Small Council: What do we make of the season 8 footage and the prequel cast?

Welcome to Small Council, where the writers at WiC chat about the latest in Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire, and literally anything else that catches our interest. Between HBO releasing new footage from season 8 and revealing the principal cast members of its Game of Thrones prequel series, there’s a lot to talk about. Begin!

DAN: I feel like I’ve talked enough about the new season 8 footage, fascinating though it is, but I’m curious to hear what everyone thinks about the cast announcement for the prequel. Just so we’re all up to speed, here are their names: Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sheila Atim, Ivanno Jeremiah, Georgie Henley, Alex Sharp and Toby Regbo. S.J. Clarkson is directing the pilot.

Heard of any of these people? Me neither, which I take as a good sign. There are a lot of splashy genre shows coming round the bend, and a few too many of them seemed stacked with celebrity talent. Henry Cavill in The Witcher, Nick Nolte in The Mandalorian…even HBO’s own Watchmen show has Jeremy Irons. Game of Thrones is popular enough that HBO could get pretty much anybody it wanted for the prequel. That it’s getting people with low profiles speaks indicates to me that HBO is casting them because they’re right for the part rather than because of their name.

And yes, I know Naomi Watts is also part of the cast, but I won’t begrudge them one name, and if the show truly takes after Thrones, she’ll be part of an ensemble rather than the main draw. Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, it’s possible I still haven’t fully forgiven Jamie Campbell Bower for sucking in the 2007 Sweeney Todd movie, but that was mostly a casting issue. I can get over it.

ANYWAY, what do you guys think of the prequel casting? Does it tell us anything about the nature of the show? And how ’bout that season 8 footage?

COREY: Honestly, I’m perfectly fine with most of the principal cast members being relative unknowns. I’ve heard of some of them in passing — Regbo is an excellent sleaze ball on The Last Kingdom — but HBO has more than earned my trust after its stellar casting on Game of Thrones... and basically every other show it makes.

Most of the Game of Thrones cast members were relative unknowns when they joined up. Sure, Sean Bean and maybe even Lena Headey were names, but for a good number of the principals, Game of Thrones was their first major acting gig, or in the case of Maisie Williams, her first gig of any sort. If you can take that assemblage and turn them into a cast capable of giving us seven seasons of wonderfully acted moments, you have my faith going forward.

As for the new season 8 clip, I have to say I’m not catching the same vibe as some other fans. Yes, I’m guessing that Sansa and Daenerys will do some verbal sparring throughout season 8, but I didn’t catch much in the way of animosity. Dany did not wear her glowering “bend the knee” face, but a more placid smile. Sansa is, of course, leery of Dany, as any sister would be of the new girlfriend, particularly one with armies and dragons, but healthy caution and hostility are two different things.

One question I want answered, though: what the hell is Jorah beaming at in the clip? I don’t think we’ve ever seen the aged knight look quite so happy, and it’s jarring. And don’t tell me Jorah is smiling at Samwell. That’s a look of pure joy, not a smile of gratitude.

SEBASTIAN: I’ve seen few of these cast members before. Naomi Watts is a big name, of course, and I have seen Toby Regbo on The Last Kingdom, but that’s about it. I can’t second your praise for his performance, Corey, but that’s probably more influenced by the role he played being rather flat and boring. Not much anyone could have done with that material.

The main reason for me not knowing a lot of these actors seems to be that I am not up to date on my Doctor Who, nor am I a huge fan the Harry Potter universe, Twilight or The Chronicles of Narnia. There seems to be somewhat of a trend to these casting choices of picking actresses and actors with some experience in fantasy productions and I am not sure I like that. Game of Thrones has been drifting in the direction of mustache-twirling villains and other kinds of one-dimensional or even inconsistent characters recently, as too many fantasy productions have done before. I am still hoping that this path will end soon and that the prequel(s) will offer a new beginning.

The season 8 footage also potentially shows us some of what I have not been enjoying too much about the more recent seasons of Game of Thrones. Sansa, a major culprit, is right at the center of the new clip. I fear that we will get another unconvincingly constructed conflict, this time with Sansa on one side and Dany and Jon on the other, like the one between Sansa and Arya in season 7. I hope I am wrong, though. At this point, I’m more interested in the secrets of the Others than in petty conflicts.

KATIE: When the prequel series was first announced, I wasn’t sure how intrigued I’d be, since the show won’t feature the Game of Thrones characters I’ve grown to love. But the more info we get, however minimal, the more possibilities begin to blossom.

It’ll be interesting to see what the prequel offers in terms of callbacks, if any, to Game of Thrones. Since the series takes place so many thousands of years beforehand, it’s possible we won’t get any references. But then, considering the story’s rich history as well as Game of Thrones’ massive success, it seems just as likely that HBO could easily throw GOT fans a few Easter eggs.

How does Westeros fare politically without King’s Landing, for instance? Without the Iron Throne, what will the characters’ main conflict revolve around? Will we see any hints of the feuds we’ve come to know between the noble houses? It seems unlikely that the prequel will be devoid of these plot points and others like it. GOT has found its success in its portrayal of political intricacies as well as supernatural elements; this, along with the prequel’s description, would suggest we’ll see these broader themes at play again. And while Westeros may be a “very different place,” the country didn’t become that place out of nowhere. So how, precisely, did it all start?

I’m also curious to see how fans who have read the books and those who are only show-watchers will theorize about the prequel, and whether anyone will have the upper hand this time around. Since this series isn’t based on any solid source material, we might all be in the same boat. But it probably can’t hurt to have a backlog of Westerosi history at your disposal.

I’ve yet to read the ASOIAF books in their entirety, and I’m choosing to fly blind into the prequel. It adds a little more fun and fancy to my musings. If the show really does delve into Westeros’ “darkest hour,” I’ll take all the fun and fancy I can get for now.

Naomi Watts’ character is described as “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.” This sounds about as soap operatic as it gets, and piqued my ho-hum interest better than any detailed synopsis could have. If I had to choose any of the noble houses to liken such a description to, my vote’s on the Tyrells. While Watts and much of the cast have a Lannister look to them, that can be changed with a good dye job, so it doesn’t necessarily give us any insight. I’d peg Georgie Henley as a Tully or a Stark but again, my suppositions here are based on looks alone. It’s not much of a concrete prediction when make-up artists are just waiting to work their magic.

The diversity in the cast and production team is both a necessity and further reason to look forward to the new series. This will lend perhaps a more acute sensitivity to certain issues that are prevalent in Westeros as well as modern day. Game of Thrones tackles the topic of the patriarchal power structure and everything that comes with it, but sometimes the show misses its mark. A behind-the-scenes team with firsthand experience of prejudice may be able to offer a different, more authentic point of view. That’s not to say that GOT fails to properly discuss issues like sexism within the narrative, but it looks like the prequel series will have a more well-rounded take on the political and social issues in Westeros.

RAZOR: Looking at the prequel cast collage reminds me of a photo that was circulated around season 1 of Game of Thrones of the young Stark kids standing around with Theon Greyjoy. When you looked at the photo, you knew who they were playing.

While we may not know who each cast member is playing in the prequel, you can get a feel for who they’ll represent. For instance, Naomi Watts and Jamie Campbell Bower — with their sharp, aquiline features — look like Lannister ancestors to me.

We know that during the Age of Heroes, Lann the Clever tricked the Casterlys out of Casterly Rock and started his own family, a family that would become House Lannister. I’ve thought for a while now that it would be a neat twist to have Naomi Watts play Lann the Clever in a gender-swapped role, but with the addition of Jamie Campbell Bower, I am now rethinking that theory.

Alex Sharp and Georgie Henley look like Starks to me. Sharp could even play the legendary Bran the Builder, assuming the show includes him. I’m also very intrigued by the diverse casting. I want to see what’s going on in Essos as the Long Night descends across the world.

I have all sorts of questions about the prequel; it makes me feel like we did back in 2009-2010, when we all knew HBO was adapting Game of Thrones. It’s an exciting time for everyone, and I can’t wait to write about it.