You haven’t seen anything yet: Game of Thrones has been officially renewed for a third season by HBO. The network ordered another round of the fantasy hit, which recently debuted its second season to record ratings, then followed up with a nearly identical performance this week.

The third season is expected to be more or less based on the first half of George R.R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords — the third novel of his “Song of Ice and Fire” series of fantasy best-sellers. Long a fan favorite of the book series,  Swords has several dramatic twists and confrontations (so … save the date!). Given the book’s length (the paperback edition is 1,216 pages) and action-packed content, producers plan to break up the novel into two seasons.

Martin wrote on his blog that season three is another 10-episode order, but HBO refuses to confirm. The author also notes he’ll pen the seventh episode, tentatively titled “Autumn Storms.” READ FULL STORY »

The wait for Game of Thrones season two is nearly over. Get ready for Sunday’s premiere with EW’s in-depth interview with writer-producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the showrunners behind HBO’s acclaimed fantasy series. Without revealing any major spoilers, find out which characters get more screen time this year, how the producers pulled off shooting dragons, battles, magic and direwolves, some of the changes from George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” book series, preliminary plans for a third season (yes, Book 3 will be split), and more.

What are some of the biggest challenges of season 2?
Weiss: It’s a bigger fish to fry. It needs to be real battles and dragons and direwolves. And we’ve got all these characters that you’ve hopefully have fallen in love with that we need to keep vibrant. We’ve got all these new people who hopefully will be equally compelling. The way George has dealt with that challenge is to start making the books longer. We will have that luxury if we’re lucky enough to be allowed to continue making the series. But in terms of each season, we got 10 episodes, and that’s literally all that’s conceivable to [produce] of this particular show.

Benioff: You know, what was scary during the first season is you’re doing all this work and you have no idea if it’s just gonna sink into the ocean without a trace. At least knowing that there’s a fan base out there that’s waiting for these shows … that helped a lot.

So it’s more visually grand this time?
Weiss: Yeah. Most shows, once you’ve got the office or the apartment building that it’s set in, you’ve got it.  You have that asset where the vast bulk of your principle action is going to take place. For us, we just keep adding new locations.

Like Iceland. How was that?
Benioff: The whole reason we’re going there, of course, is to better portray North of the Wall. We were actually facing the unsatisfying, extravagant, expensive possibility of snowing up a field in the middle of Ireland and having people walk into green screens. Or we could go to the most beautiful scene on earth and stick people on a the middle of a glacier. It’s just so much more exciting than shooting with a green screen.

Weiss: Our general approach with everything is if there’s something real that we can build on and use effects to turn into our world, that’s always better. It’s always going to be better to start with a real foundation, whether it’s a castle or a canyon encampment, or whatever. In Iceland, there’s not a damn thing you need to do. It looks like no other place on earth.

I heard there was a blizzard? Is that accurate? READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: HBO

For Game of Thrones season 2, expect to see more of one evil twin, and slightly less of the other.

Queen Regent Cersei (Lena Headey) has more screen time this year, while her twincest counterpart Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) awaits his fate in captivity.

For Headey, this means plenty of dramatic scenes with her less-loved brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and her monstrous son, King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). “You get a real glimpse into her guilt as a mother and her fear of what she’s created,” says Headey, whose several cool tattoos get covered by makeup to play Cersei. “She’s just starting to slightly crumble and feel the reality of her world. There’s a lot of drinking … also massive denial about her son’s behavior.”

Cersei’s isolation will prompt her to confide in a very unlikely person. “There’s a moment where she absolutely shows Tyrion her true self,” she hints. “He becomes like a sort of confidante — almost — because she has nobody else.”

Expect the queen to also continue her “masochistic mentor relationship” with Joffrey’s bride-to-be, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). “She can’t help but torture her,” Headey says. “I think that’s driven by her envy. She’s just f–king mean all season.”

Adds Turner: READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: HBO

“Blew my mind [but] made me really angry,” EW’s Sandra Gonzalez emailed yesterday morning after catching up on the first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. “Joffrey must die!”

Yup, it’s hard to watch Thrones’ debut season without wanting to snuff its most despicable villain — the teenage King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), who executed a popular character in the show’s ninth episode. But just wait until season 2 debuts Sunday. The premiere includes a new execution scene that’s likely to elicit gasps from viewers (don’t worry, we won’t spoil it). And a few episodes later, we find out what the young king might be like in the bedroom.

“With his coronation, his malicious deeds amplify tenfold,” Gleeson promises. “He thinks everyone should say yes to him ’cause he has the right to be where he is, so he doesn’t take no for an answer. There are scenes where I just do malicious things for no reason.”

Gleeson was taking questions from EW between filming Thrones last fall in Croatia. In fact, the actor was shooting the scene that opens Sunday’s premiere, set during the young king’s “nameday” party (Thrones-speak for birthday), where he naturally takes every opportunity to torment his subjects. READ FULL STORY »

I know, Game of Thrones fans, you’re probably feeling teased to death at this point and just want the HBO drama to start already (April 1). Don’t blame you, but … ohhh, I do like this poster. As you know, HBO has released several ads representing the various major factions in the war for the Iron Throne in season 2. This is for Daenerys Targaryen. Check it out below: READ FULL STORY »

Peter Dinklage sits in the stairwell of a centuries-old Croatian fort wearing his scuffed battle armor. A gap in the fort’s thick stone wall provides him with a view of a peaceful blue sea. “It’s so great,” Dinklage says, “not to be wearing a costume with Velcro on it.” It’s a great quip, dryly delivered, and sounds not entirely unlike his breakout Game of Thrones character, Tyrion Lannister. Taking a break between scenes on the set for Thrones season 2 last fall, Dinklage had recently picked up the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor, then returned back to work on the show’s eagerly anticipated second season. In addition to praising the Thrones team’s attention to wardrobe authenticity, the actor spoke to EW about his Emmy win, the new season and his hope for Tyrion’s future.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When your name was called at the Emmy’s, what was your first thought?
PETER DINKLAGE: “Uh-oh. I have to get up there in front of a lot of people.” I was a little shy about that, but it was a fun night. I promised myself I wouldn’t get too cynical about it and it was the best advice I could give myself.

Does the win change anything for you as an actor?
No. I mean, it’s lovely to be recognized. I can’t deny that, but life goes on. I love that we were shooting the show when the awards happened, because I wouldn’t have liked to have gone back home and sit there and stare at it.

You could be submitted for lead actor this time, given how much focus is on you this season.
I don’t know how that all works out, but yeah. We’ll see. [Note: Dinklage and HBO later decided to submit him and other cast members for the supporting categories]. Or maybe I can just blow the entire season and be terrible and they won’t want me.

Do actually worry that you might go on set and be bad? READ FULL STORY »

Another good sign for upcoming season of HBO’s Game of Thrones: Sales of the first season DVD set are going through the roof.

HBO has moved about 350,000 units in the first week since the show’s March 6 release. That’s the biggest first-seven-day tally for any TV series title in the network’s history — including  popular shows like The Sopranos, Sex and the City and True Blood.

With the Thrones second season trailer also setting network records, the fantasy drama seems poised to return to higher ratings than ever when it premieres April 1. For more details, check out EW’s nine-page Game of Thrones cover story in this week’s issue. For those watching the DVD, here’s EW.com’s first season recaps.

Image Credit: HBO

Emilia Clarke’s breakout performance as Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s Game of Thrones landed her on one of four Entertainment Weekly covers this week. Shooting in Croatia last fall, the 23-year-old actress took a break from playing the exiled dragon queen to talk to EW. Below, Clarke discusses her character in season 2, fan reactions, working with dragons, the show’s ratings, and more.

Warning: If you wish to know nothing about Dany’s story line in season 2, skip the first three answers below.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What’s your character going through at the start of this season?
EMILIA CLARKE: Things kind of suck, because when you last saw her, it’s like magic was being re‑awoken and it’s all wonderful. Now [she's in] complete and utter despair. She has dragons, but they are tiny. They’re babies. She doesn’t even know how to feed them. So, and she’s got all her people looking to her, including Jorah, and she’s losing the will to kind of see her way through it.

Does your story line pretty much follow the book? READ FULL STORY »