HBO confirms Croatia, Iceland as S2 locations

My girlfriend *is* in Iceland these days! The problem is, she’s on a guided geological tour ending the 28th, so I’m afraid she won’t be able to snatch any pictures, unless the tour takes her to the right place at the right time and honestly, what are the odds? :/

Funny thing is, she’s been in Malta also, some years ago, so while watching season 1 she was like “Oh, here we ate lunch one day!”, so she’ll do the very same thing during season 2 apparently :D

In an interview Kit mentioned that he would be filming in Iceland ‘late in the year.’ So I’m assuming it’ll be a while before they get there. Perhaps Iceland will only be used for his scenes when he goes off with Qhorin?

OhWhoCares: In an interview Kit mentioned that he would be filming in Iceland ‘late in the year.’ So I’m assuming it’ll be a while before they get there. Perhaps Iceland will only be used for his scenes when he goes off with Qhorin?

Beat me to it :)

OhWhoCares:
In an interview Kit mentioned that he would be filming in Iceland ‘late in the year.’ So I’m assuming it’ll be a while before they get there. Perhaps Iceland will only be used for his scenes when he goes off with Qhorin?

Maybe they’ll go to Iceland straight after Croatia? Or would they film in Croatia and Iceland simultaneously? (I hope not, because then almost no one would be in Belfast for TitanCon. ;))

Josh Desjardins: Didn’t he say sometime in August if I remember correctly?

He said late in the year.

Malcolm Carter: They will have cast everyone by now.

Why? There are definitely people they don’t need yet.

Off topic, but I saw this lovely fanart of Sansa/Sophie on deviantART this morning, and I really wanted to share it with everybody. I’ve started noticing more and more ASoIaF artwork floating around these days. It makes me happy. ^_^

Malcolm Carter:
Everyone that will add to the story the most, and create response.

People like Balon, Pod, Ygritte, Ramsay Snow will have been cast.

I think what Kalasin means is that they don’t yet need everyone for filming. A number of the people you just mentioned are barely in the series, especially when only considering book two, so there is plenty they could film with the actors they already have before finalizing the casting of everyone. They don’t necessarily need to have cast everyone yet.

Nimble Dick:
WHO IN GODS NAME WILL PLAY BLACKFISH?

If I was working for HBO, I would do everything in my power to cast Blackfish and then keep it a secret until the guy shows up on screen that evening JUST to get a delighted OMG THEY CAST HIM reaction from the fans. Hahahah.

Just one correction for your previous posts as I am here in Dubrovnik and I will go to a casting tomorrow. The local production company is Embassy Films, not jadran films as you said earlier. Embassy Films is known in Croatia for doing couple of episodes of Dr.Who here in Croatia.

We know they’re auditioning for Balon. We also know Dontos Hollard has been cast.

RELEASE THE NAMES, HBO!! GIVE US THE FULL CAST!

Lauren Hitchcock,

Ooh, it is gorgeous!

Back on topic, WHERE ARE THE TULLYS. ANY TULLY AT ALL.

hav_: Kalasin, Movies and TV series are never filmed in “order”, so some of your assertions are probably wrong.

I actually used to work in film so I know how it works. Television is slightly different because they need to get early episodes edited/looped/graphic-ed before the later ones, so for a season of episodes they generally go roughly in order, subject to location/actor availability. Even though in this case they will have technically finished filming the entire season before it airs, my understanding was that they filmed season 1 roughly in order and indications have been that season 2 will probably be similar.

Regardless, they clearly haven’t cast all the rolls yet, and are not filming those characters’ scenes until later.

hav_,

They definitely shot in some sort of order. Not individual scenes and episodes, but they filmed in relative blocks, likely grouped by the directors and/or locations, which seemed to go in order for the most part. At the very least, the first half of the season was definitely filmed before the second half of the season, and we know scenes from the last few episodes were filmed towards the end of filming (dragons, Whispering Woods, Ned execution).

Here’s how it stands. We know the following have been or are being cast:

Rorge (either the featured extra or a new actor, but they wouldn’t bother showing him if they weren’t including him)
Biter (either the featured extra or a new actor, but they wouldn’t bother showing him if they weren’t including him)
Ser Dontos Hollard
Lord Balon Greyjoy
Ygritte

I’ll be VERY surprised if the following are not cast for THIS SEASON:

Edmure Tully
Lord Hoster Tully
Aeron “Damphair” Greyjoy
Pyatt Pree (We got Xaro and Quaithe, why not him?)
Ramsay Snow
Lord Mace Tyrell
Ser Osmund Kettleblack
Qhorin Halfhand
Rattleshirt
Strong Belwas

These people will likely be cast, even if it’s only as featured extras:

Lady Selyse Florent (because her role grows later)
Shireen Baratheon (because she’s a plot point in ADwD)
Patchface
Olyvar Frey (He was mentioned by name, so it’s likely)
Podrick Payne (I think he’s necessary for the AFfC Brienne POV’s)
Alayaya (A pretty important plot point hinges on her, and she can’t be replaced by Ros since Littlefinger employs her)

These people are likely to get pushed to next season (or future seasons in general), but it’s not impossible they’ll get cast this season, and they have to get cast eventually, assuming we get as far as the last book:

Lord Captain Victarion Greyjoy
Lord Wyman Manderly
Lord Vargo Hoat
Qyburn

And finally, these people’s fates are just up in the air. No telling what, if anything, will happen to:

Jojen Reed
Meera Reed
Salladhor Saan
Ser Jacelyn Bywater

Hear Me Roar: Hoping for some more announcements now that the summer is almost over

Winter is coming…

Malcolm Carter:
Delta1212,

I meant everyone they needed for this series. Filming is well under way, and they’ll probably announce them soon enough.
Delta1212,

Right, but once again, they have six months of filming to do and a lot of characters are only needed for a few scenes during that time period, even relatively “major” characters like Ygritte, which means that they have time to cast them after filming is already underway because there is plenty of material that can be filmed without them first. They don’t necessarily need to have everyone cast already just because they’ve started filming.

It’s very likely that they’ve cast several people who haven’t been announced yet, but I also wouldn’t be remotely surprised to find a fair number of season two characters who have yet to be finalized.

Ripley:
Although I’m very happy that they’re coming to my beloved homeland, I find it a bit puzzling that they’re using it to film scenes north of the Wall since there are no proper forrests here in Iceland… It will be interesting to hear about the exact locations.

I think they’ll just use Iceland for the Frostfangs, so they wouldn’t necessarily need a forest, only mountains and snow.

Kalasin,

Ygritte won’t come up until near the end of filming.

That’s from you, and that’s what I think is wrong.

The scenes behind the wall are supposed to be filmed in Iceland, if I’m not mistaken ? Therefore, they’ll probably try to film all of those scenes in one block, and it’s probably unlikely that Ygritte’s scenes will be shot “near the end of filming”.

hav_: Kalasin, That’s from you, and that’s what I think is wrong.The scenes behind the wall are supposed to be filmed in Iceland, if I’m not mistaken ? Therefore, they’ll probably try to film all of those scenes in one block, and it’s probably unlikely that Ygritte’s scenes will be shot “near the end of filming”.

Well, Kit said they were going up there late in the year, so that’s near the end of filming. Which is also what I was basing the Ygritte comment on.

Kalasin: Well, Kit said they were going up there late in the year, so that’s near the end of filming. Which is also what I was basing the Ygritte comment on.

Haha, you beat me to it this time :P
I feel sure Ygritte has not been cast yet. There are still actresses on twitter waiting on news from their auditions/talking about auditioning for the role. I don’t think her casting has yet been finalized
I don’t know why this comment got formatted this way, but oh wells

Very excited about Iceland. If anyone wants to see some great Icelandic scenery, check out “Beowulf & Grendel” starring Gerard Butler and Rory “The Hound” McCann!

As for casting… does anyone know if CONAN STEVENS is appearing this season? It doesn’t sound like it, based on the fact that he’s working on the Hobbit and just got signed for Season 2 of Spartacus.

EDIT: Conan’s blog says he just finished filming on Spartacus, so maybe there’s still a chance…

Winter Is Coming,

I’m betting that’s just pushed back because really all Aaron did in ACOK was pour water on Theon’s head and escort him to the castle. No real need to cast someone for that.

Josh Parker,

I feel the same way, about certain characters.

For example, I’m not really worried, but it is concerning that we haven’t gotten a Jojen or Meera yet, since they arrive in Winterfell fairly early on (Chapter 22 out of 70) in the book.

However, I’m not worried at all that we haven’t heard about Ygritte or Qhorin yet, since they don’t appear until chapters 52 and 44 respectively.

hav_,

actually, he’s probably right. I remember Tywin and Rickon being cast quite late last year – because they weren’t need for the scenes they were filming in the first months

EDIT:

hav_: The scenes behind the wall are supposed to be filmed in Iceland, if I’m not mistaken ? Therefore, they’ll probably try to film all of those scenes in one block, and it’s probably unlikely that Ygritte’s scenes will be shot “near the end of filming”.

  

kit said they’re filming “later in the year” which means october/november i guess…

Also, i bet they’re giving more space to ygritte.
1)jon’s storyline in clash (like dany’s) is quite slow. It would look really boring on a tv show. I’m expecting random wildling attacks as the story goes on.
2)kit also said (at cominc con) something about jon and a love interest. Yeah, they’re definitively going to expand ygritte’s role

Lauren Hitchcock,

Ah, really nice fan art. Thanks for sharing.

Melita Smolko,

Strange.. I would think it’s a mistake

OhWhoCares: True, Meera and Jojen appear fairly early on, but they won’t be in many scenes. There’s still time to cast them and film those scenes later on.

IMO it’s all up in the air. TV Rickon is a different, more important character than in the book, so they could possibly (to my dismay) write the Reeds in much later as in season 3. The Reeds could be necessary to the plot later, or not. Only GRRM knows, though maybe he doesn’t. (I haven’t read Dance.)

Epic Awesomesauce: IMO it’s all up in the air. TV Rickon is a different, more important character than in the book, so they could possibly (to my dismay) write the Reeds in much later as in season 3. The Reeds could be necessary to the plot later, or not. Only GRRM knows, though maybe he doesn’t. (I haven’t read Dance.)

Huh? TV Rickon barely registered for non-book readers. He’s got at LEAST as much to do in the book.

I don’t see how the Reeds can possibly be introduced in season 3.

Lisa: Kalasin, Well, according to the reports, shooting in Croatia won’t start until mid-September, so Sophie can be in Belfast and film some scenes there. Indoor stuff or something.And maybe the newspaper just threw some names in without really knowing if they were actually going to be there.

Yeah, well if Kings Landing is in Croatia she’ll definitely be there eventually, but I guess some interiors could be in Belfast. Maybe they’re still doing fittings/rehearsals, but usually that’s more on-site.

Oh well. Who knows.

Kalasin: Epic Awesomesauce

I agree with Kalasin in regards to Rickon. I don’t think he’s any more important in the show. Maybe they could introduce the Reeds after Bran, Rickon, Hodor, and Osha escape from Winterfell? Have them meet while traveling? Jojen could have a green dream about finding them?Far fetched, I know, but I think they could find a way to introduce them next season

OhWhoCares,

It would be easier and less confusing to keep Osha and Rickon with the group rather than split and join up later. The Reeds are Bombadils.

I’m pretty sure about this speculation but mostly it’s because I don’t want the show to spoil the Reeds; even GRRM barely scratched their surface even though they were so cool when introduced. As the story progressed, I just felt they were not necessarily. Since Rickon can ‘see dead people’ now, he’s the new Jojen.

OhWhoCares,

If you are right, that whatever happens in Dance is so significant that they can’t cut out the Reeds, then I should prepare myself to be accepting of more cardboard characters in season 2.

Epic Awesomesauce,

The split becomes important, as others have said – Bran needs to be where he goes and Rickon needs to be where he goes. And Bran’s path is completely dictated by Jojen. As I said, I don’t see how he can be cut. They don’t need to get into as much detail, though. I’m sure the history will be gone. But I think they’re also probably important for the future, as they set up their dad (who may be critical from an information standpoint) and Meera is obviously a potential love interest for Bran.

Re Rickon, I’m sorry, I honestly don’t see Rickon as different at all. The exact same things that happen in the book with him happen in the show, except that in the book MORE happens. What are you referring to, in particular?

Epic Awesomesauce,

They could probably still replace/cut the Reeds or rewrite it in some way where they aren’t necessary, but not by having Osha and Rickon go with them, because of later storylines AND because (imo) it would not be very believable for Osha to go back north

Kalasin,

Agree with you on the Reeds being important on an information standpoint.. I think Howland is the only hope we have of finding out who Jon’s parents truly are.

And yeah, the Blackfish is cool, and could easily be included in the show, but I don’t see him as being too important.. But I guess that could change

Elena Amici,

Loads. Here’s a link to a list on the GoT twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/GameOfThrones/cast-crew/members

Elena Amici,

No worries! If you look around a bit you can find more

We already know that they shot some of the Dragonstone scenes and they are shooting the pyke stuff with Theon. it also seems that Maisie Williams is shooting something (at least that’s what i gathered from her twitter).

Elena Amici:
Kalasin,

okay, it looks like i’m missing a lot of things. I’m joining twitter (is that the right word? whatever) right now.. can someone please tell me which members of the GoT cast are on twitter?

Yeah, I finally joined twitter mostly so I could follow GOT news. Isaac/Bran and Kristian/Hodor have both replied to my tweet! :)

Kalasin,

Well let’s just say that the magical-ness is now shared between Bran and Rickon, while before it was just Brann. The focus is hugely different. Rickon was so marginal, so trivial, maybe he was going to come back in 5 years and be a nuisance to the Stark cause; it’s hard to tell what GRRM wanted out of him, but you can tell he didn’t want to talk too much about him. Any Ed visitations in the book is more about the Starks than it is about Rickon–in the show it’s definitely about Rickon. There’s definitely a shift–Rickon is more important than he used to be; his conversation in the crypts with Bran is proof. And Osha has changed considerably (for the better imo). To me it all smells of prep-work for a departure from the original story.

I hope they cut the Reeds because I am doubtful any good can come out of their existence in the show. After re-evaluating from this thread, it seems like Meera has a better chance of not being deleted. Jojen though… I’m not feeling it.

Don’t know if it fits any of the scenes, but Dimmuborgir is a cool place in Iceland. Volcanic rock formations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimmuborgir
Also, there is forest in Iceland as well, if the need be for them to film forest scenes, for example Vaglaskógur forest. http://www.visitnortheasticeland.is/local-pearls-and-attractions/vaglaskogur/

There’s probably a lot more interesting places to be found there.

Epic Awesomesauce: Kalasin, Well let’s just say that the magical-ness is now shared between Bran and Rickon, while before it was just Brann. The focus is hugely different. Rickon was so marginal, so trivial, maybe he was going to come back in 5 years and be a nuisance to the Stark cause; it’s hard to tell what GRRM wanted out of him, but you can tell he didn’t want to talk too much about him. Any Ed visitations in the book is more about the Starks than it is about Rickon–in the show it’s definitely about Rickon. There’s definitely a shift–Rickon is more important than he used to be; his conversation in the crypts with Bran is proof. And Osha has changed considerably (for the better imo). To me it all smells of prep-work for a departure from the original story.

I guess I just still don’t get it. Rickon has the exact same conversation in the crypt in the books, so I don’t know what the shift is. He definitely has a premonition of Ned in the books, and he is definitely connected to his wolf. Bran also has the premonition. And they are both Starks.

It’s just like in the book! I am so confused about what you think is different!

Kalasin,

Think of the time available for all the characters in the book, and how only a tiny fraction of that time was given to the characters in the show. At the very least, the producers gave a relatively huge focus to Rickon because without it, the audience would probably not understand that Rickon is a Stark sibling.

Now that they gave Rickon that huge relative focus, they can’t drop him like in the books. And TV Osha, compared to the books, also has a relatively greater focus–they even renamed Asha for whatever is going to happen next in the show.

OhWhoCares,

I think so too. But due to time constraints, they have to write them in with the very similar journey of Bran and his crew (at least near the wall). Whether they keep the Reeds or not is the mystery. I don’t know why they wouldn’t have cast them yet at this point though. And, since the Reeds are so different from the rest of the people in Westeros, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have them in the show. Because the show is only 10 episodes long.

Epic Awesomesauce,

Can you elaborate on why you think their being different from the other people of Westeros is a reason to exclude them?

Kalasin,

I think they may follow osha and rickon to an extent, especially now that its been said where he goes.. and why cast natalia tena and not use her?

OhWhoCares: Kalasin, I think they may follow osha and rickon to an extent, especially now that its been said where he goes.. and why cast natalia tena and not use her?

Well than GRRM will have to tell TPTB what happens to them, because that may be important in future books. We may find out that during ASoS, AFfC and DwD things were happening in their journey that affect things later on.

I just don’t see them having time. ASoS is so overpacked already.

That link isn’t working for me
OhWhoCares,

The Instrumentalist,

I definitely understand what you mean about the mystery of it, but like you said, it would be kind of confusing to just cut him out. I think maybe have them part from the others a little later.. assuming we get 2 seasons for SoS, late in the first season. Then in the second, possibly an episode of them on the road to remind us of them, and then see them get there at the end of the second season. FFC and DwD are simultaneous, so they will run together, so in the next season we’d see that story line pick up, and I think it would kind of make sense to show it that way. I hope this was coherent, haha

Nice to get an oficial confirmation. Congrats to Iceland and Croatia, and I’m sure they will make for some spectacular filming locations!

By the way, against my better judgment and a lot of advice to the contrary, I went to see the new “Conan The Barbarian”. I went mainly to support Jason Momoa, and out of gratitude for the great job he did as Khal Drogo on “Game Of Thrones”.

All I can say is…ouch! I DO NOT blame Jason for this absolute sub-par crapfest! The blame lies on Marcus Nispel and his apparently talent challenged team! Can somebody please force them to drink a cyanide coctail and prevent them from directing/making any other movies?

Iceland?!

Where do I sign up for a mini role? :D

Kalasin: I’m a bit confused about locations anyway, because based on twitter, Sansa, Loras, Theon, Hodor and Bran are all in the same location right now. Nearly positive Sophie Turner would be in Croatia and Alfie Allen and Isaac Hempstead Wright would be in Belfast.

Pretty sure this just means they are all in Belfast. They are definitely keeping the Throne Room and Small Council interior sets at the Paint Hall, and almost certainly most of the other KL interiors will be shot there. Same with the Winterfell interiors, which explains Bran and Hodor and possibly Theon. Another possibility is they have created a Pyke interior set at the Paint Hall. Not positive why Loras would be there, except that the Bitterbridge scenes will probably be shot near Belfast. (maybe an interior of Renly’s pavilion at Paint Hall?)

Sean Fan,

Very cool. I wonder if it’d be difficult to find

I want to read all the comments but there are just too many spoilers for ADWD (even mere speculation).

Thanks a lot guys. /sarcasm

Mention of Beowulf and Grendel has me wondering if they’ll get any ” wildlings ” up on Icelandic ponies. I’d love to see the little guys get another star turn.

I don’t see how they can cut the Reeds without completely gutting Bran’s storyline. Yeah, the Reeds are more fantastical than a lot of other people in the series, but that’s about the only people that are. This is after all, you know, a fantasy. How would Bran find out about greenseeing or warging or getting beyond the Wall

I’ll be seriously disappointed if they cut the Reeds altogether.

darquemode,

you know, i guess you could be right.
i used to think the same, because
(CLASH SPOILERS under the tags)
1)the NW finding benjen could improve the storyline. As i said a lot of times, Jon’s arc in Clash is like “wandering-wandering-whitethree-wandering-craster’s-wandering-the end”. It’s just impossible to film something like this. They are definitively going to add something more to that storyline. My guess was a few squabbles with the free folk (thus giving more space to ygritte and/or rattleshirt) but finding benjen could work. (and, IMO, would be easier/cheaper to film)
2)merging benjen with the halfhand would also work better in the show. The viewers have already seen benjen, they know who he is and the know what kind of relationship he & jon have. This would make the final scene more powerful and heartbreaking
3)About benjen’s future role in the books: SPOILER FOR STORM
Even assuming that benjen is coldhands, all we need is benjen being dead and beyond the wall. The way he died doesn’t matter. That would make Ygritte’s advice to jon in clash “burn them or they will rise again” more powerful, showing benjen who “rises again” after jon kills him. Since my guess is that the last episode will end with the battle at the first, showing more wights / HBOthers in the same episode would be cool.
Since we know (very minor dance spoiler) that a man can come back as a wight even if he wasn’t killed by the others, but died in a different way (Tormund’s son in Dance died because of the could and came back ) the way benjen dies wouldn’t matter.
Of course, is (SPECULATIONS POST DANCE) benjen is NOT coldhands but still alive somehow my suggestion would be impossible to realize. I guess only GRRM and D&D know what really happened to benjen

So the word on the street (there’s only one street) in Iceland is the local production company in charge of assisting HBO will be Pegasus (www.pegasus.is).

For those of you wondering about scenes beyond the wall, my guess is as good as one from above – they’ll mostly use Iceland for the Frostfangs and such desolate places.
I found this video on YouTube showing some scenery from Iceland. Possible locations might be alike to those in 2:12, 3:20, 5:35… Thereabouts. The music is cheesy, I know.

check out this cave:

http://www.pegasus.is/images/gallery/45/372.jpg

Oh no!!!
Poor cast!
They will have to learn how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull
That’s harder than daughters!

knowsomething,

why? coldhands isn’t supposed to appear til season 3..

Steve:
Not much going on here these days :/
Got confirmation for what we’ve known for ages…. great.
Is everyone including HBO and WiC.net on vacation? ;-)

You mean beside Bloodrabbit finding out which parts of Dubrovnik will be used in filming? If that isn’t something…

Sean Fan,

Also based on her role in this film on its own, ten years ago Sarah Polley would have made a great Ygritte.

OhWhoCares: Sean Fan, Very cool. I wonder if it’d be difficult to find

Not sure where you’re located but you can buy the Beowulf and Grendel DVD used over on Amazon for as little as $.59 cents! LOL!

Josh Atreides: Sean Fan, Also based on her role in this film on its own, ten years ago Sarah Polley would have made a great Ygritte.

I agree! She really was fabulous in her role in this film and I would love to see her cast in some sort of role in this series down the line.

The mention of the little Icelandic ponies immediately brought back the image of Gerard Butler’s feet just about dragging on the ground while he was riding one. LOL!

OhWhoCares,

Nope, you can pick it up for 5 bucks or less pretty much anywhere.

the goat,

well, i’d say sunday, april 16th.
It’s a sunday, i think.
Actually, i’m kinda sure HBO is going to air GOT earlier this year.
First, because airing GoT in april pushes True Blood ‘s schedule.
Second, because there is no Big Love this year. Boardwalk empire airs from september, 25th to December, 11th (12 weeks) after that, there is nothing new show to air. big love is over, entournage is over, BE, How To Make It in America and Hung all premiere in the fall. I think they’re going to re-air true blood. If they start, for example, on january 8, it’s another 12 weeks til March, 25th.
So, i think HBO will air GoT the week after that, on april 1st :)

Reading the discussion on whether or not Rickon’s journey would be included – it’s actually of benefit to the producers that Rickon disappears for a couple seasons.
It means that they have an option of casting somebody else when he does return and needs to handle some dramatic weight.
Art Parkinson may decide in the next three years that he really doesn’t want to be an actor after all.

I really love Khal..it was a pity that I can’t see him anymore in s2.
look forward to s2!!!