Thursday 29 April 2010

GAME OF THRONES update: Daenerys to be recast

Mo Ryan of the Chicago Tribune has posted an interview with George R.R. Martin at her Watcher blog. In the lengthy interview she confirms what has been rumoured for some time, namely that Tamzin Merchant has left the TV series and, as a result, the role of Daenerys Targaryen is being recast.

Martin also comments on ADWD and other projects, as he also does at this unusually frank podcast on the Dragon Page podcast posted today. Martin reiterates that the book is almost complete, but he won't be giving any guesses on when it will be released.

5 comments:

Krafus said...

Hello, Werthead. I'm contacting you this way because I can't seem to find your email anywhere, and this is the latest ASOIAF-related post on your Livejournal. I lurk at SFFWorld, and recently I noticed that you posted the following: "There was another poster called Krafus I also had good discussions with in the past on the issue although he took 'opposing' views, although he seems to be low in profile at the moment."

I just wanted to let you know that the reason I've been keeping a low profile is that I seem to have been banned from Westeros. Starting in early February, when I visited Westeros, I was greeted with the following: "[#2000] You are not allowed to visit this forum." This struck me as odd, since while I'd received a few warnings from Ran in the past, I hadn't been up to anything lately at Westeros that could have gotten me banned (or even been up to much of anything at all, in fact). Given that two other Finish The Book George regulars I know, one of them being Slynt, got the same treatment at the same time I did, I concluded that we'd been purged.

To be honest, it was bound to happen sooner or later. After all, I was a regular at FTBG, and have become a regular at Slynt's board. In fact, I've come to believe it was my registering at Slynt's board that triggered my banishment. Since then, I've become even more virulent in my criticizing of Martin and those of his fans who seem to be blindly loyal sycophants – enough so that I couldn't have blamed Ran if, upon reading or hearing of some of the things I've posted, he decided to kick me off Westeros.

Also, I was growing more and more uneasy at openly criticizing Martin on one hand while posting on his biggest fan site on the other. This kind of contradiction uncomfortably reminded me of Martin's own former two-faced "please buy the ASOIAF merchandise I keep advertising but don't you dare ask how the next ASOIAF book is progressing or I'll hit you with the banhammer" attitude, and I didn't want to be that way myself. So even if I hadn't been banned from Westeros, I would probably have stopped posting there of my own volition within a month or two.

I'm glad you seem to have good memories of me, and I also remember many of our discussions fondly, whether they were about Dance or not. I've thought about registering at SFFWorld a few times, but to be honest I don't think I'd have much of anything to contribute except in the loooong ADWD thread, and I don't want to be a purely negative force on what is supposed to be forum for constructive discussion. If you'd ever like to reach me, my email is warduck24 at hotmail dot com.

Now, to say something about the original post, I was a bit sad to see the official confirmation that Tamzin Merchant had left the series. She didn't look like the way I'd envisioned Dany, but this is HBO and they've more than earned my benefit of the doubt when it comes to casting. As for Martin's assertion that Dance is almost complete… Well. I'll maybe start to let myself hope once I read that he's finally untangled the Meereenese Knot, and not a moment before.

- Krafus

Anonymous said...

and so the sffworld troll invasion spills to here

Krafus said...

Now who's being a troll? Comments like yours, Anon, lacking even the courage to identify yourself, are part of why I became a detractor. If I could have, I would have sent Werthead an email, if only so I could avoid people like you.

Adam Whitehead said...

Krafus isn't being a troll, he was responding to a comment about him elsewhere. I don't put my email online, so this was a valid way of contacting me.

Krafus, many thanks for your message and I will take on board what you have said.

Jules Mazarin said...

People, people, why can't we all just get along? It's time to give constructive advice instead of this constant niggling and nagging demanding that Mr. Martin finish the series. Mr. Martin has attempted a vast project of awesome sweep, and I suspect that perhaps he finds himself at a loss on just how to tie up the whole thing into anything that approximates an ending.

Gentle readers, the author's problem is obvious: there are simply too many characters in the series--and hence too many plot-lines. A little thought should suffice to realize that it is beyond the capacity of any mortal writer to finish this work without some radical measures.

In the spirit of friendly conviviality and helpfulness that I have (above) urged, I therefore offer the following suggestion for the first sentence of Mr. Martin's next (and final) book:

"Little did Arya, the blind, 12 year old perfect assassin, realize that--as she was making use of her icy chamberpot on that frigid morning, that a 5 million ton asteroid was about to strike her world, eliminating 98% of its population, and thereby simplifying the story of her life (and many others) in a most gratifying way.

There. All fixed.