Benioff and Weiss talk season two

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are currently in Belfast, knee-deep in pre-production for season two of Game of Thrones. They took some time out of their schedule to chat with the Los Angeles Times about how the work is going so far and what to expect in season two. Here is some of what they had to say:

There are some big shifts between the first book and the second — different characters, new locations, huge battle scenes and new elements like … [spoiler redacted]. How closely are you sticking to the book?

Weiss: The book is always going to be our template, our go-to bible. It’s mainly about the balancing act between keeping the characters the viewers have spent so much time investing in front-and-center and introducing all these new characters George has come up with and giving them their fair share. That’s what we’re currently engaged in doing.

So you’re still rewriting?

Benioff: We’re definitely still rewriting. You start out with your dream scenario, and then the hard reality hits you and you make adjustments. We’re still in that adjustment phase. There’s a lot of writing and a lot of casting still. Most series if you get second season you’re done with most of the casting. With the second book and the second season, a whole slew of characters make their appearances.

Weiss: I’m sitting here looking at our casting grid, which is a grid of names and faces of all the characters. Last year I remember being so excited as I’d watch week after week — it gradually fills in and finally … you have this beautiful wall of faces that represents your cast. Now I’m looking at the grid again, and half the people are gone because they’ve been massacred wholesale. And now there’s a grid to be filled in again with a new group of people.

They provide even more interesting insights, however the interview could be considered quite spoilerish if you haven’t read A Clash of Kings just yet.

Of particular interest to me is Benioff’s answer to one question that seems to imply a certain event from the third book will be moved up into the second season. Don’t click past this point unless you’ve read A Storm of Swords as I am going to discuss this change and its implications. I repeat, we will be discussing major plot points from the first three books! You’ve been warned!

So everyone that is still here has read at least the first three books, right? No? You are only about halfway through book three? Turn back now or you will be spoiled! … Ok, that’s everyone, right? Good. Here is the part of the interview I am talking about:

What will happen to the major characters who remain mostly out of the action for Book 2? Will you keep the actors on retainer?

Weiss: In the book there are a couple of characters who have more of an offscreen role and come back in Book 3. But in the case of, say, Robb Stark — played by Richard Madden — he has more of an offscreen presence in the book, but Richard did such a fabulous job once his character came to the fore, he so commanded the screen that we realized there’s no way to talk about this guy and not have him in the show. So there are people offscreen in the book who we are going to write onscreen in the show to make sure people who viewers have fallen in love with are still there in the second season.

Benioff: In the case of Jaime Lannister, he’s got one scene in the second book, but he’s such an important character we want to see more of him. There’s fluidity in that certain scenes from the third book find their way into the second season just as certain scenes from the second book find their way into the end of the first season. We wanted to make sure those characters stayed in the audience’s mind and didn’t disappear for a whole year.

Winter Is Coming: Well it certainly seems like, based on David’s answer there, they will be moving Jaime’s release up into the second season. What I’m curious about is how much of his journey will they show in season two? Will it just be him setting off at the end of season two and the bulk of the journey will remain in season three? That seems unlikely since the answer was given in response to how they are going to handle off-screen characters. The whole point of the move was to give Jaime more screen time. That would imply that at least part of Jaime’s journey will be happening in season two. They can’t show the whole thing because Jaime doesn’t make it back to King’s Landing until after Joffrey’s wedding.

So where do they cut it off? At the risk of making a bad pun, I think Jaime losing his hand would make a good stopping point. Season three could then cover the remainder of his journey. The more I think about this change, the more I like it. It gives Jaime more to do in season two, provides a shocking ending for his season two storyline, and also gives them more time in season three to focus on other stuff. What do you guys think?

• Published on 06/16/2011 at 12:14 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:04 PM CDT