Cujoy

Kit's wedding is a little more than a week away. Wasn't he supposed to be finished by then?

I don't believe an anthology would work on TV either. It is the ongoing plight of the characters that keeps people hooked on long format shows such as GOT. I personally think that GOT is going to be "harvested" by Time Warner for more than just another TV series. They know they have a property that has captured the Zeitgeist of it's era the way Star Trek captured the imagination in the 60's/early 70's, Star Wars in the late 70's/80's, and Harry Potter/LOTR in the '00s. That kind of property doesn't die, but does get beaten until you wish it would. I think there will be a spin-off series on HBO, and wouldn't be surprised at all to hear that Time Warner wants to start a Big Summer movies franchise set in this world... So, yeah. Those other stories that are available out there such as Dunk & Egg or the Doom, or Dance of Dragons, are all probably fair game to be told on screen eventually in some format. That's what I think's going to happen.

I guess I'm just a total Pollyanna because I'm seeing the glass half full. I'm assuming that the human and political aspects of GOT will all still be there along with the magical threats and mysteries. If they aren't, it won't be worthy of the label "Game of Thrones". We'll also have new takes on the ancient families we've been following since GRRM created them in the 90's. We all have assumptions about Bran the Builder, Lan the Clever and Duran Godsgrief, because of the Houses they founded. If this show is true to it's parent show, all those assumptions will be turned on their head. Maybe Lan the Clever will be one of the protagonists and House Casterly will be the big bad. Maybe Bran the Builder is drunkard everyone thinks is a lunatic going on about White Walkers. The big elephant in the room for any prequel series is that everyone knows what the outcome is. We will know that somehow the end game will involve a final pact with the Children and building the Wall. We'll know that the Stark, Lannister and Duran dynasties will be founded. I'm also personally grateful that it's not a Targ-fest, as GRRM has that covered with all his detailed histories and side stories. I'm also very relieved it isn't Robert's Rebellion, because that is covered adequately in the novels and the series. I feel that ground is well tended, but the history of Westeros before the Targ's is much more wide open. (That being said, I'm also totally open to a future series or movie or novel about the Doom of Valyria.) Editing to add - Casting will be everything. I wonder if once they start casting if we'll know who the lead characters will actually be.

I'm thrilled with the idea of a Stark Centric series set during the first Long Night! I have been expecting the Doom of Valyria and more Targs because of GRRM's obvious keen interest in continuing to tell their story. But if this becomes the series GRRM will be an executive producer on it. I am pleased with what we know so far! I wonder if there will be a second pilot. If so, my money is still on the Doom.

I would be surprised if Jon & Dany ended up ruling together at the end just because of the kind of series this is... i.e. one that includes the Red Wedding. There is also too much potential prophecy around them both i.e "prince/princess that was promised". That kind of destined hero/heroine tends to be the kind who don't have power at the end, but rather quietly disappear, as Frodo did. The other options include Jon or Dany alone, and dark horse pairings such as Sansa/Tyrion and Arya/Gendry. I think Sansa/Tyrion being a Stark/Lannister pairing would be a perfect shout out to the way the real War of the Roses ended. Regarding what the cast members say in interviews, I think that the words that they choose to describe the season before it airs have to be carefully chosen and sufficiently vague so as to communicate basically nothing. So I always take a huge grain of salt when reading anything that they say.

I do not see any satisfying sending to Game of Thrones that involves Dany in any way sacrificing her child. That isn't "bittersweet". I do, however, easily see Dany sacrificing her metaphorical children, the dragons. I also think that if Dany is responsible for burning down KL, even if it is forced upon her by the NK, that is enough reason for Dany to be horrified, and perhaps refuse the throne. She didn't touch the throne in the burned out throne room during her HotU vision, so it could well be. I am leaning towards this show ending with neither Jon nor Dany on the throne.

Emilia, Maisie and Sophie will almost certainly be at the wedding. I expect D&D will be there and many others including former cast members. If everyone comes they're going to need a huge wedding venue. LOL

Maybe Dany's sacrifice is to blow up King's Landing in order to destroy the NK & AOTD. She would save the world, but sacrifice tens of thousands in order to do it. It would be supremely ironic, and very bittersweet. (And maybe they find a way to evacuate as many people as possible before destroying the city, and the rest are already ice zombies anyway...) But still, Dany would be responsible for burning down the city that her father once threatened to burn out of madness.

A Bran vision? For the last two seasons, Bran's character has existed on the show almost exclusively to deliver information via his visions. His presence there screams, to me that this is an important scene for Bran. Jamie and the Night King are both important characters in Bran's storyline, and they have both been in his visions before. Sam and of course his siblings are obviously very important to him too. If it is a Bran vision scene, then it doesn't guarantee that a character's presence in Seville equals that they survive to the end of the series. That could be a possible reason why D&D don't mind the actors showing themselves. Whatever it is, whatever is happening is important because of the setting the producers chose for it, and the cast that is involved.