Report from Octocon panel

As promised, here is a report of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones panel today at Octocon with special guest Kristian Nairn. This report comes from loyal reader and Thrones superfan The Rabbit.

When I arrived at GRRM’s panel on screenwriting today scheduled at 2 pm, I noticed a familiar face sitting next to him at the table. It was like…who the hell is this big guy? I’ve seen him somewhere before? He has got a beard, some sort of silver hair…maybe another hidden Targaryen? In the next second it was like: OMG It is Kristian Nairn. It is our Hodor! He has arrived at last!

And I can tell you. Kristian is very nice, friendly, a geek himself
(as he stated) playing WoW for many years.

It was GRRM, obviously very pleased with Kristian’s presence at
Octocon, who posed many of the questions to him.

So, I am gonna relate as many answers as I was able to write
down. Thankfully, SerMountainGoat from Westeros forums was filming all the session, and promised to upload it on youtube. Yes, I have some pics too. But I must find a way to upload it from the camera.

Well, here is what Kristian has to say about GOT:

First of all, he stated, the sets are unbelievable, he said he
has not seen such a thing in his whole life. They shot most of his scenes in the Paint Hall and at Castle Ward so far. He would appear in 5 or 6 episodes, and yes they have been reshooting the pilot scenes with him.

He said he has read only the first book – and that it was amazing,
at which point he became kind of red in the face, saying this in front
of GRRM.

He pointed out that he was fascinated with kids and how they are
bonding together as a real family. There is also a small, funny story involving Kristian, Isaac and Kristian’s mobile..

He said Isaac is a fantastic kid – small and light. Then continued
“hopefully he would stay that way” – to much laughter. He also described the basket he uses – it is made of leather and it is very well crafted.

He mentioned his Vimeo audition and that he was not very pleased
with it himself. We got to that subject, because GRRM himself admitted he had been shocked by it. Positively.

He also described his costume as very simple but very warm, and
he has some trouble wearing it under all those lights on set.

It was a very funny moment when somebody asked: Are you afraid of
us fans? He answered: Not at all.

GRRM repeated many of the things he already mentioned at Worldcon. Pointed out once again the possibility of making ASOS into two seasons (if we get there) and making all the stuff of AFFC and ADWD all
together, not separately.

He mentioned once again his concern with the butterfly effect.
And the influence that the series eventually could produce on his
writings, he mentioned one character he might change a bit
due to that (I think it is Osha).

GRRM also stated that the composer has been picked up but not yet
announced.

Maybe there is more, but I think I wrote down the most
interesting things.

It was great! Great! Great!

Winter Is Coming: Many thanks to The Rabbit for this excellent report! Sounds like Kristian is having a blast on set. And it’s great to hear again how close all the Stark kids have become. And of course, more raving about the costumes and the sets.

Interesting that the composer has been selected, I wonder if this person is responsible for the score on the few videos that have been released already? Hopefully we get the announcement soon.

Great to have one of the cast members talk to the fans today, thanks to Kristian and thanks to GRRM!

UPDATE: LugaJetBoyGirl from the Westeros forums also has a report from the panel that fills in some of the things The Rabbit missed. Be sure to check it out to hear how Kristian had planned to enter the panel!

• Published on 10/17/2010 at 12:24 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 5:14 PM CDT