Thanks for posting this. The handling of the direwolves is on everyone's mind, so we're apt to latch on to anything that may seem remotely related. It's great when you can put rumors to rest.

As always, we're hungry for any scrap of information you can throw us. No matter how insignificant it may seem, someone's going to go crazy over it.

This is not in any way a criticism post, meant only as an honest question to a creative process; I'm only prefacing it with this in case the toneless nature of the intarwubs make it sound anything other than intended. :)

I'm wondering if you find all the recent activity around the HBO pilot (which I am definintely eagerly awaiting) has served as an inspiration on your work on Dance or if it's been a distraction (thinking more on what's come before as opposed to what lies ahead, as it were). Speaking as an artist, I know I can find myself drawn in different directions when a new inspiration hits - but I can see this being just as strong a revitalizing force. So I'm just curious if you'd mind sharing your thoughts on how the pilot is working for or against your creative juices.

All my best, and thanks!

I spoke with someone up for Drogo...they'd be stupid not to pick him!

(Happy belated birthday!)

Norwegian wolves? How will the production crew handle filming direwolves... an extince species? CGI? Timberwolves? Sharks with FRICKING lasers on their heads (Thanks, Dr. Evil for that idea)?

Uh oh there's that frog again. We all know what that means....

Well, for Ghost, it would be fine to use a very large White German Shepherd. For the other wolves, you could get Shiloh Shepherds (REALLY HUGE German Shepherds) of different hair coats.
There's always wolf-hybrids but those are extremely difficult to work with.

Do remember, all they're filming right now is the pilot. Except for the Dany scenes, all the action takes place in Winterfell, before and during King Robert's visit. The direwolves are all still very young.

Should we get a series order, of course, we will need larger wolfish actors at some point.

For the pilot, at least.

Lol...they were definitely not bred to resemble wolves. The Saarloos Wolfhond was bred to be an improved version of german shepherds that were immune to distemper, which was a failure. The Czech wolfdog is...pretty much also a combo of wolf + german shepherd.

Both are, therefore, wolf-hybrids which are difficult to manage and extremely unpredictable.

No Norwegian wolves? D: But I'm Norwegian - I'd feel so honored if you used wolves from my country!

Well, we have too few wolves in Norway as it is. Good luck with finding the fierce direwolves you need! I really look forward to the pilot episode.

Ah great, thanks for the info George.

I certainly hope HBO will use a convincing type of canine, the film industry has a long and annoying history of throwing German sheppards at the public pretending them to be menacing wolves.
And nine out of ten times it did not hold water.
When it comes to the use of animals Hollywood particulair has no clue how animals look, behave or originate from.
Maccaws and capucin monkeys populate every Tarzan movie, lama's are pretended to be domestic animals in Troy.

btw, the dire wolf used in "A Song" seems to differ quite a bit from the real ( and extinct ) Canis dirus, which was not much larger then Canis lupus. The discription in the novel makes it come closer to Epicyon haydeni, a canine of the Late Miocene reaching 37 inches at the shoulder.
Now that's a nice doggie.

Peytr Baelish? Joseph Mawle?

Well, presumably in the pilot all but the mother direwolf are still puppies anyway, and half-grown dogs of a breed of wolfish appearance may look more like wolf pups than the adults would look like full-grown wolves.

Retcon to Irish Wolfhounds! (please don't hurt me)

They're huge and they're kinda closer to how I imagine Direwolves from the Stark crest - they have that whole rugged thing going on and the loping gait.

Tricky decision that's for sure.

That's a shame!