SDCC 2013 – Game of Thrones

The Game of Thrones panel started off with a cool memorial video:

Then once the panel got started an old friend stopped by quick at the 14:30 mark.

A quick summary from YahooTV:

• When asked if he’d consider writing a “Game of Thrones” prequel, author George R.R. Martin told the audience that he is open to writing more novels set in the world of Westeros after he completes the main series, but it wouldn’t write about any characters from the current books or TV show. “I don’t think it would be a prequel. I might go further back. There’s lots of material. I just don’t think I’ll do the immediate precursor,” Martin said.
• A never-seen-before deleted scene was featured with Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) and Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover). The clip opens with Tywin enjoying his “time of leisure” fishing. Pycelle asks Tywin if he could be returned to the small council, and all signs of Pycelle’s frailty disappears as he stands up straight and speaks in a full-throated voice. Despite Pycelle’s transformation, Tywin sends the old man, who is once again stooped over and stuttering, home with instructions to clean the fish he caught.
• Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) on if he’s read any of Martin’s books: “In four or five years when all of this is over, I want to go back and read all of the books.”
• Dinklage on his many intense father-son scenes with Dance: “After each of those scenes, [Charles] comes up to give me a nice little shoulder rub after each take.”
• Kit Harrington on Jon Snow becoming a man next season: “Jon is always looking for these paternal figures. What’s interesting, coming up, he becomes one of those types of figures.”
• Rose Leslie what’s next for Ygritte and Jon Snow: “I’m going to hunt him down and I’m going to hurt him.”
• Emilia Clarke on how she found out about her Emmy nomination: “My alarm clock went off really early in the hotel and when I was going to turn it off, I realized I had missed three phone calls from HBO so I knew something was up.”
• John Bradley on his character, Samwell Tarly: “I think Sam has always been the hero. It’s braver sometimes to absorb punishment.”
• Richard Madden on his Robb Stark’s unexpected demise: “You never know what’s coming. As an actor, you commit to something and then you get hit with a curveball.”
• Michelle Fairley on Catelyn Stark’s death: “I’d signed up for three seasons, so I knew what was coming.”
• Martin on killing off so many of beloved characters: “I have many characters, so killing a few, there’s always more and plenty of actors to give work to.”
• Showrunner David Benioff on filming the Red Wedding Episode: “We have a tough crew in Belfast, but at the end of shooting the Red Wedding, they were all crying.”
• Showrunner D.B. Weiss on keeping plotlines secret: “The first season was kind of a test case. When nobody spoiled the story of Ned Stark, I realized we were dealing with a really good group.”