I wish I could tell you who will be playing Maester Luwin, Grand Maester Pycelle, the Hound, Ser Rodrik, Khal Drogo, Magister Illyrio, Gared, Will, Ser Waymar Royce, and Cersei Lannister… but those parts have not been cast yet, to the best of my knowledge.

A number of other parts have not been cast yet either. That list is by no means exhaustive.

We do have some great contenders, though, and of course I have my own favorites. A few of these might be filled by the end of the day tomorrow. Or not.

At this writing, the secret seven is still the secret seven.

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/>Music: Lovin’ Spoonful
… no news.

No announcements from HBO yet. Sorry, I have no idea when they will release the names of the six actors cast but not announced. Soon, I hope. I know the speculation has driven many of you quite mad.

Things are progressing, though. The production offices have opened in Belfast, and soon pre-production will be underway in earnest. We have had a postponement, though: filming will start two weeks later than previously announced, on October 26 rather than October 12. No big thing, just a tweak to allow David and Dan and the rest of the gang to get all the ducks in a row. On a project of this size, you can’t have crooked ducks.

I expect to hear that several more roles have been filled by week’s end. Though that doesn’t mean I will be able to tell you who has filled them. Sorry.

Having worked in television myself for ten years, I understand how tough the choices can be sometimes, and I understand what David and Dan and Tom McCarthy are going through:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK87ejPDZOk

So all I can say is… be patient, and all shall be revealed.

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Ooops. Just realized, I screwed up one of my clues. That was Juliet’s line, not Romeo’s.

Time to reread my Shakespeare, I guess.

Sorry about that.

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/>Music: Alright, Still
I know, I know. Still no announcement from HBO, alas, and I can’t say when and if it will be coming. I know that many of you are going mad with impatience. Me too, actually. Sure, I know who has been cast, but I’m dying to see the reactions.

But we’re all going to have to wait. HBO calls the tune. And while we have six roles filled but yet announced, others of equal importance still remain unfilled. HBO may very well be waiting until some of those pieces fall into place before making the next announcement.

Meanwhile, some of you are warm and some are very cold. One of my clues seems to have been puzzled out by many of you, so I will fess up and admit that you’re correct — yes, the line about “small but important” roles refers to two of the children. You will, alas, never get those two. Even if I told you their names, you’d never find ’em. They’re not on IMDB, and when you google ’em you get dozens of listings for other people who share their names, but none for the child actors. So they’re essentially unknowns… but I have seen their readings, and I think that both of them will be great.

That still leaves four adults you can try to figure out, though. And among the hundreds of theories and guesses, I’ve seen a couple of you getting it right… or coming close, riding the right theory to the wrong conclusion. So keep at it.

In the absence of an announcement, I’ll give you a few more clues. One cast member was played by a puppet. Another has been seen wandering a castle exclaiming about roses. A third is too good to be true. The fourth is the fifth. Esquire thinks one of them is hot.

‘Nuff said.

And while you guys are chewing on those, off in London and New York and LA and Dublin, casting continues. They’re reading for some smaller parts now: Gared, Ser Rodrik, Maester Luwin, and the like. Even for these “lesser” roles (you know the old chestnut, there are no small roles, only small actors), we’re seeing some great readings. David, Dan, and Tom are going to have some tough decisions to make. Me, I’m going out for coffee and a danish.

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One more part has been cast.

Can’t tell you about that one either.

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Music: Too Good to be True
Yes, three more roles have been cast for the GAME OF THRONES pilot, as David Benioff and Dan Weiss announced over on Westeros.

No, I can’t tell you who they are. HBO will make the announcements in due time, I’m sure. When? I don’t know. Tomorrow, next week, next month. They don’t consult with me. As I write this, I am aware of five parts that have been cast but not yet announced, but there could well be more. Things are moving quickly now. And of course, casting a role is not just a matter of picking an actor. Even after you decide who you want, there are offers and counter-offers, contract negotiations, a whole delicate dance that goes on. It is never wise to leak things prematurely. Sometimes that can actually throw a monkey wrench into the process.

I’m excited about the choices, though.

What can I say? Not much.

Maybe a few hints…

The five roles… well, we have cast Jaime Lannister and Theon Greyjoy, I let that slip in Montreal… the three new ones are all females. A couple small roles, but very important ones. One player has something in common with Ned. One has something in common with Harry Potter. One is not a boney pop singer. Shows can get cancelled and so can characters, but two of them have been seen on American tv recently.

And that’s all you’re getting from me, until HBO blows the trumpet.

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Hiya, kids, hiya, hiya, hiya.

I know some cool stuff.

You don’t.

And I can’t tell you yet.

(Yes, I am a monster of inhuman cruelty).

Well, maybe I’ll let slip a few things at the Montreal worldcon. Or maybe not. You’ll have to ply me with booze and plunk my magic twanger, and we’ll see.

Off on Tuesday…

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Well, Reuters has the story out already, so there’s no longer any reason for me to keep mum. Yes, the rumors you’ve been seeing all over the web the last few days are true. Another huge piece has fallen into place for the HBO pilot of A GAME OF THRONES — we have signed Sean Bean to play the part of Lord Eddard Stark.

For the movie fans out there, Sean Bean needs no introduction. I mean, what the hell, he was Boromir and he was Sharpe, he was terrific in both roles, and in a hundred other parts besides. I can’t imagine a better Ned. The deal took some doing, so my fingers have been crossed for a month now (and boy, that made it hard to type), but now it’s done, and I’m thrilled.

That’s only part of the exciting news, however. Casting has been proceeding apace these past six weeks or so — in New York and LA, London and Dublin, most recently in Australia. David and Dan and director Tom McCarthy have been looking all over the world for the right actors, and now they’ve filled some key roles as well.

For King Robert I Baratheon, we’ve got Mark Addy, a veteran British actor of stage and screen that many of you may remember from his fine turn in A KNIGHT’S TALE.

The roles of Joffrey Baratheon, the crown prince, and Viserys Targaryen, the beggar king, have also been filled… by Jack Gleeson and Harry Lloyd, respectively. Sorry, I haven’t been able to find pictures of them on the internet yet, though I’m sure they are out there somewhere. I’ve seen readings by both Gleeson and Lloyd, and both should be terrific.

And last, but certainly not least, the role of the bastard Jon Snow will be played by a young actor named Kit Harington. You probably haven’t heard of him yet… but you will, we’re confident. David and Dan can’t say enough about his talent and intensity.

Of course, there’s a lot more roles still to fill, including some very crucial ones like the Lannister twins, the Stark children, and Daenerys Targaryen, so the search will continue for awhile. But we’ve begun, and so far I couldn’t be happier. October is right around the corner.

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Great blog post from TIME magazine’s TV critic, urging HBO to pick up ICE & FIRE.

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/07/06/hbos-next-i-hope-great-drama

Needless to say, I share his hopes.

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Yes, HBO has been holding auditions for the pilot of A GAME OF THRONES. In London, in Ireland, even in LA. It’s been tough finding the right actors for the roles, however, so we’ve decided to take a different approach. We’re scrapping the whole live action thing, and we’ll be doing the show as an animated cartoon. And who better to take charge of that than the guys who have done such a great job with SOUTH PARK lo these many seasons?

They’ve jumped right into it, and we’ve already got our characters:

HOUSE STARK

HOUSE LANNISTER

HOUSE BARATHEON

HOUSE GREYJOY

HOUSE TYRELL

Can you dig it?

All together now. “You killed Ned. You BASTARDS!”

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