Welcome to the third episode of “Critics on the Throne”! This time I interview Game of Thrones expert Myles McNutt of the Cultural Learnings blog, and one of my comrades at The A.V. Club.

In this episode we’re mostly focused on the recent marketing for Season 5–both the recent poster reveal and the trailer. What do these things mean for the show, and what messages are they sending to readers and Unsullied about Season 5?

Check out the show after the jump….

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Most of us will be waiting until April 12th to watch the fifth season of Game of Thrones. But if you’re a student of the University at Buffalo in New York, then you’ve got a chance to receive a very special treat. The university’s Student Association, in conjunction with Campus Living and HBO Go, will be screening the season premiere on March 29th, a full two weeks before the worldwide premiere.

See how and why after the jump…

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Volume II of Catch the Throne: The Mixtape is set to drop next month, in anticipation of Season 5 of Game of Thrones. We’ve already heard a sample of Killswitch Engage’s contribution, and now thanks to Complex, we can listen to rap artist Talib Kweli’s full song debut, “Lord of the Light”, which you can listen to by clicking the link.

Read more about “Lord of the Light” and listen to a sample of Anthrax’s song, after the jump.

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Thought he’s moving on to genuine movie star status with his role as “The Prince” in Disney’s live action Cinderella, Richard Madden is still very good-natured about answering questions about Game of Thrones. With his demise during the Red Wedding still the high water mark when it comes to the series’ most shocking deaths, it stands to reason he’ll be asked a lot of questions about it–especially since his role in Cinderella also has him fighting to marry the girl he loves over the objection of a parent (father this time instead of mother), who wants a different match for political reasons.

Though, as Madden points out, the differences are still there–after all, he meets Cinderella in the woods, chatting with deer, instead of how he met Talisa, who was sawing limbs off the battle wounded. Still, I think Lily James should think twice about accepting any weddings with him, especially ones from Lord Frey.

IGN interview after the jump….

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On the heels of Sony’s announcement that HBO Go will be available through the PS4, International Business Times is reporting that HBO is in negotiations with Apple to make Apple TV a launch partner for the upcoming HBO Now. The major difference between the two is that Sony’s deal will require a cable service provider subscription in order to stream HBO Go, whereas HBO Now will be a standalone service.

Find out more after the jump.

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Nerdist has just published a Game of Thrones / Taylor Swift mashup video that is absolutely and hilariously awesome. The song, titled “Blank Page”, is based on Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and has all the perfect Game of Thrones key words that fans of the show and books will recognize.

Watch the video after the jump.

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Aidan Gillen wants you to know he’s not his character, and has little in common with puppet master Petyr Baelish.

Sitting down with the Italian site TVzap a couple of weeks ago, he was ostensibly there to promote his new film, which had it’s debut at the Berlin Film Festival last month, “You’re Ugly Too.” But of course, as always, all anyone wanted to ask him about was Game of Thrones.

We’ve had the interview translated. Gillen gives us a bit more detail on Sansa, his take on his character and typecasting fears, which character is his favorite, and what new actor he’s excited to see on the show. Check it out below!

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Yesterday, Sony announced HBO Go would be coming to PS4. Just in time for Season 5! The big catch–there’s no unbundling. This is the same app that we’ve been using the whole time, just now on PS4. You’ll need a cable subscription (or a friend’s) to subscribe.

The big question is if means that the “standalone” streaming app that was supposed to replace HBO Go is not going to be ready in time. Last fall, HBO first said they would be taking HBO Go solo, as a service that did not require you to subscribe to cable. Seen as part of the “great unbundling” this was a huge step for HBO, one they said they hoped to have ready by the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 5.

But along the way, they had some issues, and suddenly it would be that the streaming service would replace HBO Go. Apparently the bones of HBO Go couldn’t support a stand alone at this level (not surprising, considering how badly the service crashed when Season 4 debuted last year.) There was talk of building the new HBO service on the the same platform that the standalone streaming service that the WWE uses.

See the announcement, below, and check out some other video game-related news….

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George R.R. Martin – Photo By Ben Wermund Houston Chronicle

On February 27th, George R.R. Martin visited the Texas A&M campus to donate a first-edition copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. During the visit, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series from which HBO’s Game of Thrones was spawned, talked about the transition from the pages of his books to the television screen. Martin also talked about what it was like starting out as a writer, all the way to where he is now, in his career.

Watch the video and see what he had to say about character deaths in Season 5, after the jump.

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Jonathan Pryce (Photo Credit – cambridgejones.com – The Royal Academy Centenary Portraits)

As we creep ever closer to the Season 5 premiere of Game of Thrones, more and more of the cast are doing interviews with various websites across the internet. Today’s piece comes via The Sydney Morning Herald, reporting on what Jonathan Pryce had to say about his role on Game of Thrones, while in London.

See what Pryce had to say about his role, after the jump.

Beware, a description of Pryce’s character and who he is, may be a spoiler for those who’ve not read the books. you’ve been warned.

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Sophie Turner’s Sansa Stark has come of age on-screen–and so has Sophie herself, becoming a legit movie star after just four seasons of Game of Thrones. Navigating the choppy waters of child star to adult fame is notoriously difficult, but Turner seems to be succeeding.

Part of that transformation includes fashion–Turner’s red carpet outfits this seasons have been quite different from her more childlike outfits from before. This may be part of what landed her a fashion spread in the UK edition of InStyle magazine–who promptly used the photoshoot to ask her for details on Game of Thrones Season 5.

Just like her on-show brother, Turner is dropping hints but playing coy with details. Check out what she has to say, and some impressive and varied looks, after the jump….

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We’re less than six weeks away from the start of Season 5, which means we can actually go to HBO’s online schedule and see what’s coming. Unfortunately, not much–not even an episode title. You can see there that the running time 53 minutes, so if you were hoping for a supersized premiere, you might be a little disappointed.

Fun Fact: As of today, if you started watching an episode a day, you’d finish right on time and be caught up for Season 5.

Second Fun Fact: If you want to know who is going to die this coming season, try asking the dead.

Pedro Pascal may have given the Red Wedding a run for its money last season in “The Mountain and the Viper”, but Richard Madden as Robb Stark still holds the title for Biggest Death in my book. And apparently that insider track to the Westerosi afterlife has given him insights on who has run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible.

Check out his clues after the jump–what is dead may know who dies….

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