Hurt was born to play Walder Frey. He just doesn't realize it yet.

Dear Mr. Martin,

Please ignore this idiot. The rest of us understand that you can't create to a schedule, and are perfectly willing to wait until it's done and done right, to your satisfaction.

Not that I'm not hoping you don't get a sudden flash of inspiration, and knock out the remaining chapters in a visionary haze over a 1-week period that starts tomorrow, but ever since Steven King used up the last of those kinds of drugs in his heyday, none of use are expecting it, and we understand.

Keep up the good work.

(PS: Go Jets, go Giants. Or at least "Go Jones" and "Go Bradshaw".)

They're probably looking in the wrong place altogether. You want Congress for that role.

There is a scene in the pilot with Pycelle in King's Landing early on that doesn't exist in the book. It's something you can infer might have happened, but we just didn't see because the books focus mostly on the Starks at the beginning. Mainly it's there to fill in some information that was presented in the book in ways that may not have worked as well on screen. It's a pretty decent little scene, feels very 'right.'

Khal Drogo is in the pilot, which I believe will cover Dany's first two chapters from the novel.

I'm actually a bit confused now... both "eat your porage and you'll grow up big and strong" and "the dog is green" clues seem to point to Rory McCann... and the use of "dog" suggests the Hound, which could fit him well... but I just watched Hot Fuzz last night because he's in it, and he pretty much plays Hodor in that film (instead of saying 'hodor' he repeats 'yarrb' a bunch). Perhaps McCann is being cast as Hodor, and the dog comment has some other meaning?

I was just about to comment that I figured Khal Drogo should be Maori. I don't know why but physically I always pictured him and his people as Polynesian, though I know the culture isn't a match at all.

Jay Laga'aia isn't a regular on Legend of the Seeker, but the question of whether he'd be willing to leave NZ (though he did for Star Wars) is a valid one.

A pilot is usually the first episode of a series, though sometimes a more inexpensive pilot is shot that is never meant to be aired as a kind of 'proof of concept' for the show. In either case, the pilot is shot first and the network decides based on how much they like it, and how much they like the plan for the rest of the series, if they will produce the full season. If not, usually nobody ever hears from the project again and it dies.

Occasionally (and this was, I think, more common back in the 1970's and 1980's), a network will produce a TV movie that is meant as a way to test a show concept for a possible series. If the ratings are good and the response is very positive, the TV movie will become the basis for a series - this is called a "backdoor pilot." "The Battlestar Galactica" mini-series is a perfect example of a backdoor pilot. Response to it was so high, they went ahead an did a whole 4-year series based on it.

I think he'd make an excellent Halfhand, but he'd need a bigger role. What about Bronn?

seven seasons? dont hold your breath. remember that hbo produced rome(which was similar in the size and cost of the project), and they canceled that show due to high costs. Then you have to consider that at current pace the seventh book in the series probably wont be out by the time the hbo series gets that far.

Oooooooh, those links just made me realized HOW awesome the casting is!!! It is reaaaaaaaaally really well done!!!

yes, you did.

You've misunderstood what GRRM wrote.

"None of those characters appear in the pilot, and some won't appear until the second season."

If HBO options an entire first series, then other major characters who haven't been cast for the first one or two hour pilot will then be hired. And there may be recasts of people already seen if there's a schedule conflict, money conflict, or they just plain don't work out in the role. The pilot episode couldn't possibly cover the entire novel of AGoT.