Here is a round-up of some items from the past few (oh-so-eventful) days:
- This Variety article reports that the sales numbers of all the books in GRRM’s series, according to Bantam publishing house (i.e. the US editions), are approaching triple digit year-on-year growth. In lay words, the sales almost doubled from last year. The first volume reached the New York bestseller list for the first time a couple of months ago, and the newly announced fifth installment peaked at number two (and currently sits at three) on Amazon.com bestseller list – the trend is thus surely to continue.
- TV Guide magazine, the March 7-13 issue, features a “Spring preview” of new and returning shows, and among them is Game of Thrones, illustrated by the now failiar Ned with Ice photo (a smaller version of it even made it to the cover). Bean characterises Ned as honourable and loyal, but surrounded by backstabbers. The premise of the show is presented very decently and attractively, but there are two fun phrasings: Ned gets hired by King Robert, and from beyond the Wall apparently comes the threat of “a legendary clan of ancient beings”.
- Meanwhile, this weeks Entertainment Weekly had a short interview with George R. R. Martin about A Dance With Dragons. In it he was asked his thoughts on the HBO series to which he replied, “I haven’t seen it yet. There has been a mob with pitchforks and torches waiting outside for the next book.”
- The premiere airdates are dropping in from around the globe. The airings have been confirmed to follow right after the US premiere in many of the countries, possibly a unique situation, especially for a new show (check our page for all the known details). Speaking of international airings, the Finnish Canal+ Game of Thrones site kindly links to our blog, mentioning it as an example of an active fan community.
- Was going to highlight a couple fan trailers posted last week but never got the chance and after the events of the past week they might not be as exciting. Still these two are particularly good and you can never have enough Thrones trailers, right?
- A-Game-of-Thrones.net (aGoTnet for short) is a fan site started by a WiC reader that looks to do a good job of following the news and also having some interesting discussion topics. If you are like me and just can’t get enough Thrones talk, this place might be worth a bookmark. As we get closer to the series premiere, I expect more Thrones fan sites to pop up.
- After the recent additions of the house t-shirts to the HBO Store, many people expressed a desire to own a banner with the house sigil on it. Well, thanks to some digging by Ran over at Westeros, it looks like HBO recently applied for a trademark in precisely this area. So for those hoping to raise a Stark banner in their home, you might get the chance soon.
- At the latest Academy Awards gala, Robert Stromberg, who was visual effects supervisor working on the pilot of Game of Thrones, shared another art direction Oscar (after Avatar last year), this time for Alice in Wonderland. In further Oscar news, director Tom Hooper – while receiving the award for King’s Speech – thanked Nina Gold, casting director on both his film and Game of Thrones, declaring there should be an award for casting as well. I believe we fully agree on that one with Hooper.
Loading ...
36 Comments
The Game of Thrones cast looks to be excellent, quite the lineup for this series. I believe if the writers/directors can keep at least along the same lines of the books this series will be EXCELLENT. I am always looking for places to start true discussion on this series and so far http://www.gameofthronesaddict.com looks to be my pick.
ElanoreQuote Reply
I know we’ve been spoiled this week, but is it asking too much to hope for something new today? Sundays have often been a good day for GOT news (and will eventually be the best day of the week, once the show starts airing!). How about a new pic, like a hi-res shot of The Wall or the direwolves! Pretty please, HBO!
LexQuote Reply
The 2nd link in the Maesters Path will be revealed tomorrow, I doubt we’ll get anything else before then.
MormegilQuote Reply
Nice to see the merchandising dept. kicking it up a gear. I think the house sigil banners are a cool idea .I shall be purchasing at least two large ones .How about a small penant for hanging on my rear view mirror?
Two FeathersQuote Reply
Mormegil,
Ooh, looking foward to that! Hoping for another fan favorite scene.
Sandor and Sansa? Hodor and Bran? Tyrion and Bronn?
SjweningsQuote Reply
I don’t care how many other fan sites are going to pop up, WiC will always be my number one! (too sentimental?) I mean we ARE house Gatewatch and this IS the site that has been there since the very beginning, so I feel sort of connected to all of you :) (Yes now I’m certainly becoming too sentimental!)
LiesieQuote Reply
I am just lying in the bed before back to work tomorrow and I am waiting for something GOT realted :)
Aside that, found interesting piece of info that little Freya Wilson (princess Elizabeth in King s Speech) auditioned for Game Of Thrones.
She said that she thought she got quite far in the process, but her parents did not allow her to continue.
The interview can be find here
The RabbitQuote Reply
I’m depressed. I cannot order from the HBO shop. The US and UK HBO shops does not ship outside the US and the UK respectively. Annoying. They should do something about that.
VasuQuote Reply
I presume it was Arya she auditioned for.
MormegilQuote Reply
Vasu,
I am depressed, too.
Mormegil,
Arya was the first character I had in mind, when I red it.
btw, I think Maisie fits far better for the role, at least from the material we already saw.
The RabbitQuote Reply
Vasu,
Count me in as well!
LiesieQuote Reply
I suspect there will be at least something released tonight. They seem to be debuting something new each time a new episode of Big Love airs (which makes sense– they probably want to try and grab the attention of those subscribers, especially with this being Big Love’s final season).
That said, with the new trailer having been shown last night, they may just air that a second time. :/
Steve Hugh WestenraQuote Reply
Liesie,
Here! here! You guys (mods) are doing a fantastic job on here. But I especially tip my hat to you for keeping the site intelligent and sensible and not allowing it to denigrate into a site for loosers and weirdos. I’ve been pleased with the level of intelligence and maurity by all who contribute.
“I haven’t seen it yet. There has been a mob with pitchforks and torches waiting outside for the next book.”
Heh, that George has one great sense of humour! :)
Victoria ColeQuote Reply
Darn! They just gave away the greatest plot twist of the series, the one that GRRM has been trying to cleverly hide from us. The wildlings and giants and Others are just a diversion. What the wall was *really* built for was to protect Westros from an unstoppable army of Maester Aemon clones.
(if anyone’s seen Red Dwarf, think Rimmerworld, except it’s Aemonworld)
clemintineQuote Reply
Wow! That really sucks. … I wonder if there is any way a third party based in UK or US could supply you guy`s by ordering through HBO`s shop and then sending on the items? You may have to pay a bit extra to cover postage and packing etc but I am sure you wouldn`t mind as long as you get your goodies ,right? Not sure how the logistics would work. Maybe Lord Winter could help,or someone in the Brotherhood. Start a petition.
Two FeathersQuote Reply
Two Feathers,
We should be annoying to HBO and constantly asking for the shippent of the Shirts outside US and UK.
We did the same for the airing of Thrones in our region. Everything says that we did it right by being annoying.
We will have GoT in our Balkans region almost after the US premiere in April. I am almost certian that the pleads of the fans through every availble
social media brought GOT to local HBO and convinced them to air it at the same time as in the US. (They are pretty late with other shows – they show it with the delay of 3 or six months after the US – even the successful shows like True Blood).
I think that the same thing would work out for shirts.
The RabbitQuote Reply
Vasu,
So sorry! They should ship more widely! But do you have friends or kin in the US or UK that you trust? I’ve shipped things from the US to lots of countries for friends who either couldn’t order something, or didn’t want to play mad shipping. A t-shirt in a soft-pack mailer can’t be too expensive to ship to most places.
BlueCanaryQuote Reply
The Rabbit,
Yeah,Rabbit I think you are right.Keep poking HBO with the perverbial stick,they will get the message eventually….COME ON HBO….Loyal fans round the world are waiting to give you their hard earned cash!!!!
Two FeathersQuote Reply
Mormegil,
Oh yeah! I totally forgot about the Maester’s Path! :D
LexQuote Reply
Two Feathers,
BlueCanary,
I’m actually thinking of pulling something like that. It is a feasible workaround I guess, but there should not be a need for a workaround, I think. The interest is obviously there, as evident by comments on this site.
VasuQuote Reply
They do ship to Canada, there’s just a higher shipping rate. It’s right there on the website.
LexQuote Reply
Even though it gives the shipping rate for Canada it also states on all the Tshirts.
Please note: This item can only be shipped domestically. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
This restriction isn’t in place on other items (the Books for example).
MormegilQuote Reply
When other sites get their own House, then they can talk.
KGQuote Reply
Here’s to the One Bottom worthy of my support ! None other can compare…
obsidianQuote Reply
This is so annoying. I was all ready to buy a couple of shirts the day they went up but nope. Hopefully this changes soon. I’m guessing that if the show is successful they’ll go the True Blood route and we’ll be able to buy stuff fairly easily. crosses fingers.
WiC will always be my GoT home. Sure there will be other discussion boards but nothing will compare to that first round of GRRM clue solving.
Phoenix_TornQuote Reply
LOL, GRRM sure is refreshingly candid! Wonder if he killed characters off in retaliation?
Speaking of which, am I the only one who fears for his/her fave characters now that DwD is on the way? With GRRM, anyone is fair game, and I as thrilled as I am that the saga is about to continue, there’s gonna be MASSACRES kids! Character bodies piling up, tragic, senseless ends to cherished fictional lives. A few more Starks are gonna go, I can feel it in my bones. Maybe George felt the pressure and opted for a literary cull :S
No no… the horror of Harry Potter all over again…
And we’ve had SO MUCH time to get attached!
Franny BeeQuote Reply
What time does Maester’s Path come out ?
Jordan HealeyQuote Reply
Jordan Healey,
Good question. I was hoping to catch it before I went to bed but looks like it probably won’t be out until morning sometime.
Avalanche3319Quote Reply
I call Shenanigans on The Maester’s Path.
It’s been the 7th of March for nineteen hours
Even allowing for time differential, it just ticked over to the 7th in California. So unless HBO is waiting for Hawaii and Alaska to catch up with the rest of the world (and let’s face it, we’ll be waiting forever), it’s high time.
As HBO has now broken their promise to me, I feel compensation of a part in season 2 is my only reasonable reward
Moar puzzles naow!
Ax0rQuote Reply
Ax0r,
You speak my mind!
LiesieQuote Reply
Hehe … Last week the site was launched in the morning at 10 on the East Coast. I guess we can expect something similar today, so there’s 5 hours to go!
Hear Me RoarQuote Reply
Three more hours and HBO owes me a speaking role.
…okay, maybe a featured extra.
…or a cameo.
…or maybe just a set visit.
…a free t-shirt? Wait, you don’t ship to me.
…How about a kiss?
I’ve been refreshing this page all day, dammit! Don’t ignore me!
Ax0rQuote Reply
Series fansite: http://www.gameofthrones.it
YleniaQuote Reply
Just FYI, when you posted this, it was just after midnight in California, not 7. So you may have to wait longer than you thought ;)
OhDanyBoyQuote Reply
OhDanyBoy,
Oh, and of course I misread your comment… so ignoring me proves once again to be the wiser answer!
AStB!
OhDanyBoyQuote Reply
Those fan trailers are beautiful. I personally prefer the first one more – its music is very moving and I like the editing as well. Nevertheless, the 2nd one has very stirring epic music going on XD
aschen heavenQuote Reply