George R.R. Martin (HBO)
“I may have to start killing some of these characters to make room for new ones.”
George R.R. Martin’s joke while serving as the moderator for the panel devoted to HBO’s epic fantasy series “Game of Thrones” at Comic-Con International on Friday in Hall H really resonated given the large number of characters that feature in the show, adapted from Martin’s novels. But the biggest casting news came last, with the announcement that genre icon Diana Rigg would be signing on as Olenna Redwyne, the Queen of Thorns. Rigg is most widely known for her role as Emma Peel in the ’60s British TV series “The Avengers.”
Among the other new cast members highlighted via a short video montage were Mackenzie Crook (from the British iteration of “The Office” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies) as Orell, Clive Russell as Brynden “The Blackfish” Tully, Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon, Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion, Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed and Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr.
The cast members who did make it to San Diego this year included only one returning performer from last year’s panel – Emilia Clarke. She was joined by Michelle Fairley, Alfie Allen, Rose Leslie, Richard Madden and series producer Carolyn Strauss. The rest of the cast is currently overseas where the third season is already in production. It is set to premiere March 31, 2013.
Actresses Emilia Clarke, left, and Rose Leslie speak at the “Game of Thrones” panel. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
As moderator, Martin seemed quite proud of the sexual content of the show, making frequent references to his “co-creator,” a 13-year-old breast-obsessed boy who was invented in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch earlier this year that explained just why so many actresses appeared nude on the show. He apologized to the fans that neither the show’s creators, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, nor the supposed 13-year-old co-creator could make it to Comic-Con.
“There was a scene in Belfast with no boobies in it and he needed to go there to put that to rights.”
Martin also prodded the actors to discuss their frequent nudity during the series. To Allen, he said, “You’ve had a lot of sex scenes, all thanks to things I wrote…. And I haven’t even gotten a box of chocolates.”
To Madden he said, “So Richard, you’ve got a sex scene too this season.”
When asked whether he preferred his love story lines or his war story lines, Madden responded that he much preferred the swordplay his role required him to display over his romantic story lines.
Martin seemed incredulous. “So you liked getting hit on the head better than all the naked sex scenes?”
He also prodded the actresses on the panel, including Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, who traveled to the middle eastern-inspired city of Qarth in the second season. In Martin’s original books, the Qarth-ian wardrobe included a gown that bared the breasts of the women wearing them. In the series, the attire was considerably more covering.
“My 13-year-old producer in charge of boobies has fallen down on the job,” he told Clarke. “Someone has changed the design of the Qarth-ian gown.”
“We did change it slightly,” Clarke responded. “So we could be more warm.”
– Patrick Kevin Day
RECENT AND RELATED
‘Thrones’: What’s in a name? Everything
‘Thrones’ makes ‘LOTR’ look like child’s play
George R.R. Martin: Vanguard of the genre wars
‘Game of Thrones’ duo: ‘No complacency’
‘Game of Thrones’: Lena Headey’s dark role
‘Buffy’ star Amber Benson turns a page
Rothfuss: Fantasy needs to move past dragons
‘Harry Potter’ series finally goes digital
‘Star Trek Destiny’: Borg epic comes full cube
Comments
Print
Read Later
Our legion of super contributors is led by Hero Complex editor Gina McIntyre and 
Sophomoric.
Martin is a dirty old man. Hearing him talk about boobies is vomitous.
you could tell he made Emilia uncomfortable when he jokingly complained about her not having her breasts exposed for the whole second season. Also the audience questions were the only not-awkward part because GRRM's moderating was kind of terrible
Come on you prudes. The books had practically no sex compared to the current hot 50 topics. The qarthian dresses would have been a breakthrough in costume design.
you are correct, he eluded to it, like the knight of flowers but never came out with men kissing either.
Diana!
It is kind of funny about people complaining about sex and nudity but not a word about gratuitous violence.
I really can't wait for the upcoming season. Bring on the nudit…errr the action!
The difference between an archetype and a cliché is, I think, whether the author pulls it off. One doesn't dismiss the use of humans as a cliché, why well-established non-humans from myth? (Titans, gods, faeries, dragons, elf/svartelf, etc.)
Does the author make you care about the characters and their problems, or not? And does the author deliver when resolving them? That's what it's about.
We're not going to "get past" innocent young characters, old wise characters, wizards, dragons, faeries, or anything else; we're just going to have good stories and the other kind. http://cdragons.livejournal.com
Yes the show has gory violence, yes there's boobage. However wheres more " Full Monty " shots ? regardless the production is and flawless. Actors are wonderful, sets are incredible & the writing top notch. I've read the books and no the series isn't adhering to canon, good.
"Hodor," said Hodor.