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HBO Picks Up Thrones, Places Bet on Dustin Hoffman

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | March 3, 2010 | +
HBO

While I was in New Orleans, visiting the set of Treme and seeing the premiere screening of The Pacific, HBO was keeping  busy on its next generation of series. First came news that Dustin Hoffman will star in the pilot of Luck, the horse-racing drama from David Milch and Michael Mann. It’s not guaranteed to make it to series. But if you’re a betting man/woman, are you going to wager on the headline “HBO Passes on Hoffman/Milch/Mann Series”?

Best of all, yesterday HBO announced that it’s picked up the much-anticipated (by me among others) fantasy series Game of Thrones. Some thoughts, and HBO’s announcement and cast list, after the jump:

As I’ve said before, I think this is the perfect match for HBO. The Song of Ice and Fire books that it’s based on, by George R. R. Martin, have the kind of literary complexity and fine moral shading that great HBO series are known for: they do for fantasy what Deadwood did for the Western, that is, dirty up and morally complicate a genre often (though not always) known for black-and-white portrayals.

We’re also going to be done with Lost after May, and I really believe that this series (probably due in 2011), with its numerous factions and complex mythology, could if not exactly replace Lost, at least scratch a similar itch. (It even involves, among its many parties, a mysterious sinister group known as the Others.) If anyone thinks fantasy can’t be widely popular, may I introduce you to Mr. Peter Jackson.

Of course, unlike Lost, it will be based on already-published books, but the series is not yet finished—to the frustration of some fans, who wish Martin would drop the TV idea and just write the books. It also raises the question of a successful Thrones series running out of story. I say worry about that high-class problem if it comes up; maybe the pressure of TV deadlines will even light a fire under the novelist.

Besides, how can you not love Martin? He announced the pickup on his blog by posting a YouTube clip of the Peanuts kids doing a happy dance! Could you imagine J.R.R. Tolkien announcing something on his blog with Peanuts kids doing a happy dance on YouTube?

No, I declare this unambiguously great news, and I shall not be gainsaid! HBO’s announcement follows:

GAME OF THRONES SERIES PICKUP

Series commitment is pilot plus nine episodes
Production is set to begin in Belfast, Northern Ireland in June 2010

LOG LINE:
Based on the series of books by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is an epic
struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom.

PILOT CREDITS:
David Benioff Executive Producer
D.B. Weiss Executive Producer
Tom McCarthy Director
Carolyn Strauss Co-Executive Producer
Guymon Casady Co-Executive Producer
Vince Gerardis Co-Executive Producer
Ralph Vicinanza Co-Executive Producer
George R.R. Martin Co-Executive Producer
Joanna Burn Producer
Mark Huffam Producer
Frank Doelger Producer

PILOT SCRIPT:
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Based on the series of books “A Song of Ice and Fire,” by George R.R. Martin.

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER PILOT CAST SERIES REGULARS:
Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon
Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy
Sean Bean as Eddard Stark
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jamie Lannister
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark
Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon
Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
Kit Harrington as Jon Snow
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen
Richard Madden as Rob Stark
Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryen
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark

ALSO FEATURING:
Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel
Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo
Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin

Related Topics: game of thrones, HBO, luck, Uncategorized

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  • katy93

    Sean Bean? The Vicar and I are in.

  • charlieromeobravo

    This is great news. HBO is exactly the right home for Game of Thrones. The books are long, complex, and pretty graphic. Only HBO would be able to produce this series and let the books come to life without heavy editing for time or censorship issues. My only fear is Deadwood and Rome. I hope that HBO is all in and won’t decide that the show is too expensive to produce after running a season or two. Rome at least had some notice that they were being canceled and had the opportunity to wrap the show up somewhat. Deadwood will forever more be HBO’s mark of shame. Let’s hope they learned a lesson there and aren’t going to repeat it.

  • mimsysnark

    Game of Thrones getting picked up is indeed great news for the world at large, but terrible news for me, as I have no HBO:( Sigh.

  • shara says

    Yippee! This is a show that I have really been excited about since I first heard of it. I’ve never read the books but have heard good things, so now I won’t read the books until after the show has run its course. The cast looks awesome – and even though it seemed like a sure bet to be picked up to series, its still a relief to hear it confirmed!!!

  • Rorschach

    In a perfect world the series will be a great refresher for when the next book eventually comes out.

    In a terrible world the series will be a reminder of how incredible the series was and how disappointed we are that the books will never end. I don’t want to get Wheel of Time’d on this.

  • nycgeoff

    Uh oh, it stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Perfectly nice but desperately unlucky actor. The series doesn’t have a chance.

  • rosseau

    Milch and Mann together? I just had a heart attack. Actually I always wanted Mann to work with Tarantino in adapting James Ellroy’s American Tabloid books into a multiple season limited series.

  • matthew31415

    I can totally imagine J.R.R. Tolkien announcing something on his blog with Peanuts kids doing a happy dance.

  • profdante

    I am soooo excited that Game of Thrones got picked up!! Now I can go out and add HBO to my cable lineup — do you hear me HBO? this has prompted me to spend $$ on your product, so don’t blow it!

  • sirmon

    @#1 yes, Sean Bean.

    Heads are gonna roll but the audience will love it nonetheless.

  • macevangelist

    Sean Bean… interesting.
    I always figure Eddard more in the mold of Faramir, not Boromir ;))

  • relativepragmatism

    @ 10 careful…haha

  • katy93

    I guess there’s not a lot of crossover between Vicar of Dibley fans and Martin devotees. My bad. Not that Sean Bean’s a bad choice–he should be right at home.

    I’m actually more excited about Mark Addy and Kit Harington, and about seeing Tyrion on screen! (I kind of think that’s worth the price of admission right there, but the premium channel packages with my cable company are obscenely expensive, so maybe not.)

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