Sure, season five of Game of Thrones might be almost a year away, but that won't slow down HBO's biggest show, will it? The show's presence at Comic-Con this year revealed a few things that will certainly keep fans talking until next March/April: That the novels' author George R.R. Martin will not be involved with this upcoming season, so he can finish the next book in the series, The Winds of Winter, according to an interview he had with Vulture.
THAT IS HUGE NEWS, especially given how many changes showrunners Benioff and Weiss made to the source material when putting together season four, which adapted the second half of the third book in the series, A Storm of Swords (if you missed my recaps, read them here). With Martin one step further removed, what other insane (and stupidly wrong) things will Benioff and Weiss do in adapting the series' fourth book, A Feast for Crows? Perhaps some answers are already evident in the season five new characters video, which also debuted at Comic-Con.
The new characters this season, according to this video, are:
Doran Martell = Alexander Siddig (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Trystane Martell = Toby Sebastian
Myrcella Baratheon = Nell Tiger Free
Areo Hotah = DeObia Oparei
Yezzan = Enzo Cilenti
Nymeria Sand = Jessica Henwick
Tyene Sand = Rosabell Laurenti Sellers
Obara Sand = Keisha Castle-Hughes (also !!!!!!!!!)
High Sparrow = Jonathan Pryce
Spoiler-y, in-depth descriptions of each character are available here, if you're interested, but what's immediately evident is that they lean heavily toward the Martell side of things, which is why the picture going with this post is Oberyn Martell. Remember the Red Viper, you guys? Because the Red Viper is dead now, and the Martells are pissed. His bastard daughters, nicknamed the Sand Snakes - including the dagger-wielding and beautiful Nymeria, the treacherous but seemingly innocent Tyene, and the eldest and ruthless Obara - are yearning for revenge, but Oberyn's older brother and leader of Dorne Doran Martell has other plans. Plans that involve Doran's son Trystane and his betrothed Myrcella Baratheon, in fact (the role has been recast, if you thought to yourself, "Hmm, Myrcella isn't how I remember her").
The Martells are the most important characters added this season, I think (and I am SO PUMPED for Alexander Siddig, who I have wanted to be cast as Doran for YEARS), but here is the lowdown on the others: Areo Hotah is Doran's bodyguard, Yezzan is a slave trader who will cross paths with a Lannister, and the High Sparrow is an important religious figure who will also cross paths with a Lannister, but a different one.
And yet ... who we DON'T see added to the new characters list suggests some other changes from Benioff and Weiss: There's no Arianne Martell, who is Doran's daughter, acts like his heir, and is extremely close with the Sand Snakes and Myrcella, or Doran's other son, Quentyn, who is a little bumbling but has an important role to play later on with someone born of fire and blood. And also importantly, there are no new members of the Greyjoy family, who also have important storylines throughout A Feast for Crows. Benioff and Weiss have hinted that perhaps they're cutting that major Greyjoy storyline, but it involves new characters, important ones that interact with Yara, Theon's sister, as well as that same person who is born of fire and blood. So not including any of them seems very suspect.
Regardless of whether you're a book reader or not, check out the new cast members video again to see who you'll see next spring. And if you're not excited about Alexander Siddig, a.k.a. Dr. Julian Bashir, then we can't be friends.
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