George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 233

... we have Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, respectively.

These were the toughest ones to find clues for, since neither one can be found on IMDB, YouTube, Google, or any of the other places I searched. When you google Maisie's name, however, you get a bunch of hits for Maizie Williams, a singer for an old pop group called Boney M. But of course THAT Maizie Williams was not our Arya, hence the clue that one player was NOT a boney pop singer.

Here's our Arya:



Sophie Turner was just as hard to fi

... we have Alfie Allen.

I knew absolutely nothing about Alfie when this process began, except that he had done some kickass readings for us. His audtion for Theon was particularly strong, especially the scene where Theon returns to Pyke to confront his father Balon (no, that won't be in the pilot, but it was a great scene to use in the sides).



After he was cast, of course, I went to learn more about him on the internet, and discovered all sorts of interesting things. Like the fact that he repla

... we have Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

I dropped several hints about him. Dutch Treat - NCW played the lead in NEW AMSTERDAM. Going out for a Danish - NCW is actually a Dane. Shows get cancelled - NEW AMSTERDAM was cancelled by Fox. Characters get cancelled - NCW was also in VIRTUALITY, where his character was killed.

And too good to be true? When he was cast, I went searching for him on the internet, I found this on YouTube and couldn't resist:




Watch that, and I think you'll agree, he'll make a

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER has broken the story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3iebbbd387ec9a77d4420b06999a24352b

Yes, I'm thrilled with this cast. David and Dan and Tom and casting director Nina Gold are assembling a terrific group of actors.

I'll explain my clues in later posts.

Just a heads up to any aspiring writers reading this... especially those of you who don't make it a practice to visit the Appearances page on my website.

I will be one of the instructors at the Clarion Workshop in San Diego next summer.

If you don't know what Clarion is, or do know but would like more information, there's a website at http://clarion.ucsd.edu/ Right now it still features the info about the 2009 version of the workshop, but they will be updating it for 2010 soon.

Clarion is very co

I wish I could tell you who will be playing Maester Luwin, Grand Maester Pycelle, the Hound, Ser Rodrik, Khal Drogo, Magister Illyrio, Gared, Will, Ser Waymar Royce, and Cersei Lannister... but those parts have not been cast yet, to the best of my knowledge.

A number of other parts have not been cast yet either. That list is by no means exhaustive.

We do have some great contenders, though, and of course I have my own favorites. A few of these might be filled by the end of the day tomorrow. Or n

So Plaxico Burress has agreed to a plea bargain, and will be going to prison for two years for sticking a loaded pistol in his sweatpants, taking it to a crowded nightclub, and shooting himself in the thigh. He also lost something like $27 million when the Giants dropped him, and may have lost his NFL career as well. He will be 34 when he gets out.

I don't quarrel with the sentence. Plax was incredibly stupid, and he broke the law.

But our justice system does seem seriously out of whack. Plax

Seven kindoms, seven gods, and seven parts now cast that I can't tell you about.

Ser Seven is another terrific award winning actor. He will be going back to a place he's been before. This is a guy who once went to the wars with our Jaime, though it's a good thing that Jaime wasn't a kingslayer then, or all history might have been changed. And there are mountains in Westeros that he might know, though his character has never seen 'em.

More by week's end, maybe.

And the announcement? Don't ask me

... no news.

No announcements from HBO yet. Sorry, I have no idea when they will release the names of the six actors cast but not announced. Soon, I hope. I know the speculation has driven many of you quite mad.

Things are progressing, though. The production offices have opened in Belfast, and soon pre-production will be underway in earnest. We have had a postponement, though: filming will start two weeks later than previously announced, on October 26 rather than October 12. No big thing,

Congratulations to Chris Pramas, Hal Mangold, Steve Kenson, Rob Schwalb, and the rest of the crew at Green Ronin Games. Friday night at Gencon in scenic Indianapolis, they picked up two of the coveted ENnie Awards for the SONG OF ICE AND FIRE RPG, winning the silver medal for "Best Rules" and the gold medal for "Best Free Product for Quickstart."



One of these years I need to get to Gencon. I just wish it wasn't always so close to worldcon, comicon, and the other big summer conventions.