Finally on the agenda for us here today is the panel for Game Of Thrones, which recently wrapped up its second season.
As we left things, the White Walkers were advancing south to the Wall, Daenerys Targaryen left Qarth with her baby dragons ready to cross the Narrow Sea and claim the Iron Throne, while Winterfell was destroyed and the displaced Starks wandered off northwards to seek Jon Snow.
Personally, I'm still not over Sean Bean being killed off.
With filming on season three about to begin - but not airing until next April - fresh scoop may be thin on the ground today, but stick with us over the next hour or so to find out!
Note that all times in this live blog are Pacific, which is eight hours behind UK time and three hours behind East Coast.
3.46pmAnd with that, this panel is a wrap! Thanks for joining me today!
3.45pmSCOOP! Season three will premiere March 31, 2013
3.44pmFinal question. What does Clarke see as DT's vulnerabilities? "I think that's what we saw in season two, her self-doubt. It's something she comes up against and up against. She's so protective of her people and her dragons... it keeps her human and linked in with something very real and noble, as opposed to just wanting the throne for the throne's sake."
3.42pmDid the actors read the books? Madden: "Some of the actors try to stay away from it, but for me, it's great source material. We want to try and make it as honest as we can to George's work. It's a gift to have an amazing script that comes from amazing source material. I read season by season to not pre-empt myself to keep the surprises coming for me. But the books are great, we just love to read them anyway."
3.40pmA boy from Iceland asks a question to George: what's his turtle sigil all about? "Turtles have always been my sigil. When I was a kid growing up in NJ I lived in a federal housing project. The only pets we were allowed were turtles. They all lived in toy castles, so I gave them all names and made them kings and knights, and came up with stories about how they all killed each other. So GoT actually started with turtles."
3.38pmClarke: "I kind of think every choice DT makes is morally justified. It's never a matter of right or wrong, I think it's incredibly circumstantial. That's the beauty of it and why each character is so rich."
3.37pmGeorge appears to be slagging off Tolkein.
3.36pmStrauss: "Fantasy shows are normally good versus evil, but what George managed to create are really complex human characters. This show brings out... it's not just the production value, but what it boils down to are complex stories, really well told and acted beautifully."
3.34pmA woman called Kendra, not of Buffy, asks their fave filming location. Madden: "Winterfell. Those sets were all authentic. They burnt incense while we were filming, so each part had a different scent. That's where I was at my happiest."
3.33pmIf you had a sigil what would it be? Allen: "An Arsenal badge." Madden: "I'd be a wolf, for sure." Clarke: "I think I'm just going to stick with my dragons."
3.32pmExtended talk about gowns.
3.30pmDo they enjoy wearing the costumes? Madden: "I love wearing mine. It affects everything. With Robb, I'm in all my armour and leather, it changes the way I walk and breather, which helps me get into character. As soon as you've got your sword, it's a dream."
3.29pmMadden: "All of the scenes I get with Michelle, I adore. We have a great time together in our tent." Fairley: "Fully clothed! He is my son."
3.28pmFairley: "I loved working with Richard last year. My favourite was the last one we did, where I reminisced with you and you told me no."
3.28pmAudience Q&A time. Most enjoyable scene to film this season? Allen: "I liked my last scene, the sort of speech. It was funny, and good getting knocked out."
3.27pmOn working with her baby: "I'm actually her surrogate aunt. She's called Renn, she's beautiful. She didn't really like filming with me, so I'm surprised they got as many scenes as they did with me. Also she liked to break wind, which was good for the focus."
3.26pmClarke on the House of the Undying scenes: "It was amazing getting to film there, because I never get to be there. It was nice to get so clone to the throne."
3.25pmClarke: "For season one I had a lime green sausage." She's talking about her dragons, people.
3.23pmMadden on the Direwolves scenes: "It's a fantastic silver ball on the end of a big wooden stick. I just get told where to put my hand, how high, and where to tickle him behind the ear and stuff like that. I just have a massive silver ball. Sometimes we have a big stuffed teddy bear Direwolf, which is not fierce at all."
3.20pmIt turns out George was getting at an anecdote where the execs gave Alfie a fake script where Theon was killed by Bran Stark. He believed it until they proposed that he would become a naked zombie in the new season.
3.18pmAlfie Allen seems to be getting confused and frustrated by George. They're arguing over whether he died last season.
3.16pmApparently GoT shot simultaneously in four different countries. Strauss: "I'm a little lucky because I pop in and out, but the guy I feel sorry for is the guy with all the little coloured rectangles trying to schedule everything. He does an incredible job with math and geometry. It's a Herculean task getting all these guys and the crew where they need to be."
3.15pmThe very mention of Emilia Clarke is provoking lots of whoops from males in the crowd.
3.13pmLeslie was born and raised in a castle, apparently. "It's definitely not Winterfell. But yes, up in Aberdeenshire is where I was brought up. It was cold and draughty." Is there a dungeon? "There is. Me and my siblings used to lock each other in it. It was horrible. Hide and seek would last for days."
3.12pmFairley's dark arc this season - murders in front of her face, loss of home, estrangement from children. How does she approach difficult material? "You get your script, which is your Bible. You work and work and work, read and read and read, then you introduce other actors, the set and so on. For me personally I love the big emotional scenes. You forget you're on a set. You totally have to believe you're that person." She's describing what being an actor is, Ian McKellen-style.
3.11pmMadden - prefer sex scenes or violence? "I think I'd rather do the violence, I get more of a kick of that rather than standing on quite a cold set in Ireland with all my clothes off. Swinging a sword is more fun."
3.09pmAllen on his many sex scenes: "It was fine, it was good. I enjoyed it. I wanted to get into shape for it anyway. The sec scenes you do see in it are with prostitutes, so he's paying for it. He's not a studmuffin in the GoT world."
3.08pmDoes Allen think Theon is a bad guy? "I wouldn't say in my mind he's a villain. He's misguided and got issues, but I can relate to that. It's cool, man. The dark and more complex characters are more interesting to play."
3.07pmThat was a convoluted way of telling quite a simple story.
3.06pmStrauss on the show's initial pickup by HBO: "They came in and plonked a couple heavy books down on the conference room table. David was a pretty well known screenwriter, he said it was a fascinating story. I'm not an ardent fantasy reader but was kinf of intrigued by it. I said 'it's not our usual fare [at HBO]' but it did sound like a genre-buster. Like The Wire did with a cop drama, and that is an HBO show. So I said 'go write a script', and they did that. After a long decision-making process, they put a lot of money and support behind it, so we've got Game of Thrones."
3.03pmOut come exec producer Carolyn Strauss, the heir to Winterfell Robb Stark, Richard Madden; his mother Catelyn Stark, Michelle Fairley; current prince of Winterfell Theon Greyjoy, Alfie Allen; northwards for Ygritte, Rose Leslie; and finally Daenerys Targaryen, Emilia Clarke.
3.02pmHe notes they have the largest cast on TV and it keeps growing, adding: "Clearly I'm going to have to start killing some of them more quickly to make room for the new ones."
3.01pmGeorge is getting excited about Dame Diana. "I used to watch her on The Avengers," he says, then giggles.
2.59pmWe've just watched an extended recap of season two, followed by an introduction to the new cast membersL. SCOOP ahoy! They are: Clive Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Mackenzie Crook, Kerry Ingrham, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ellie Kendrick, Richard Dormer, Paul Kaye (Dennis Pennis!), and Dame Diana Rigg. No Sandi Toksvig on the list - scandal.
2.51pmHe's now talking about "boobies". I'll admit it's going over my head.
2.50pmGeorge apologises for the showrunners not being able to be in attendance today. "Unfortunately, they've already started shooting season three," he says, adding that they're actually directing episodes as well.
2.50pmThe moderator is the book writer himself, George R R Martin! Today he's dressed like that sailor from The Simpsons.
2.49pmShowtime!
2.46pmActually let's not. That would be bad.
2.45pmBoth of the panels I've been in today so far have featured speculation that one of the cast members might be a paedophile. Wonder who it might be in this panel.. let's speculate!
2.43pmBehind me a tight snake is gathering (in-joke for followers of the last panel).
2.40pmSo here's who we expect at the panel: Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen),Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), and Richard Madden (Robb Stark), as well as co-exec producer George R. R. Martin and executive producer Carolyn Strauss.
2.38pmI'll apologise in advance: as you know, a lot of people in this show have preposterous names and as I don't have the time to spell them carefully each time, I'll be resorting to initials for the most part.
2.36pmSo here we are, all set for the final big TV panel of the day in Hall H: Game Of Thrones, coming up imminently.
Written by
Neil Wilkes
Neil Wilkes
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