From England, England hails this fellow, an ideal choice. He’s been a madman, a nut, a spud, a martian, a king, and a slaver, he’s gone up with a balloon and down with a ship. But why he is so sad when he’s stroked so many women?

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And this year it’s… drum roll, please… GAME OF THRONES.

GOT just took the “Outstanding New Program” award at the 2011 TCA awards, voted by the members of the Television Critics of America, an organization of professional television critics, reviewers, and journalists.

Here’s the scoop:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/friday-night-lights-game-thrones-220054

Goes without saying that we’re all jazzed.

Thanks to all the members of the TCA for the recognition, and to Dan and David and the rest of their team, whose efforts produced a series we can all be proud of.

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Down under he was the voice of wisdom.

Later on he was the voice of everyone.

Now he’s wisdom.

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His fate is one that Derek Jacobi has tasted twice.

He knew Indiana Jones, has hung with droids and jedi, thrice contended for a Larry, winning once. He’s been a knight (often), an archbishop (twice), a dean, a priest, a doctor.

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I see you guys are just as sharp as ever. The long layoff between first and second season casting hasn’t made you rusty. Once again, you nailed my obscure hints within minutes.

Well, okay, I did fool a few of you. For a couple minutes, anyway. But others correctly puzzled out the casting. The part of Brienne, Maid of Tarth, will be played by British actress GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE.

This was another one of those cases where there was hardly any debate. The day the first batch of auditions went up for the role, we looked at a dozen actresses who were reading for Brienne and one actress who WAS Brienne. Gwendoline gave a great reading, and her look was just perfect. No, when she auditioned, she did not look she does in the photo above. She came in looking… well, like Brienne.

As for my clues… Christie played in a music video called DAMARIS, which includes a song about Isabelle, the She-Wolf of France (wife of King Edward II, for the history nerds out there), and played in Shakespeare’s CYMBELINE at the Barbican theatre. She also posed for Australian photographed Polly Borland for a show called “Bunny.”

She also appears in the recent IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSAS, though I did not use that one in my clues.

Gwendoline will be a great Brienne. It’s a thrill to have her join the cast.

Congratulations to everyone who figured it out… and for those who guessed wrong, well, better luck next time.

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The she-wolf of France has stormed the barbican. The Aussie turned her into a bunny.

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For all of you out there waiting for some casting hints… alas, it appears that Froggy will not be able to pluck his magic twanger here until next month.

Which is not to say that no one will be cast. In fact, half a dozen roles (some major, some minor) have already been cast — that is to say, after watching dozens of audition tapes for every role, D&D have chosen the actors they want. That’s the first step of the process (actually, it’s the third or fourth step, if you go all the way back to the start, which begins with Nina Gold winnowing through hundreds of resumes and eight-by-ten glossies and speaking to dozens of agents. but it’s the first step that involves me). The second step is submitting the choice to HBO for approval. Once the actor or actress is approved, the third and final step is negotiating the deal and getting a contract signed.

Needless to say, I can only unleash Froggy to torment you when all three steps have been completed. It would be pretty embarassing to announce a casting only to have to retract because we could not close the deal. That does not happen often, mind you… but it DOES happen. Every deal is unique and negotiations can often drag on. Every agent wants to get the best possible deal for his or her client, understandably.

As I write, well, we have sent five or six choices to HBO for approval, and I’m given to understand that all of them have been approved, so now we are in the throes of hammering out terms with each of those actors. I’d hoped that two or three of the deals would be set by now, so I could give you madmen a few hints (which you would then solve in twelve seconds, but that’s beside the point)… but that hasn’t happened.

And tomorrow morning I leave for Poland, and will not be posting here often, if at all. Some of our castings may firm up as early as next week, but I won’t be around to hint at them, so expect HBO will announce the players on its own website… or perhaps through some of the TV journalists who have been following the show so faithfully. So watch the web pages and TV columns of HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, TIME, THE DAILY BEAST, AOL, etc for announcements about the second season. And Froggy will return when I do.

Speaking of my trip… maybe it is good that I am getting out of the country, with “Baelor” scheduled to air tonight. Those of you who have read the novel will have a good idea of what’s happening this week, just from the title (but PLEASE don’t discuss it here, unless you want your post deleted), but there are millions of viewers who have no idea and some of them may soon be turning up on my virtual doorstep with virtual pitchforks and torches.

It does give me pause to realize there are only two more episodes left in season one. Tonight and next week, and we are done. So many years of development to get to this point — contracts and options, endless negotiations, writing, rewriting, re-rewriting, casting, shooting the pilot, waiting for pickup, more casting, location scouts, shooting the series, all the build-up and promotion and previews and trailers and teasers and then finally we are on the air, and WHAM, ten weeks and it is over. Those ten weeks have flashed by in a blur. We do have the second season, of course. We start filming in July, and the start date is rushing at us like a freight train… but it is going to feel odd not to have a new episode to watch, two Sundays from now.

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GAME OF THRONES has been nominated in the Best Drama category of the new Critics Choice Awards. Check out the full list of nominees here:

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/06/06/critics-choice-television-awards/

It’s an impressive list of nominees. Congratulations to David and Dan and the cast and crew and support staff at HBO, all the great folks who worked so hard to make the show the success it seems to be. Great work, guys!

((And yes, I do wish some of our cast had gotten nominated as well. We have some amazing actors on GAME OF THRONES. Traditionally, though, fantasy and SF have always been overlooked in the acting categories. But maybe we’ll do better in the Emmys and Golden Globes))

On other fronts… Sunday’s episode, “The Pointy End,” got the highest ratings of the season. The show is building. I suspect that this record will endure until… well, Sunday.

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