfs but his new buddy?

If you mean combine as in intermix sequentially, that makes sense because the events in the two books are concurrent. If you mean combine two enormous books into one season, then that doesn't make much sense. They'd be cutting something like three quarters of the material in the books if they do that. Even cutting half of everything means there's no way that the episodes dedicated soley to book 6 begin before season 7.

My guess is we continue to see more and more things that don't happen or aren't shown in the books, which is probably going to stretch out the time we spend with books 4 and 5, rather than shorten it. Sort of the way they handled the wall and Brienne last year. Rather than cut things, they added new things to provide additional action.

With HBO announcing that Season 5 of Game of Thrones would shift much of the action to Dorne — the region of the Seven Kingdoms ruled by House Martell — in the aftermath of the death of Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal), casting rumors for the various Martell family members have been omnipresent.

At today’s Game of Thrones panel at San Diego Comic-Con, HBO put the rumors to rest and announced the three actresses who would be playing Oberyn’s daughters, aka the Sand Snakes.

Oscar nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes, who starred in Whale Rider when she was 13, has landed the role of Obara Sand, Oberyn’s eldest daughter and a fearsome warrior in her own right. Jessica Henwick (Silk) will play Nymeria (“Nym”) Sand, the second eldest daughter — who is described as being cultured, graceful, and deadly with a whip. Rounding out the trio of young warrior women is Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (The Family) as Tyene Sand, whose mother is Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma), who watched in horror as The Mountain crushed Oberyn’s skull in Season 4.







The casting announcements didn’t end there, however, as six other actors will also be joining the fifth season:

Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow

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A devout and pious man, the High Sparrow came to King’s Landing to serve those forgotten by much of the world – the poor, the downtrodden, and the infirm – and quickly amassed a large following. His fellow believers have swarmed over the city, ministering to the lowest, and decrying the corruption of the highest.

Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell

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The former 24 star will play Doran Martell, the ruling lord of Dorne and the older brother to the late Red Viper, Prince Oberyn Martell. Expect many scenes with blood oranges, though it’s unclear whether producers will have Doran be the gouty, pensive character he is in George R.R. Martin’s books.

Also in Dorne…

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Toby Sebastian
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DeObia Oparei
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Toby Sebastian (After the Dark) will play Trystane Martell, Prince Doran’s son and heir to Dorne. DeObia Oparei (Dredd) joins the cast as Areo Hotah, the long-serving captain of Doran Martell’s palace guard.


Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon

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Twitter: @freenelltiger
In a bit of recasting, Nell Tiger Free (Endeavour) will take over the role of Myrcella Baratheon, a role originally played by Aimee Richardson. Myrcella is the eldest child of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and is betrothed to Trystane Martell. Her character was last seen in Season 2 of Game of Thrones, when she was sent to Dorne against the wishes of Cersei.

And finally…

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Universal





Enzo Cilenti will play Yezzan, whose life as an extremely wealthy slave trader was affected when Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) outlawed the slave trade.

So GRRM's sitting out this season to finish TWoW:More at the link.

For any who haven't seen Whale Rider, do so now.

Keisha Castle's performance was legit acting and the film's conclusion was very moving on the basis of said acting.

Not to denigrate Anna Paquin or Quvenzhané Wallis who were perfectly cast in a great stories, but Keisha OWNED that role, though it didn't get the buzz as a small independent film.

Though, no knock on her losing the Best Actress Oscar to Charlize Theron for Monster, probably one of the best acting performances of anyone in the past 15 years, the female version De Niro in Raging Bull.

I wish I could encapsulate the story behind this scene, but seriously just go watch the damned thing.

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