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Words are wind- but that doesn’t stop us from appreciating truly great words in the mouths of our favorite characters! The final season of Game of Thrones was packed with quotable moments and funny soundbites, and for this week’s prelims, it’s all about the words- the best quotes of the year. We’ll be voting on TWO categories, beginning today: the preliminary rounds for All-Around Best Quote, and Funniest Quote of Season 8.
There are two polls in the post, please make sure to vote in both!
Please choose your five favorites from each preliminary poll. The ground rules: Select up to FIVE nominees from each poll. You can choose fewer if you like, but you can’t choose more than 5. (Visit the initial WotW Awards post for a complete explanation of the rules and process.)
At the end of one week (Sunday 10/06/19 at 12PM Eastern Time), whichever five quotes from each category that have the most votes will continue on to the finals in their categories. The results of the polls will be revealed when it’s time to choose the winners in the finals.
After you vote, please scroll on down to choose your Funniest Quotes!
The post Watchers on the Wall Awards Season 8: The Best Quotes – Preliminary Round appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
News about Blood Moon, the still-unofficially-titled Game of Thrones prequel, has been sparse lately, as we all wait with bated breath for showrunner Jane Goldman to finish post-production work on the pilot episode and present it to HBO executives. However, we got a quick snippet of information in the form of a new casting announcement, and leading lady Naomi Watts spoke about being part of the phenomenon at an Emmys after-party last week. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but we’ll take it!
First, we learned from our friends behind the website Redanian Intelligence — which covers news and casting about the upcoming Netflix series The Witcher — that British actor Tom Canton has been cast in Blood Moon, a tip verified by Canton’s resume posted on his agency’s website. It notes that his character’s name is “Ham,” although whether this is a code name or his actual name in the series is unclear — many casting calls and roles thus far have been made using code names or initials only, in order to keep important details under wraps.
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art-trained Canton, who will portray Filavandrel in The Witcher when it premieres later this year, has an extensive background in theater, television and film, and it’s specifically noted on his resume that he is an “excellent sportsman” — something that might come in handy, given the physicality that we’ve seen required of the actors on Thrones. Overall, it bodes well for the series, which has yet to be officially ordered to series, that casting is moving forward. Thanks for the tip, Redanian Intelligence!
Next, EW caught up with Blood Moon leading actress Watts at HBO’s official after-party at last Sunday’s Emmy Awards, and she confessed that she’s feeling the pressure for the prequel to live up to the original series’ success, especially in light of Thrones taking home the award for Outstanding Drama Series for its final season.
“I’m trying not to think about it,” she said to EW’s Nischelle Turner, “but it is evident how well done it is.”
“At the end there, watching them all up on stage having gone through such a long period of time and they’re so well-connected and bonded, and you know they’ve all done such an incredible job.”
Watts also gave credit to her brother for encouraging her to take the role in Blood Moon when she was approached — she hadn’t watched the show at that point — saying that he wouldn’t have let her get away with turning it down.
“My brother … basically said to me, when I told him about it, he said, ‘You will die before I let you not do that show. You have to do it.’ He is obsessed.”
“And, of course, when I did get around to watching it, I just did it all in the space of about, I don’t know, two months on a lot of long flights and it’s absolutely riveting,” she said about finally having the time to catch up on Thrones. “I loved it.”
Hopefully, Watts will take that love with her into filming the rest of the prequel — and that we won’t have to wait too much longer to see her in action in ancient Westeros!
The post ‘The Witcher’ actor cast in ‘Blood Moon’ prequel; Naomi Watts on bingeing ‘Game of Thrones’ to prepare appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
Emmys season has come and gone, and the long night has finally broken on Game of Thrones. Yes, it tied its 12 Emmy record, falling one win shy of what would have been its own broken record. But we all know the true fun is the friends it made along the way. While the Emmys are traditionally supposed to celebrate ALL of TV, more often than not the Emmys have increasingly seemed like TV is GOT‘s space, and everyone else is just here to play. 2019 was no exception, with all the nominated cast members getting to make a grand entrance on stage, as a spoiler-filled tribute to the show displayed for the stars in the room and the fans at home. Yes, it was a memorable Emmys indeed, capped only by Michael Douglas’ bemusing smirk as he revealed to the millions of petition-signing whingers that yes, GOT is the king, and if you come at the king, you best not miss. So, what else went down?
On the Red Carpet, Kim Renfro did a deep dive with Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth, Lord of Ships, née Onion Knight) and Isaac Hempstead-Wright (King Bran the Broken, née Three-Eyed Raven). Reporting for Insider, she got some good feedback from them, when asked about the worst fan theory they ever heard during filming:
Isaac Hempstead Wright: That f—— Bran is the Night King. [Cunningham looked surprised at the use of a swear word.] This isn’t live! Is it?
Kim Renfro: No, but it is being recorded.
Isaac Hempstead Wright: Well, you can bleep that out.
I really like the way they handled this question about the largely disliked (though not by me) ending:
Kim Renfro: What is one thing you would hope fans take away from the final season of “Game of Thrones”?
Liam Cunningham: That we all collectively did our best to try and tell this gorgeous story, and we took people on a journey with us. I think we achieved that. And hopefully it raised people’s expectations for future shows. If we raised the bar of quality for storytelling, we’ll have done some good.
Isaac Hempstead Wright: I think just a sense of how to finish a story well. We did a very noble thing, which is to end it on a high with only six episodes when we could have dragged it on for 10 more seasons and everyone would have watched it and it would have been fine — but I think it’s a real lesson in quitting while you’re ahead.
Liam Cunningham: “Always leave ’em wanting more” is an old showbiz epithet.
Check out the rest of her interview for some really good soundbites, including the TV shows they’re keeping up with these days.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel’s right-hand man, Guillermo had a ‘back to back’ with our very own Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Ser Jaime Lannister, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, one-time right hand-haver). Skip to 4:32 to see his one-on-one:
And lastly, though it isn’t really the Emmys, the transcript from an interview with series creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss on a trip to Japan was just released. While they revisit lots of stuff we already know (Peter Dinklage was the person they imagined from the get go, etc.), there are still some great quotes there, including their thoughts on how characters must be changed in adaptation:
“Movies aren’t television shows, and books aren’t television shows,” Dan says. “They’re different mediums, and there are different… I don’t want to say rules, but different requirements that each one brings to the table and different things a novel can achieve that no television show can achieve. I mean one of this is that you can have a lot more characters in a novel and find ways to keep track of those characters. I think our show was at the absolute limit for how many characters you can have in a show and still have it make sense.”
“[T]hat said, there are far fewer characters in the show than there are in the books, so the show itself kind of represents a compression, a condensation, of the number of characters in the book. So when you pull characters out, the story has to change accordingly because that person that was important to this plotline isn’t there anymore, so you have to figure out a different way to tell that story that stays true to the spirit of the story, minus some of the characters from the book. So I would say that just making it viable and workable on television required a lot of those changes. But we knew that, we’d read the first four books by the time we started and we knew by the time we got to book four you had more story than we could do justice to even in 10 hours a season.”
What other good quotes can you find? It was a pretty long interview, and definitely worth the read. I hope you all enjoyed the Emmys as much as I did!
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The 2019 Emmy Awards were broadcast live tonight from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles., and the cast of Game of Thrones was out in force as usual! GoT racked up a record-breaking 32 nominations this year for the final season, and having picked up 10 wins already at the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony last Sunday, was looking to add more to that total. GoT competed in seven categories tonight, with even more nominations than that, thanks to multiple nods in several areas. Ultimately Game of Thrones came home with the biggest prize of all, Outstanding Drama Series, while star Peter Dinklage won an incredible fourth Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Tyrion Lannister. With those awards, the final Emmy total for Game of Thrones season 8 stands at 12.
In addition to the wins, the nominated actors from the GoT cast presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie to actress Patricia Arquette (The Act) with Dinklage reading the winning name.
A complete rundown of the categories the show was in tonight, with the winners highlighted in bold/italic:
Outstanding Drama Nominees:
Better Call Saul
Bodyguard
Game of Thrones
Killing Eve
Ozark
Pose
Succession
This is Us
Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series:
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This is Us
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Billy Porter, Pose
Milo Ventimiglia, This is Us
Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series:
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Laura Linney, Ozark
Mandy Moore, This is Us
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:
Alfie Allen, Game of Thrones
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Michael Kelly, House of Cards
Chris Sullivan, This Is Us
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones
Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
Julia Garner, Ozark
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series:
Game of Thrones, “The Last of the Starks,” directed by David Nutter
Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” directed by Miguel Sapochnik
Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne,” directed by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Killing Eve, “Desperate Times,” directed by Lisa Brühlmann
Ozark, “Reparations,” directed by Jason Bateman
Succession, “Celebration,” directed by Adam McKay
The Handmaid’s Tale, “Holly”, directed by Daina Reid
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series:
Better Call Saul, “Winner,” Written by Peter Gould and Thomas Schnauz
Bodyguard, “Episode 1”, written by Jed Mercurio
Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne,” written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Killing Eve, “Nice and Neat,” written by Emerald Fennell
Succession, “Nobody Is Ever Missing,” written by Jesse Armstrong
The Handmaid’s Tale, “Holly” Teleplay by Bruce Miller and Kira Snyder
The looks tonight, at the show and from the purple carpet:
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It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that Ramin Djawadi composed a truly masterful score for Game of Thrones. He deepened the emotional impact of pivotal character beats and jaw-dropping plot twists with his music for 8 seasons and it’s fascinating to gain some insight into his creative process.
In a recent interview, Djawadi walked us through his score for Daenerys’ death and Drogon’s subsequent destruction of the Iron Throne, explaining which themes he incorporated into the scene and why.
After Jon stabs Daenerys, Djawadi wanted the music to reflect both the sadness and the shock of what’s occurred.
“We see Dany and Jon and what he has just done, and that’s why the piece starts out with the solo violin and their love theme,” Djawadi told Time. “It’s very fractured to show that [Jon] really can’t believe what he’s just done. The theme plays and then it stops and it starts again, so he’s slowly settling into what he has done while he’s holding her in his arms.”
The scene shifts in tone when Drogon arrives and finds his mother dead next to her murderer.
“From there, the music grows and the dragon theme comes in,” he says. “And it’s the dragon, [Daenerys’] baby basically, her child realizing that mommy is dead and then the mixed emotions of sadness and anger at the same time.”
There was a good deal of debate amongst fans as to the symbolic meaning of Drogon’s decision to burn the Iron Throne. According to Djawadi, Drogon recognized that the Iron Throne was the ultimate cause of his mother’s downfall and thus decided to destroy it.
“That’s how that music grows, and Dany’s theme is in there as well. It’s all these themes together and then it even turns into the main title theme when he melts the throne, which is symbolic for [the throne being] what everybody has been fighting for and [how] he has to resolve that she’s dead now.”
To make the tragic scene that much sadder, Djawadi decided to conclude it with a callback to one of season 4’s most emotional moments.
“[The song] ends very somber with a section of ‘Breaker of Chains,’ which was from season 4 when she puts the chains on her dragons and that big emotional moment of how hard it was for her to lock them up,” he said. “So it ends with that emotional beat again and with [Drogon] flying away to the solo violins like the piece started to give bookends to it.”
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There have been rumors and speculation lately about the next Con of Thrones, and today, we’re happy to bring you the big news! Mischief Management announced that the fourth annual Con of Thrones, the largest convention for fans of Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire, and the epic worlds of fantasy author George R. R. Martin, will take place next summer in Orlando, Florida, at the Orange County Convention Center. The convention will take place July 17–19, 2020.
Tickets for Con of Thrones will go on sale to the public in two weeks, on Friday, October 4, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
“Orlando has always been so welcoming and we’re so excited to bring Con of Thrones to the city,” says Melissa Anelli, CEO of Mischief Management. “Even though the television series has ended, there is still so much passion and enthusiasm in the fandom as we await the next book from George R.R. Martin. We can’t wait to celebrate with this community for another year.”
How will ticketing work for 2020? Con of Thrones will offer three ticket types at special earlybird pricing through December 31, 2019: a single day pass for $49, the full-weekend General Pass for $139, and a limited number of the Valyrian Pass for $349, including exclusive perks like premium seating in MainStage programming and limited edition merchandise. Full details on the different ticket types can be found at conofthrones.net.
As always, Con of Thrones is produced by Mischief Management. Watchers on the Wall is proud to once again be the official programming partner for the con, bringing you a full schedule of panels and events to enjoy. Additional details will be announced at a later date!
For more information and updates, follow Con of Thrones on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
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The recent news that we might be getting a Game of Thrones spinoff featuring the Dance of the Dragons in the not-too-utterly-distant future inspired me to explore how dragons might be portrayed in such a story.
What do you think? Are you excited for the (potential) Targaryen prequel? And what’s your take on dragons? Tell us below.
The post How to Write Your Dragon… in a Dance of the Dragons Prequel – A Video Essay appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
Behaviour Interactive, the video game company best known for Dead by Daylight, alongside publisher GAEA and HBO, have revealed that their upcoming mobile strategy RPG Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall will feature multiple character versions of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.
In the game, players can recruit both characters, each with distinct skills and abilities. Reportedly, the plan is to use future updates to roll out additional versions of these characters, as well as introducing beloved characters such as Jaime Lannister, Tormund Giantsbane and Melisandre.
At launch, there will be two versions of Daenerys Targaryen: Lady of Dragonstone and Breaker of Chains. As Lady of Dragonstone, Queen Daenerys is a skillful ruler who can summon her dragon, Drogon, to burn enemies with area of effect damage. As Breaker of Chains, she is a powerful leader who can heal allies, increase ally damage, and manipulate the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Jon Snow will be available in two versions as well, as Old Bear’s Steward and as King in the North. As the former, Jon is a rounded warrior who can also heal allies and enhance their attacks. As King in the North, he is a versatile and crafty commander who deals devastating blows and improves ally mobility and damage.
Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall is scheduled to launch later this year on the Google Play and the App Store. You may pre-register here for exclusive rewards, and visit the game’s site for more information.
The post Daenerys and Jon Revealed as Playable Characters in Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall RPG Mobile Game appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
Last week brought surprising Game of Thrones spin-off news, with Deadline dropping a scoop on Thursday: a second spin-off set in the world of Westeros is on the horizon, the publication reports, with a pilot centering on the legendary Dance of the Dragons possibly close to being ordered. Today, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin clarified the report and confirmed that we’re closer to another new Thrones show, in a new blog post.
Martin confirms right off the bat that the first new pilot, the one he prefers to call The Long Night and that has been called Blood Moon by production, has been in post-production and he expects to see a first cut soon. He also mentions that, “Last month in Belfast, I got a behind-the-scenes look at some of her sets, and they were spectacular.”
As for the new show being created by Ryan Condal, GRRM doesn’t tell us the title, but does say, “[It’s] not the obvious title.” This would imply it’s not “(The) Dance of the Dragons”, since that was the title everyone immediately landed on. He confirms the new work does have dragons, and “a script and a bible” and calls them “terrific, first rate, exciting.”
Martin is quick to clear up confusion about terminology surrounding the pilot vs script status, making it clear where they stand. “I do want to point out that ‘moving closer to a pilot order’ is NOT the same thing as ‘getting a pilot order.’ Would that it were. This is encouraging, this is exciting, but don’t buy the couch just yet. When HBO actually gives us a pilot order, you will hear me shouting it from the rooftops. A series order, and I’ll be shouting even louder. But we’ll see. Right now all the signs are good, but nothing is confirmed.”
Martin also confirms that this new script and potential show doesn’t have any affect on the Jane Goldman Blood Moon spinoff, as some have said it does.
For the complete blog entry, head on over to the Not a Blog. Forget about commenting though- he’s wisely disabled comments!
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