HBO has announced that the second season of Game of Thrones will start shooting on July 25th in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They note that other locations will be announced as they are confirmed. Cast, writers and directors will also be announced as they are confirmed. After the jump, the full press release. Northern Ireland Screen also reported on the announcement, with a quote from their chief executive.
Winter Is Coming: For the record, this is nearly the exact same date that they began filming season one (that started on July 26th). Same start date plus same amount of episodes means that we should expect a season two premiere around the same time as well. April 15th, 2012 looks good to me.
Press release:
Production for season two of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones is set to begin Monday, July 25. Once again, production for the series will be based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The series will shoot at the Paint Hall Studio in Belfast, as well as various locations in Northern Ireland. Additional locations will be announced as they are confirmed. The production continues to receive funding from Northern Ireland Screen.
Based on the best-selling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, the ten-episode first season of GAME OF THRONES launched April 17, exclusively on HBO, with the finale scheduled to debut Sunday, June 19.
Casting, writers and directors for season two will be announced as soon as they are confirmed.
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73 Comments
This cannot happen soon enough. Going to be a long long wait!!!
Franny BeeQuote Reply
I can’t believe how the time flies (once you hit 30, anyway!).
I remember the start of filming Season 1, LAST July, like it was yesterday. I also remember the Sean Bean casting (TWO years ago) like it was yesterday. At this rate, we’ll all be watching Season 2 in no time!
LexQuote Reply
Lex,
It would really suck to be unemployed and have nothing to do but wait for next season and re-read the novels. For one thing HBO isn’t free!
Here’s hoping everyone stays safe and things come in under budget. Season 3 is a favorite for me.
Shock MeQuote Reply
That’s my birthday, awesome!
charlie_xQuote Reply
Lex,
unfortunately this only work when looking in the past ;)
BeneQuote Reply
I can’t wait for Season 2, Clash of Kings is my favorite of the books so far. We also have Dance with Dragons to tide us over…that should do!
JohnnyDingoQuote Reply
Who’s unemployed?
LexQuote Reply
I’m slightly disappointed that it sounds like we’re only going to have 10 episodes in season two, but hey its better that zero, and if it allows them to have enough money to do a descent job on the Blackwater episode then I’ll be happy.
Don’t really see how they will be able to do all of SoS in one 10 episode season though, but we’ll cross that bridge if we’re lucky enough to get there.
GrinbombQuote Reply
Roll on the casting clues! Then set reports, a couple of hundred ‘gates’, we’ll have plenty to keep us busy :p
I’d like to be the first to predict Smiley Stannis gate! (The actor is likely to smile while in costume at some point….)
Is it too early to start crossing fingers for a third series?
ShinyteapotQuote Reply
Wow, that is outstanding news! It seems unreal…I for one am thankful for what I can get! Because if it is anything like we have had this first season, then it is worth it and more!
I have no issue with 10 episodes per season, and I don’t mind if they run a tight ship overthere at HBO, especially Martin and D&D. I want to have the full run of the series with multiple seasons, rather than the series getting cancelled because it go to expensive or because there were too many episodes!
Besides, it is my understanting that HBO now runs all its shows with pre-set budgets, does anybody know anything more about this?
But it would make sense, the days of spending x amount of money for one season without any limits are long gone and in these austere times HBO like every other business entity must have a tight grip on its purse strings. Even the fact that we got to see a season of this amazing series is a luxury I am VERY greatful for!
loco73Quote Reply
I remember chairgate, like it was yesterday.
Petter Kristian VikestadQuote Reply
If things stay like this, I will just have moved country when S3 starts.
EleanorQuote Reply
At this rate Sansa will be 35 years old by season 6! They should shrink the number of episodes to 2 so that we can get a battle.
rondjudjuQuote Reply
charlie_x,
Mine too
shadallionQuote Reply
It’s a little disconcerting that they still haven’t wrapped up and finalized ANY of the many new roles in season 2.
Hurry up, fellas!
shadallionQuote Reply
Apparantly more than 9% of the country. Point being I’m glad I have work to distract me until Season 2.
Shock MeQuote Reply
Not so disconcerting. Looking at the casting for season one, they didn’t officially announce the first role until June 19 (Finn Jones as Loras). We know they have a bunch of actors in negotiations currently and should be announcing them soon. So they are actually, once again, following exactly the same time table as last year.
Winter Is ComingQuote Reply
Winter Is Coming,
I like it a series full of guest stars with semi-recurring roles.
Shock MeQuote Reply
casting news has to be coming soon. It HAS to be.
Gytha OggQuote Reply
I’m most interested in the casting of the Red Viper and Areo Hotah.
Shock MeQuote Reply
Petter Kristian Vikestad,
I came in just after Chairgate lol Thank God; I’d have gotten carpal tunnel typing “grow up people!” over and over haha
KGQuote Reply
Shock Me,
Then you have to cross your fingers that there will be 5 or more seasons. Oberyn dosent appear before ASOS and Hotah first appear in AFFC.
NorwegianDevilQuote Reply
Where does everyone see that Season 2 will be 10 episodes?
Maybe I am missing something. The press release only said that season 1 is 10 episodes. I can see that WiC says that season 2 will be 10, but he states it as fact, but I’m not sure where he got that from. Is he extrapolating based on the start date, or is it somewhere else on the site that I missed?
Just curious, and still holding out hope that season 2 and on could be the more standard 12-13 episodes per season, despite the expense.
AndrewQuote Reply
HBO and the producers.
sjweningsQuote Reply
Andrew,
10 episodes has been confirmed a few times now…
1. By HBO execs when the second season was given a greenlight.
2. By HBO president Sue Naegle in this recent interview.
3. And more tacitly by GRRM when he revealed he was writing episode 9 and that it would be entitled “Blackwater.” Book readers will know that the Battle of the Blackwater happens at the end of the book.
It hasn’t been officially announced in a press release that I know of yet. But it is pretty well confirmed at this point.
Winter Is ComingQuote Reply
charlie_x,
That’s my birthday too :)
Sandra GomesQuote Reply
PLEASE THIS TIME no True Blood directors… i found that when they directed, the show had a slight TB feel to it, like the extended sex scene with littlefinger…
That is one thing i dont get… why would u show a 10minute scene where littlefinger teaches his whores their trade, but not show Robert’s death at all? pfft lmao i still love the show, just their choice in scenes to cover seem a little meh at times.
Dave BrownellQuote Reply
Ok 10 episodes fine! grrr
But heck why not bookend them with extended 90 minute opening and closing season episodes?
Still waiting for the 12+ episodes per season petition to start here on WiC…
AlcibiadesQuote Reply
The Littlefinger/lesbian scene was probably my least favourite new scene. Just way over the top (although some of my friends really liked it). But even though I’ve enjoyed most of the new scenes, you’re right that it seems strange to spend so much time on some scenes when we’re so short on time for other things.
LexQuote Reply
I don’t know, I quite liked the Littlefinger “sexposition” scene. It cast interesting sidelights on his character. In many ways, nudity and stuff aside, it was like a Shakespearean soliloquy. Just as it seems unlikely that someone like Littlefinger would be so open about his motives with anybody, it seems equally unlikely that Richard III or Shylock or whoever would blab their inner monologues to the audience, but it works once you come to accept it as a dramatic device rather than an attempt to be “realistic”.
I tend to think that when the producers/writers opt for one scene over another, they usually have a good reason for doing so. I understand people being irritated that their favourite scene is given short shrift in the adaptation, but I’m not really sure I buy the “if they hadn’t wasted time on x, they could have included y” argument, when presumably there are factors to do with television as a medium and an artform that constrain what they can do and what they think will work. I don’t pretend to know anything about writing or producing television shows, but I do get the impression that a large part of it, especially when adapting from other media, is about compromises, between what the producers want to do, what they can afford to do and what they think they can do effectively. Sure, you’re never going to please all of the people all of the time, but given what a good job they’ve done with S1, I do have faith in the showrunners to do a similarly good job with S2, be it ten episodes or twelve episodes or whatever.
A Bear_A BearQuote Reply
I got 2 questions:
1- will they call the second season A Clash of Kings or will they keep the name Game of Thrones?
2- If they change the name of the show to A Clash of Kings (which it should be the correct name of season 2) will it have some problems with the viewers that aren’t familiar with the books and will think they’re not related?
Flow101Quote Reply
tru dat on the littlefinger whore scenes, a waste of valuable time.
a huge set is currently being built for episode 9 on the blackwater, hopefully this series we’ll actually get to see some battles
jaqenQuote Reply
the entire series will be called a game of thrones
(for as long as it lasts!)
jaqenQuote Reply
You’re moving away from Ireland? Why would anyone wanna move from here?! Belfast is easy to get to if you live here, ie taking an impromptu trip to certain areas where a certain show is being filmed! :L :L
I keep asking myself how in seven hells am I not gonna go insane waiting till next year just to see season 2? Hurry up and be May 2012 already!
BroQuote Reply
I can’t believe anyone could seriously think they’d change the name of the show. Come on, people…
LexQuote Reply
A Bear_A Bear,
That’s too much of a stretch to equate LF/whores to a Shakespearean soliloquy. A bowl of brown and a noble’s feast can be said to serve the same purpose if you’re hungry ,but the two really aren’t comparable …and it’s debateable whether LF needed explaining at that point in the story. I think it would have been more effective to just let his actions reveal his character for a while ,as they did in the book.
I thought many of the additional scenes were really good.Not that one.
_______________
I hope they’ll consider a 12 episode season , if not for S2 then for S3 and onward. I can’t imagine D&D wouldn’t push for it. It may be more work for them , but they’ll want their show to do them the most credit , too .
obsidianQuote Reply
Littlefinger’s added scene is also my least favorite. It was one sexposition too many. If there hadn’t been Theon, Viserys, or Knight of Flowers, it would have been shocking. As it was it wasn’t shocking, it just felt tired. And I also think that leaving Littlefingers position more secret until the end of the episode would have been better.
That said, we don’t know how they may have used that time otherwise so it is a bit of a moot point. I think that creatively, they probably kept most of the things they wanted to keep, and adjusted for length, as opposed to anything resembling, “hmm, we need this sex scene to be a few minutes longer. Cut the king’s death.” It’s very unlikely that they cut anything for time only because of Littlefingers soliloquy. Although it does look that way sometimes.
salukQuote Reply
I would have loved the LF scene if there were less noisy fake lesbians in it. It was a really interesting speech that was spoiled by a bunch of background noise. There was a similar problem, though to a much lesser degree, at the beginning of this week’s momentous Jon-Aemon conversation when the squawking crows were overpowering the actors’ voices. A bad sound mix can really mess up a scene.
MWQuote Reply
The real question is whether or not they’ll actually dress Emilia Clarke in a single-breast-exposing toga for half the season.
Mr. WuQuote Reply
So WAIT!..is the second season gonna be called A CLASH OF KINGS, or is it gonna still be A GAME OF THRONES?( I really hope it changes – can’t wait to watch for a TV series with the name A DANCE FOR DRAGONS)
Scott StamfordQuote Reply
My guess is that Season 2 will be called something along the lines of
Game of Thrones
Chapter 2: A Clash of Kings
IggyQuote Reply
If you had read aCoK as recently as I have you’d probably agree that ten episodes should be plenty of time to do this book justice. Although I’d love to have 3 extra episodes of Davos being the super awesome humble heroic illiterate genius he is, there is a lot of unnecessary plot complications and a lot of internal stuff.
Theon should arrive home and meet his sister and father all in the same sequence not in two (as it was in the book). Plus as someone already stated, there should only be one shadow baby assassin, not two. Cut Storm’s End out entirely, not needed. Completely replot all the pre-theon Winterfell scenes. Bran does a lot of…..not much at all really. Meeting people and bitching. He only REALLY needs to meet two of those people and he doesn’t need to bitch as much. Cut those Freys. Tyrion and Cersei should carry the show next season. Focus on them.
They’ll have to add Robb scenes, Jaime scenes and extend Dany scenes but I think its more than doable.
A Storm of Swords would be impossible to properly adapt into ten episodes. Unless…..hmmm move some awesome plot stuff into season four thus having every character in aFFC…..hmmm
DavosFTW!Quote Reply
more on my last point. I’d move Dany as conquorer and Jon as commander into season 4. Mix the story of those characters with all that AFFC crap. Because in TV land you can’t have 3 main characters awol for a whole season. I was always thinking they’d have to chuck some Dance into AFFC just like it had originally been written but you can quite easily throw some aSoS in there for the same result.
I don’t know what to do about Tyrion though…
DavosFTW!Quote Reply
As far as we know it´ll be just called Season 2 of Game Of Thrones. They put alot of money and effort into building up “Game Of Thrones” as a brand name, they´re not going to just throw it away. TV (even HBO) doesn´t work like that.
CookieQuote Reply
They could call it “GAME OF THRONES: A CLASH OF KINGS”.
But then what would they call seasons three and four if they split the two volumes of book three into a season each?
Geordie JeansQuote Reply
Steel and snow, blood and gold.
DavosFTW!Quote Reply
I am pretty glad they decided to stat with “Game of thrones” for the entire series. As people has mentioned, HBO has spent quite a bit of money to build up the Game of Thrones brand, and it pretty much describe the whole series, which revoltes around the fight for the throne.
And besides, I love the books to death, but I have always felt the titles where kind of there weakest point. I dont think the individual booktitles will be that big a loss. Game of thrones has brandpower, and describes the whole series really well.
Peter JørgensenQuote Reply
I think they’ll announce it “Game of Thrones season 2 : a clash of kings” or something like that, as people already said above. That would sound a bit halfway between TV and cinema where sequels have not only a number but also a distinctive name (like “Pirates of the Caribbean 4 : on stranger tides”).
AshaïeseQuote Reply
Why would they use ‘A Clash of Kings’ as a subtitle? They already moved from ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ (or ‘Songs of Ice and Fire’, in analogy to dropping the ‘a’ from aGoT) to the more catchy ‘Game of Thrones’, and as people mentioned spent a lot of money on getting the name known. Including ‘A Clash of Kings’ on the posters wouldn’t bring anything in terms of marketing, this isn’t a film where it is important to make the distinction between sequels clear in the title. I wouldn’t be surprized though if we saw ‘Clash of Kings’ as one of the episode titles…
Tar KidhoQuote Reply
guys, off topic
there is an influx of 0 score in the USER REVIEWS of Metacritic. i mean in a day, there was around 5 or 7 reviews with 0 scores. i was expecting it after bealor but the tone of these reviews and how they are created seems to me came from just ONE guy trying to pull down the ratings of this show.
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/game-of-thrones/season-1/user-reviews?page=1
CroccifixioQuote Reply
DavosFTW!,
Why not combine books four and five, and have two seasons.
+ Book 3 needs two seasons, They could do 15 episodes on ASOS, and the remaining 5 episodes of S04 can be allotted to the beginning of Book 4 + Book 5.
And the remaining content from Book 5 can be moved to the 7th season, however it won’t be as easy as us describing it here, the writers have to think of a lot of things, lets just hope the show is successful and we get past book 3 :D + That will bring the total seasons to atleast 8 unless the length of remaining books returns to AGoT size or shorter.
Alwyn JosephQuote Reply
Shock Me,
I think you’ll be waiting for quite a while. I’m a big Brienne fan myself, so I’m on pins and needles about her casting. And Ygritte too. I will say that I was originally very disappointed by Emelia Clark’s casting for Dany, but she’s SO amazing at it I’ve totally changed my mind. So I guess I’ll have to trust in HBO.
MasterKatQuote Reply
More likely than subtitles (though Spartacus does that), as mentioned many times before, is using A Clash of Kings as an episode title. Another one should be Hear Me Roar (since we already have Winter is Coming and Fire and Blood, hehe).
I’m completely okay with 10 episodes for season two, it will make it tighter. After that I suspect two seasons of 10 eps is more likely for book three, rather than one extended season (of +/- 14 eps). Think about it, 20 eps to adapt book three! D&D already mentioned in passing they are entertaining that thought.
Hear Me RoarQuote Reply
Hear Me Roar,
If they want to do Storm of swords over two seasons though, then HBO pretty much “has” to commit to those two seasons. To just film half the book (then cancel the series) would be a crime against… Great storytelling.
sjweningsQuote Reply
While lots of series would be great, there is the issue of the children growing up. And the longer it is, the less likely we are to see the whole story, as each time runs risk of being cancelled. 8 series would be nice, but is it realistic?
We know that, chronologically, the first part of ASOS runs concurrent with the end of ACOK, and at least some may well end up in series 2. ADWD runs on later than AFFC apparently. AFFC is probably easier to condense than most, though we know much of ADWD runs alongside it. So, it’s possible we may end up with something like the following:
1- AGOT +tiny bit of ACOK (quite possibly just Arya leaving Kings’ Landing)
2-ACOK+a few chapters from ASOS, at least enough to give Jaime a few episodes after release
3-ASOS, the bulk of it, minus the first few chapters (series 2) and a chunk near the end.
4- last part of ASOS, about half of AFFC and a bit less than half of ADWD
5- rest of AFFC, most of the rest of ADWD (maybe all, can’t say until I’ve read it!).
6- last bit of ADWD, TWOW (most of it, hopefully all, don’t know how big it is)
7- possibly a few chapters of TWOW, ADOS
This is assuming neither TWOW nor ADOS become anything approaching ASOS length. And that GRRM sticks with 7 books, which is by no means certain.
ShinyteapotQuote Reply
I think A Clash of Kings can be used a tagline rather than a subtitle, much like winter is coming was the tagline of this season the next one can build with “The Clash of King begins”
like they can promote the new season like this: shot of Joffrey in the Iron Throne voiceover of the Ned scene where he acknowledges him as heir of the seven kingdoms, clip of the king of the north Scene, shot of Renly voiceover of Loras talking about what a great king he will be, shot of the empty Iron Throne and voiceover of the scene where Ned tells Renly Stannis is the Rightful Heir of the seven kingdoms then the tagline “The Clash of Kings Begins” then fade to black and “Game of Thrones return April 15″, then shot of baby Drogon
FerQuote Reply
I LOVE that idea, but I would throw in a shot of Robb with the voiceover “KING IN THE NORTH!”
So excited for this season. I do love Brienne and Davos, but one casting choice I’m incredibly excited to see is Asha. I hope she makes it in.
smilingsopranoQuote Reply
smilingsoprano,
Asha is definitely in. ;-)
Btw, Balon and Jaqen H’ghar can be add to the page, because of the audition videos, I am I right?
AbyssQuote Reply
Not that IMDB is to be trusted but they have Gerard Butler listed as playing Stannis Barateon next season. Old news and incorrect I assume? I never noticed it before, but lieklt a flase rumor…… http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124930/
DarquemodeQuote Reply
You can put whatever you like on IMDB. You can write that Brienne will be played by Claudia Shiffer and Stannis by Lawrence Olivier.
Alexander DubrovskyQuote Reply
Alexander Dubrovsky,
That was my thought on it too. I was just so surprised to see his name in the cast when I went to look for something that I thought I’d inquire. I won’t hold my breath, but I would not mind him as Stannis.
Hopefully some more casting hints or news come out soon….
DarquemodeQuote Reply
Was just watching some clips from the earlier episodes, and was surprised to realize how much Tyrion’s hair grew during the first season. It’s quite a bit longer in the second half of the season, and looks much better.
D&D, can we please keep Peter/Tyrion’s hair long for Season 2? Thanks!
LexQuote Reply
Ok I live in Dublin, Ireland and I heard something about the budget for season 2 which I dont know for certain is true but I’ll share with you anyway for the sake of gossip :-D
A friend of mine spoke to someone from a company that is involved in season 2, and apparently they have significantly increased the budget – what I heard was 2 or 3 times as much.
I don’t want to get anyone in trouble by saying who it was, which I understand might make people think I’m making it up or whatever. So anyway that’s my two cents.
Maybe its not true in which case sorry for raising your expectations! But apparently HBO often give season 2 big budget increases if the first season is successful, so that makes it somewhat believable. Lets wait and see anyway. Fingers crossed!
Dolorous DaveQuote Reply
Dolorous Dave,
While I wouldnt be surprised if they increased the budget a little, there’s no way it’s 2 or 3 times as much as the first season. That would put it in the 120 million or higher range.
Avalanche3319Quote Reply
I highly doubt that as well.
Anthony CordiscoQuote Reply
It’s possible that some part of the budget (set-design, SFX) was doubled, but the entire budget? That’s not realistic.
NiallQuote Reply
What with their being no full Doctor Who season next year we will have to get some of their amazing set stalkers on the case for us (see the Gallifrey Base forum for examples of their commitment).
The productions was lucky last year to have relative anonimity. This year will be vastly different I think.
Ser Lemon CakesQuote Reply
Well we read that the VFX departement was expanded from 6 to twentysomething, so I’m guessing they’re pushing a bit more money that way. CG direwolves? Could be awesome, could be serious cheddar.
KnurkQuote Reply
Can anyone slay the idea that IMDB put forth of Gerard Butler playing Stannis please.
Nevermind.
The DarkStarQuote Reply
No name change for the series please! It will at least gives options to split the story so that we don’t continue to have 10 episodes per novel (after season 2 anyway).
Steve ReynoldsQuote Reply
Croccifixio,
What an idiot. You can see that all his different login names have only 1 single review and rating. I was looking for a way to flag them, but apparently it’s not possible.
To think that this guy actually took his time to create all these different logins just in order to bring the ratings down. What a douche.
Actually, if you look at the Phil_Bicking review, you can see that this is probably our old friend The Smiling Knight… what a total a-hole.
Amir MishaliQuote Reply
Croccifixio,
If you read his first post, you can see that he’s referring to WiC in a way that strongly hints he’s actually our old friend TSK. What a douche.
Amir MishaliQuote Reply
Best series ever, period!
So original, realistic, and unique
The environments are lush and just perfect. There isn’t a single cast member who doesn’t know how to act!
Omar BibarsQuote Reply
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