Sorraffy

Melisandre sure does get around (first met Jon and now in the Land of Daenerys ...)

slop101

I'm actually glad we don't have that option, as I would binge it, but in doing so, each episode wouldn't percolate over the week until the next, and it would have a lesser overall impact.

Defiant1

Agreed. The weekly wait helps. If it were available to binge on though, I would totally watch the entire season in one day.

That is one hell of a trailer. I am beyond hyped!

csant

I would binge watch it and watch it again weekly. =)

fumanstan

I totally wish I could binge this.

slop101

I'm surprised there's been 10 characters that have been recast - even with the first few being for the unaired pilot, it's still more than I thought.

Josh-da-man

Considering the nature of the series, it shouldn't be too surprising.

A character can appear once briefly, then reappear again two or three years later with a more important part to play. They can't really keep all of these actors under contract for years and years, and when they do need them back later, they might not be available.

johnnysd

E Unit

It's good to be the king.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/14/politi...ook/index.html

Obama gets new 'Game of Thrones' before you as 'leader of the free world'

(CNN)No spoilers, Mr. President.

The creators of "Game of Thrones" have revealed President Barack Obama received advanced access to the hotly anticipated sixth season because, well, you don't turn down a request from POTUS.

Speaking on the red carpet at the HBO show's premiere Sunday night, producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss revealed one of the perks of being president.
Describing the overwhelming success of the show, Weiss said: "I think for both of us -- finding out the President wanted advance copies of the episodes -- that was an 'Aha!' moment."

The creators told interviewer Veronica Belmont that, yes, they sent Obama episodes early because "he's the leader of the free world."

Benioff added: "When the commander in chief says, 'I want to see advanced episodes' -- what are ya gonna do?"
The two also discussed the upcoming season being "the first time we really moved beyond the end point of the books" by George R.R. Martin and the freedom that brought to the show's direction.

The President has revealed his fandom before by referring to the show in jokes at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner last year and even naming his favorite "GOT" character -- sort of -- in a GQ interview.

Last year, as the ultra-popular show began its fifth season, the first four episodes were leaked online. To avoid a repeat, HBO announced last month it was not releasing any advance episodes for critics to review ahead of season six.

"Game of Thrones" is consistently the world's most-pirated show each year. Other attempts to nix the number of illegal downloads around the globe also saw HBO premiere the last season simultaneously in 170 countries.
The show returns for everyone else on April 24.

wishbone

One president gets new GoT season in advance; the other gets the shaft.

Maz Kanata

DJariya

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/game...-8-1201752746/

Weiss and Benioff considering producing only 13 episodes total for seasons 7 and 8 (the potential final season)

Koby

slop101

Does that mean there's so little story left to tell? Why not just the 7th season be 13 episodes and be the final season, instead of stretching it out into two? That was rhetorical, as the answer is of course money.

Josh-da-man

Weird to think we're so close to the end. There's still a lot of stuff that needs to be resolved, from the political shenanigans to the white alker problem.

I sort of wonder if we're not really going to see much of the war against the white walkers, and the series will end with the political battles resolved and the people united against the white walkers as the long winter begins.

collven

You're right, although it's HBO being greedy and not D&D. They want to end the series after 7 seasons, it's HBO that's begging for an 8th.

Maz Kanata

That would be an impossibility for this show. There simply aren't enough hours in a year for them to make more than ten episodes.

coli

Even though I'm not happy about shortened seasons, I would rather see it end in Season 7 or 8 then drag it out to Season 9 or 10 and it jumps the shark.

DWilson

Also, again, its a money thing, -the show is very expensive to do right, and more episodes provides a pay-off that allows them to justify the expense.

Dave99

easy resolution, the white walkers just blitzkrieg over all of westoros and kill everything. The end.

ntnon

Surely ALL factions - money men, HBO, showrunners, fans, numerologists - could be appeased easily:

Seven Seasons and a Movie.

Seven kingdoms/gods/seasons.
Seven x 10 hours + c. 3 hours additional.
Eight season-spaced entities.
Eight (nine!) home video releases.

Air seven full seasons as normal. Finish the final cliffhanger in an epic 2h movie - and expand it to 3 or 4 hours for exclusive airing on HBO instead of a shrt eighth season. That should take care of subscribers'/money concerns that they'd miss out by there being a movie. Better yet, include money off the movie with the S7 DVD/Blu, and do exclusive things (retrospective, making-of, other) about the movie(show) for HBO to fill in time between 7 & film.

Easy!

Maz Kanata

A movie would be disastrous and thankfully no one involved, other than G.R.R.M. himself, wants anything to do with that idea.

rw2516

Theatrically GoT is way into NC-17 territory. Will never happen.

Dave99

I don't see how it would be NC-17 at all. Not even in the vicinity. The violence is not much worse than walking dead, and the nudity is nothing significant.

actionjackson29

They could always release it later in the year. If it's the final season would it really matter if it came out in the summer or fall instead of the spring?