Con of Thrones 2018, Day 3: A Song of Ice and Fire and Spinoffs

Another day of Con of Thrones, another reason why it’s good to be a Game of Thrones fan. Let me walk you through the final day of the convention.

I kicked things off with Cut But Not Forgotten, a panel about all the beloved characters from the Song of Ice and Fire books who didn’t make it onto Game of Thrones. You probably know the roll call: characters like Arianne Martell, Victarion Greyjoy, Lady Stoneheart, Aegon Targaryen (the other one, not that one), Patchface, Jeyne Westerling and many more. As expansive as the TV show is, panels like this remind us how much deeper the books go.

That said, I maybe could have done with a few fewer swipes at the show’s adaptation choices, funny as they were. (“In the books, Hoster [Tully] is a character. In the show, he’s a boat.”) The great thing about Con of Thrones is that we can all talk about this stuff without getting confrontational about it.

Next, I attended Creativity Inspired by Game of Thrones and ASOAIF, a panel all about the art, sculpture, crafts and more fans have made after falling in love with the series. This kind of thing always amazes me. One panelist built a weirwood tree in her living room out of papier-mâché (it’s great at Thanksgiving and Game of Thrones watch parties, but puzzling the rest of the year). Another designed a Cersei-centric movie poster modeled off blaxploitation films from the ’70s. (She’s a bad brotherf**ker.)

I love how passionate fans are about the series, and how much work they’re willing to put in to bring their visions to life. Game of Thrones sound designer Paula Fairfield was also on the panel, and couldn’t sing the fandom’s praises enough. “I’m excited to start work for you.”

Also: Drunk Cersei Barbie Doll. Y’all are remarkable.

I then made my way to the main stage, where Game of Thrones weapons master Tommy Dunne was holding court. Dunne had plenty of interesting things to say about his work arming all of our favorite characters, but what stuck out most were the few stray bits of information he dropped about season 8, including…

• The are only six episodes in season 8, it was noted. Dunne agreed, but added a wrinkle. “Less episodes but 10 times more work.”And later: “This year nearly killed us.”
• What’s the favorite episode you’ve worked on? “It’s coming out next year.”

Also, when Dunne was working on the set of Gladiator he and Russell Crowe faced off in a push-up contest and an arm-wrestling contest. “I won both of them.” Fun facts to know and tell.

Finally, I appeared on one more panel: The Spinoff Panel, which is pretty self-explanatory. This may have been the panel I enjoyed the most, just because there was so much interaction from the people nice enough to come see us. We talked about what kind of spinoffs we wanted to see, both those that could conceivably happen (the Dance of Dragons) and those we’d love to see but aren’t holding out hope for (a Cheers-like sitcom set in the Inn at the Crossroads starring Hot Pie). We also talked about what we didn’t want to see, and whether spinoffs were a good idea at all.

In the end, we had a long list of suggestions, and voted on them with shows of applause. The winner? The Erotic Adventures of Oberyn Martell, a show that follows Young Oberyn around Westeros as he does him all over the place.

That was one of pie-in-the-sky choices, obviously. But it should definitely happen. Trust us, HBO.

The Con continued for a while after that, but I had to duck out a bit early to catch my plane. I enjoyed my time at Con of Thrones very much, because of the panels and because of the special guests but mostly because of the fans. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Next: Hannah Murray (Gilly) is finished shooting Game of Thrones season 8

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