GAME OF THRONES Season 3 news round-up

A round-up of news regarding Season 3 of Game of Thrones (note: one minor spoiler if you haven't read A Storm of Swords).

Season 3 will likely feature less massive fleet-destroying subnuclear explosions.

• Season 3 started shooting today in Northern Ireland. Director Daniel Minahan - returning from Season 1 after a break last year - was the first director to set to work. Season 2 directors Alik Sakharov and David Nutter are also returning (the latter will handle the final two seasons of the season, which will allegedly be the most ambitious the show has attempted to date). Producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss will also try their hands at directing. Two very high-profile directors are also joining the team: Alex Graves, a producer and director on The West Wing, and Michelle McLaren, a producer and director on both Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, are lending their considerable talents to the series.
• The writing roster is unchanged from last year: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Vanessa Taylor and George R.R. Martin. Martin has already written the seventh episode of the season, Autumn Storms, the only episode to be named so far.
• As well as returning to Northern Ireland, Croatia and Iceland, the show will be filming the Slaver's Bay storyline in Morocco. The show's unaired pilot episode used Morocco as a location, but moved to Malta and then Croatia for the series itself.
• Unfortunately, actor Clive Mantle - who played Greatjon Umber in Season 1 - will not be returning to the series this year. He was absent from Season 2 due to a scheduling conflict and was apparently not invited back for Season 3. Whether this means his role will be temporarily removed (allowing him to return in Season 4 or later), the character quietly dropped or the role recast remains unclear.
• Liam Cunningham has signed a six-year contract with HBO to reprise his role as Davos Seaworth. Whilst some have taken this to mean that HBO envisage the show lasting for at least eight seasons (backed up by comments from the producers, who have said they are planning an 80-90 episode story), it's also been pointed out that six-year contracts are fairly standard in the industry, regardless of how long the show will go on for.
• The characters of Tormund Giantsbane, Daario Naharis, Thoros of Myr, Olenna Redwyne (the Queen of Thorns), Ramsay Bolton, Vargo Hoat, Edmure and Brynden Tully, and the Reed children (Jojen and Meera) are all apparently being cast for Season 3.
• Well-known British actors Mackenzie Crook (noted for his roles in the UK version of The Office and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy), Clive Russell (Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere) and Tara Fitzgerald (too many films and plays to mention) are all rumoured to have been cast. Crook attended a cast read-through but his role has not been announced: fans speculate it's Ramsay Bolton, Varamyr Sixskins, one of the Brotherhood Without Banners (including a recast Beric Dondarrion) or even Mance Rayder. He's been specifically ruled out from the role of Vargo Hoat. Russell seems more of a lock as Brynden 'the Blackfish' Tully and Fitzgerald as a recast Selyse Baratheon.
• Newcomer Charlotte Hope has been cast in the role of 'Myranda'. It is unclear whether this is a new character, Myranda Royce from the books (who is much older) or a renamed Meera Reed. Nathalie Emmanuel, who was on Hollyoaks for three years, has also been cast in an undisclosed role. Asim Ahmad has been linked to the role of Thoros of Myr. Coronation Street actor Philip McGinley has also been spotted at read-throughs. Fans speculate he could be playing the role of Edmure Tully. Actress Kerry Ingram has also been linked to the role of Shireen Baratheon.