Woo-hoo-hoo!
I am THRILLED to report that one of the things that made me happy in January (#189, to be exact), is now making me even happier six weeks later!
HBO has officially greenlit the first season (ten episodes) of A Game of Thrones, an epic fantasy series based on the first book in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire saga. ArtsBeat blog at the New York Times has the scoop.
The cast is impeccable, with talents ranging from Sean Bean (of Lord of the Rings fame) to Lena Headey, Jennifer Ehle, Peter Dinklage, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from the short-lived New Amsterdam series. The full cast of the pilot (with pics!) can be found here.
The only news that’s a little disconcerting is that “the pilot episode of the series was written by David Benioff (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and D.B. Weiss (the author of Lucky Wander Boy), who are also among its executive producers.” I didn’t personally see X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but the 37% rating on Rottentomato’s Tomatometer and lackluster reviews all around doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in Benioff’s ability to pull off an adaptation worthy of Martin’s prodigious series.
Fortunately, the source material provides a phenomenal starting ground and author Martin has been considerably involved in the adaptation from the very beginning… so much so that he hasn’t had time to finish A Song of Ice and Fire’s long-awaited fifth book (much less the sixth or seventh).
Snap snap, R.R., time’s a wasting! Take a page from HBO’s playbook and make magic happen this year. Your devoted fans will love you for it.
