Game of Thrones Season 4 Poster: ALL MEN MUST DIE

The countdown is on for HBO’s jaw dropping, spine tingling fourth season of Game of Thrones and just to wet your appetite EW has revealed its marketing poster. It featuring the deadly expression “valar morghulis” which means “all men must die” in High Valyrian. But don’t worry it’s in English on the poster for all of us non-Valyrian speaking simpletons. These words are only outshone by the steel black crow that appears to be coming apart in dangerously sharp pieces of metal. It is also reminiscent of the King’s chair otherwise known as the iron throne which has the same barbs of steel. Who will be struck by death this time?

The fourth season will roughly be based the second half of on George R. R. Martin’s third GOT installment, A Storm of Swords, with some bits taken from the fourth and fifth books of the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

What do you think of this year’s poster?

HBO’s fantasy hit returns on April 6.

‘Game of Thrones’ Casts Major Season 4 Role: Oberyn the Red Viper

The most anticipated new role coming to the fourth season of Game of Thrones has been filled! Thanks to EW we now know that Prince Oberyn Martell will be played by Chilean actor Pedro Pascal, who has previously had roles on CBS’ The Good Wife, ABC’s Red Widow and USA’s Graceland.

For those who haven’t read the books, here’s a spoiler-free description of the character: Oberyn is a brash, charming, cunning prince of Dorne (part of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros). His sister Elia was brutally murdered by the Lannister knight Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane when Mad King Aerys was overthrown by Robert Baratheon and the Lannisters. In season four, Oberyn comes to King’s Landing with revenge on his mind.

Oberyn Martell has a pretty awesome nickname too – The Red Viper. What could the story behind this nickname be? We’ll probably find out next season!

“This was a tough one,” showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss said about the casting. “The Red Viper is sexy and charming, yet believably dangerous; intensely likable, yet driven by hate. The boys love him, the girls love him, and he loves them all back. Unless your last name is Lannister. We found a fellow who can handle the job description and make it seem effortless. He wasn’t easy to find and he won’t be easy to stop.”

HBO hasn’t yet announced its Comic-Con plans, but if you’re headed to San Diego, it’s safe to assume Thrones will have a presence this year. Game of Thrones returns in 2014.

If you want to know more about what’s coming for Game of Thrones Season 4 check out this article. And if you’re a book fan eagerly awaiting George R.R. Martin’s next book in his acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire series, read all the details we know so far on The Winds of Winter.

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 4: Alliser Thorne Returns

Good news GoT book fans! British actor Owen Teale has announced that he will be reprising his role as Alliser Thorne in Game of Thrones Season 4.

Wales Online recently spoke to the Welsh-born Teale about his current theatre project, and in the interview, Teale revealed that he will be back for Season 4 of Game of Thrones.

This season’s 10 episodes will cover the second half of the third book in the series, A Storm of Swords and probably delve into events within A Feast for Crows.

Just in case you’re solely a tv show fan of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series, Alliser Thorne was last seen in season 1 of Game of Thrones. He is the Night’s Watch master-at-arms, and also trains new recruits who arrive at the Wall.

In the first season, Thorn tries to force the other new recruits to beat up Samwell Tarly, until Jon Snow comes to Sam’s rescue. This forever turns Thorne against Jon, and prompts him to come up with the mean-spirited nickname “Lord Snow.”

Lord Commander Mormont sends Thorne away from the Wall, to plead with Joffrey Baratheon to send more men to the Night’s Watch to fight the threat in the North.

In Season 4, we will see Thorne return to Castle Black, the same place Jon has journeyed back to.

Game of Thrones season 4 premieres in 2014 on HBO.

For more Season 4 news check out Looking to the Future: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 4

Looking to the Future: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 4

HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones is over for another year after a thrilling third season. After shocking and blowing the minds of fans all over the world, we can already confirm that the next season will be just as thrilling – if not more so!

Although no reports have confirmed an official start date, it’s speculated that Season 4 of Game of Thrones will begin late March/ early April 2014, following the usual scheduling it has been given in the past few seasons.

Season 4 will pick up where we left off, about 2/3 of the way through A Storm of Swords, the book written by Game of Thrones mastermind George R.R. Martin. The filmmakers have been incoroprating future events from later books also, but for the most part we  can expect that the next season will cover mostly A Storm of Swords and perhaps a little of A Feast for Crows. Filming for the next season will begin July. Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss confirmed the filming start date as July 8 in a recent interview with KCRW UpClose.

“Right now we’re writing Season 4,” Benioff and Weiss explained. “We start shooting July 8, and we have to have all 10 scripts ready before we start shooting, because we crossboard the entire season. So, scenes from the final episode might be shot the first week of production. And then we finish shooting, we go straight unto post-production, and also outlining the coming season.”

Three new characters for Game of Thrones season four, as confirmed by Geroge R.R. Martin himself, will be Wildling leader Magnar of Thenn, Margaery’s unimpressive father Mace Tyrell and the Red Viper Oberyn Martell. Since Oberlyn will definitely be seen in season four of Game of Thrones, it’s been rumored that Ellaria Sand, Oberlyn’s lover, will also join the cast of characters.We can’t wait! If you’re feeling some Game of Thrones withdrawal and are a book reader (or TV show fan looking to be spoiled) read up on all the news and facts we have for Martin’s next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter.

What The HBO ‘Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding Bloodbath Means For GoT Book Readers

So last night we finally saw the scene we’d all been waiting for since George R.R. Martin released his famous ending for big brother Stark and Momma Stark way back in 2000. (Yeah it’s been a little of 12 years since Robb died in book world. Crazy huh?) From the reactions on twitter I think we can all be assured that TV viewers were shocked out of their seats when Walder Frey turned the tables on the Starks and effectively wiped them off the political map. Without Robb, Catelyn and Ned there are no Starks left to wage war against the Lannisters.

But book readers know what happens after this particular event so what about the divergences between screen and book that could have an affect on the books? One particular event that occurred last night may have most readers feeling pretty satisfied with Martin’s playful twist a few episodes back – I’m talking about the horrid death of pregnant Talisa, Robb’s queen, in which she is stabbed multiple times in the stomach. I guess despite Walder Frey’s snide sexually explicit jibe about Talisa’s body standing upright even when her clothes are off, he knew that Robb had a little prince or princess on the way, thus the direct attack on Talisa’s stomach when the assassin went to begin the bloodshed that would end with Catelyn’s death.

As book readers know, Talisa was actually not Talisa in A Storm of Swords, her name was Jeyne Westerling, and we don’t know if she had been pregnant because Robb left her behind at Riverrun when he went to the Twins to attend his uncle’s wedding. Last week we questioned Geroge R.R. Matin’s motives for writing in Talisa’s pregnancy when it so diverged from the book. Had Jeyne actually been pregnant and Martin was giving  us a big tease for future unpublished books? Was Talisa lying and part of a bigger plot to take down the Starks? No it turns out he was just creating a bigger shocking death for poor Robb’s wife. But the speculator in me wonders whether Martin has different ideas… this theory is full of holes and stretches thinly, but what if Martin brings back Jeyne in the future? It was no surprise that Martin wasn’t really happy with the way the producers had changed his character entirely from the one we knew in the books. What if Talisa dies but like some certain other characters we know, gets brought back to life by someone with red magic? It would be crazy  and probably unlikely, particularly as she would surely not be able to have any children, particularly the one who was just killed. But maybe Jeyne, another girl in the show, is brought in and had already given birth to Robb’s child? Thus allowing Martin to have his Jeyne and heir to Robb’s throne.

Nevertheless, in the show Robb did not name Jon his heir as he does in the books, and so we are left wondering, who will have Winterfell in the show? Who is Robb’s heir, if any, and does it matter in the end with the Starks left on the sidelines of the playing field?

Speculations! Speculations! If only George R.R. Martin could finally release The Winds of Winter! Until then enjoy next Sunday’s season finale of Game of Thrones!

Twitter Reacts to ‘Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding, Book Excerpt That Ended The Starks

Last night we saw the craziest, most shocking scene, that Game of Thrones has offered to date and many fans took to Twitter to voice their strong opinions. Lena Headey, actress who plays Cersei Lannister, mourned the loss of her on screen nemesis, and others not connected to the show felt the shocking end of some of their favorite characters moved them more than they expected. Check some of them out below and scroll down further to read the awesome piece of writing that Martin published 13 years ago in A Storm of Swords, to end Catelyn’s life.

“It hurts so much, she thought. Our children, Ned, all our sweet babes. Rickon, Bran, Arya, Sansa, Robb… Robb… please, Ned, please, make it stop, make it stop hurting… The white tears and the red ones ran together until her face was torn and tattered, the face that Ned had loved. Catelyn Stark raised her hands and watched the blood run down her long fingers, over her wrists, beneath the sleeves of her gown. Slow red worms crawled along her arms and under her clothes. It tickles. That made her laugh until she screamed. “Mad,” someone said, “she’s lost her wits,” and someone else said, “Make an end,” and a hand grabbed her scalp just as she’d done with Jinglebell, and she thought, No, don’t, don’t cut my hair, Ned loves my hair. Then the steel was at her throat, and its bite was red and cold.— Catelyn Stark”

– A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin