Season 5

Season 5 of Game of Thrones was formally commissioned by HBO on 8 April 2014, following a substantial increase in audience figures between the third and fourth seasons. The fifth and sixth seasons were commissioned simultaneously, the first time HBO has done so for a major drama series. The season consists of ten episodes and began filming in July 2014 and will run late into the year. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will return as executive producers and showrunners for both season five and six, having signed a new two-year contract with HBO in early 2014.

The season is expected to premiere in April 2015.

Season 5 will mostly be based on material from the fourth and fifth novels of the ​A Song of Ice and Fire book series, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. The two novels take place simultaneously alongside one another.

Plot
The War of the Five Kings, once thought to be drawing to a close, is instead entering a new and more chaotic phase. Westeros is on the brink of collapse, and many are seizing what they can while the realm implodes, like a corpse making a feast for crows.

Tywin Lannister is dead, shot on the privy by his constantly-abused dwarf son Tyrion. The crazed boy-king Joffrey Baratheon, Tywin's grandson, was also poisoned at his own wedding, and succeeded by his much younger and more pliable younger brother, Tommen. Queen Cersei Lannister succeeds her father as the head of House Lannister, and once again takes over for one of her sons as Queen Regent. Cersei has been blocked by several powerful men over the years, including her husband King Robert Baratheon and his friend Eddard Stark, but due to her betrayals they are both dead. Now with even Tywin and Joffrey dead, and Tyrion fleeing the realm, there are no more checks on Cersei's power, and she is essentially the Ruling Queen of the Seven Kingdoms in all but name. Cersei, however, is not a brilliant strategist and diplomat like Tywin or Tyrion, and she faces mounting crises which would have strained even their abilities.

House Lannister and its allies managed to crush House Stark, but in many ways it was a pyrrhic victory. The Iron Throne was already in massive debt before the war even began, and the Lannisters' immense wartime spending increased the crown's debts to crippling levels. The Lannisters must now desperately attempt to placate the Iron Bank of Braavos, by far the largest of the foreign banks, and the one which the crown owes most of its huge debts to.

Real life, unfortunately, is not a simple game in which the pieces can be quickly reassembled: vast swaths of Westeros have been devastated by years of civil war, and it may take a full generation for them to rebuild. The Riverlands, where most of the war was fought, have been reduced to a burned out husk. Nominally the Lannisters and their House Frey allies control the Riverlands, but it has been reduced to a lawless and corpse-filled devastation, hardly controlled by anyone. Winter is fast approaching, but instead of stockpiling harvests the past few years, the great lords have been busy destroying one of the main breadbasket regions of the Seven Kingdoms. Combined with the realm's massive debts to foreign banks, starvation level conditions are starting to set in for the smallfolk across the realm. Outraged by the willful indifference of their rulers to their well-being for so long, commoners are starting to fall back onto old cultural touchstones, channeling their frustration into religious fanaticism. A popular disgust movement spreads across Westeros, with street preachers proclaiming to hungry mobs that Cersei's wickedness has brought the anger of the gods upon the realm. They increasingly propogate the (accurate) accusation that Cersei's childrens are really abominations born of incest, with no right to rule.

Adding to these woes is the increasing rivalry between the Lannisters and their Tyrell allies, specifically between Cersei and Margaery Tyrell. The Lannisters only managed to win on the battlefield with the extra armies and food resources added by their alliance with the House Tyrell of the Reach. Now that Tywin is dead, and Margaery is King Tommen's queen, the Tyrells are no longer pretending to be polite to the Lannisters, but openly demanding greater concessions and key positions of power. With half of the Lannister armies slaughtered by Robb Stark during the war, their financial resources depleted, and the Tyrells controlling the only major breadbasket region untouched by the war, the Lannisters are having to face the reality that the Tyrells hold numerous advantages over them. Just as Robert Baratheon became king only to become dependant on the support of the Lannisters, the Lannisters have now become dependant on the Tyrells.

Without the political acumen of Tywin or Tyrion, Queen Regent Cersei struggles to address these major challenges. Adding even further to her woes is that the king's Small Council has been gutted, with Hand of the King Tywin dead, Master of Coin Petyr Baelish leaving for the Eyrie, and both Tyrion and Master of Whisperers Varys fleeing the capital city. Of the original Small Council when the Lannisters first seized power, only Grand Maester Pycelle remains. Distrusting the Tyrells, Cersei "rebuilds" the Small Council with incomptent loyalists and sycophants, who are not capable of dealing with the major crises the crown faces.

Only the regions which have remained neutral so far still have all of their armies and resources intact: the Vale, ruled by House Arryn, and Dorne, ruled by House Martell. With the other Great Houses defeated or half-exhausted, the fresh armies of the Vale and Dorne can drastically alter the political playing field, depending on which side they choose to join.

The ultimate result of the war was to exhaust the Starks, Lannisters, and other great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms - exactly as Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish had planned. The secret architect of the conflict, it was Littlefinger who was responsible for poisoning Robert's Hand, Jon Arryn, by conspiring with his own wife Lysa Arryn. Littlefinger then engineered the betrayal of Eddard Stark, only to later assist Olenna Tyrell in assassinating King Joffrey at his own wedding. Baelish has now murdered Lysa, mere days after wedding her, and seized power over the Vale as regent for her young son. For the moment, Baelish remains at the Eyrie, consolidating his new hold over the Vale lords. Alongside Baelish during his court intrigues is his black-haired ward "Alayne" - secretly, Sansa Stark, the only known surviving Stark heir, who fell into Littlefinger's custody after he helped her escape her long imprisonment at Joffrey's royal court.

In the deserts of the deep South of Westeros, the people of Dorne demand vengeance for the death of Prince Oberyn, who died in a trial by combat at the hands of Ser Gregor Clegane. Leading the call to enter the war against the Lannisters are the eldest of Oberyn's eight daughters: Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene. But Prince Doran Martell, the ruler of Dorne and Oberyn's older brother, continues to urge caution, and bafflingly forbids any military action. Further complicating the matter is that early in the war, the Lannisters bribed the Martells into staying neutral by offering a marriage-alliance, sending Cersei's daughter Myrcella to Dorne to betroth her to Doran's son Trystane. Myrcella is still a ward living in Dorne's capital Sunspear, and there are those who think they can use her against the reign of King Tommen - as well as a few who believe that killing Myrcella will force Doran's hand to go to war against the Lannisters.

The most chaotic situation in Westeros, however, is in the North and at the Wall. The massive assault against Castle Black by the wildling army of Mance Rayder was defeated at the last moment by the surprise arrival of Stannis Baratheon and his remaining forces. Stannis withdrew from his island stronghold Dragonstone to reach the Wall by sea, do defend the realm of which he feels he is the only rightful king. With his home territories in the Stormlands overrun, Stannis now hopes to win the allegiance of Robb Stark's defeated bannerman, to rally the North again as a springboard against Lannister rule.

The main armies of the Northern Houses, however, were slaughtered in the south at the Red Wedding, and the large main army of House Bolton has just returned to the North following the recapture of Moat Cailin. The Boltons switched to the Lannister side during the betrayal at the Red Wedding, during which their leader Lord Roose Bolton personally killed Robb Stark, and they have been installed as the new rulers of the North in the name of King Tommen and the Lannisters. With the other Northern Houses defeated and weakened, the Lannister-backed Bolton army can now suppress any feeble opposition to their rule. Meanwhile, Roose's psychotic bastard son Ramsay Snow - now legitimized as Ramsay Bolton - has estalished himself as the new Lord of Winterfell, reoccupying the castle which he personally burned out previously. Ramsay's atrocities terrify the North, such as flaying men alive and hunting and killing young women for sport.

Conflict is looming between Stannis and the Lannister-backed Boltons, but as much as Jon Snow despises the Boltons for destroying his family, his childhood home, and the North itself, his loyalties are torn once again: the Night's Watch is sworn to maintain political neutrality, never to interfere in the politics of the south. The Night's Watch must therefore walk a political tightrope, not only with Stannis's army at the Wall and the Boltons to the south, but the tens of thousands of wildling prisoners that Stannis took during the battle. With almost all of the Watch's top officers killed, the organization has been left leaderless during this time of crisis - and therefore will have to navigate a contentious election for a new Lord Commander. All the while, the White Walkers and their undead army of wights are now fast approaching the Wall itself.

East of Westeros, after murdering his own father Tyrion Lannister has fled across the Narrow Sea to the Free Cities, his future intentions unknown even to himself. Accompanied by Varys, he arrive in the southern Free Cities. Further north, Meanwhile, representatives from the Iron Throne travel to the Free City of Braavos to assauge the Iron Bank's frustrations about all of the money the Lannisters owe. Unbenownst to all, a girl once known as Arya Stark has also fled to Braavos, due to a favor she was owed for saving the life of one of the mysterious guild of assassins in Braavos known as the Faceless Men.

Further east in Slaver's Bay, Daenerys Targaryen's hold over Meereen has become very precarious, as ruling the city is becoming much more difficult than conquering it was. Sectarian violence is rampant between the former slaves and former slave-masters, revenge attacks are on the rise, and the resurgent slavers at Yunkai are rallying to oppose her. Her three dragons, now growing to dangerous size, have grown uncontrollable and she can no longer rely upon them to defeat her enemies on the battlefield. Drogon burned a child to death while it was hunting and fled the city, forcing Daenerys to chain up the remaining two dragons in the caverns underneath the city. On a personal level, she is still distraught over the recent revelation about the betrayal of her trusted advisor, Jorah Mormont, whom she exiled from the city as punishment. Her remaining advisors Ser Barristan Selmy, Missandei, and the sellsword Daario Naharis attempt to help her hold her reign together.

But unbeknownst to Daenerys, word has finally spread to Westeros that a Targaryen heir still lives, and has hatched three live dragons. No longer a mere curiosity halfway across the world, several different factions in Westeros are now pondering how Daenerys and her dragons will factor into the already confusing and multi-sided civil war tearing the Seven Kingdoms apart. Envoys are beginning to head east to court Daenerys's allegiance: but those who try to dance with dragons run the risk of being burned.

Production
Location scouting for Season 5 has taken place in Croatia and Spain. Filming in Croatia will continue in and around Dubrovnik, Split, and Žrnovnica, and will expand to new locations around Imotski and Šibenik. The Spanish locations being scouted are in Andalusia, namely the Alhambra of Granada, the Alcázar of Seville and the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos of Córdoba.

On July 2, 2014, U.S. ambassador to Spain James Costos confirmed at an economic forum meeting that Game of Thrones will be filming in the country. HBO later confirmed the same day that Seville was selected as the primary filming location, as well as other sites in the surrounding province of Seville. Further reports strongly indicate that the Alcázar of Seville will serve as the Water Gardens, the seaside palace of House Martell located just outside of Sunspear, the capital of Dorne. Alcázar is the oldest palace still in use in Europe, acting as a part-time residence for the present Spanish royal family. The site was first fortified in 712, and the Almohads expanded it in the twelfth century, making it a royal residence in 1248. Extensive additions were also made in subsequent centuries. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. The Alcázar was previously used in Ridley Scott's 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven as the filming location for the court of the king of Jerusalem.

Locations have been scouted in Seville as well as the nearby town of Osuna. Fresco Film Productions has put out an open casting call via Facebook for extras in the area. Rosario Andújar, the mayor of Osuna, stated in El Mundo that several filming locations which have been scouted include the Plaza de Toros (a bull ring with sandstone walls, over a century old), the university (built in 1548, with four towers and influenced from the Italian Renaissance, La Colegiata (a church founded in 1535), and the Canteras de Osuna (the old quarries that supplied stone for the town).

On July 3, 2014 it was reported that filming will briefly return to Iceland, but apparently will not feature any major characters, instead focusing on landscape shots. Line producer Snorri Þórisson confirmed that the show intended to film a battle in Iceland in the month of November, but that with rewrites, the scene grew too large (the scene may now be filmed somewhere else, filmed with a combination of greenscreen, or pushed to Season 6). It is difficult to film protracted battle scenes in Iceland during the fall due to the very limited daylight hours.

On July 13, 2014, it was confirmed that filming will begin in September in the town of Sibenik, Croatia. The location is most likely to represent parts of Braavos with St. James Cathedral rumored as the House of Black and White.

On July 27, 2014, in an interview with Sophie Turner, she confirmed that she would start filming in Belfast on Wednesday July 30.

On August 9, 2014, it was confirmed that the production team in Spain will be filming in one of Osuna's active bull-fighting rings, the Plaza de Toros. Actual filming in the ring might not take place until October. Bull fights are held at the Plaza del Toros annually, events which end with bulls actually being killed in the arena.

On August 11, 2014, WatchersOnTheWall.com reported that 86 year old actor actor J.J. Murphy died a matter of days after filming his first scenes as Denys Mallister, the commander of the Shadow Tower, the westernmost active castle on the Wall. The same day, Benioff and Weiss made an official statement via HBO's twitter account that the role will not be recast: "We will not be recasting J.J. Murphy. He was a lovely man, and the best Denys Mallister we could have hoped for. And now his watch is ended." Apparently Season 5 will continue to use those scenes that Murphy already filmed, and possibly rewrite other scenes to work around his absence. This will make Denys the second posthumous character appearing in the TV series (as well as the second cast member who has died): actress Margaret John, who played Old Nan, died only two months before Season 1 premiered, though all of her scenes had already been completed.

On August 24, 2014, WatchersOnTheWall.com reported that filming will again return to Diocletian's Palace in Croatia. The cellars of the palace were previously used as the underground passageways in Meereen during Season 4.

On September 3, 2014, Kristian Nairn (Hodor) revealed that he will not be returning in Season 5: "We're not actually in Season Five, by the way. We have a season off. We have a year’s hiatus...Solely because, I imagine, our storyline is up to the end of the books. - So I get a year off now." There was concern that Bran Stark would not appear either, since his storyline had almost reached the end of its material from the fifth and most recent novel, A Dance with Dragons, but Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who plays Bran, has repeatedly stated in many interviews he will be back for Season 5.

Adaptation

 * See main article on "Game of Thrones (TV series)"

While developing Season 4, Benioff said that "Season 5 gives him nightmares". However, once they actually had outlined the season, Benioff and D.B. Weiss said "the fear started to dissipate." Season 5 will be "drawing heavily" from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, the fourth and fifth books of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga.

The book series was originally planned as a trilogy (A Game of Thrones, A Dance with Dragons and The Winds of Winter​), but Martin realized his plot of "book one" would have to be expanded into three novels (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords), which means the first three books are "Act One" of a three Act story. In fact, the climax of A Storm of Swords concludes many of the plot lines begun in A Game of Thrones. Furthermore, what Martin originally planned as the middle novel grew too vast to be published as a single novel, so he cut it into two books that take place concurrently: in very rough terms, the fourth one (A Feast for Crows) follows all of the characters in the Seven Kingdoms while the fifth one (A Dance with Dragons) covers storylines outside of the Seven Kingdoms (the Night's Watch at the Wall, Tyrion as he escapes to the Free Cities, and Daenerys in Slaver's Bay). Season 5 will present the events featured in these two books in chronological order, intercutting between the two storylines.

On the one hand, the combination of the fourth and fifth novels could easily span two seasons, since this amalgamation would be longer than A Storm of Swords, which was adapted into the third and fourth seasons (although the latter dipped into books 4 and 5 as well.) On the other hand, whereas the Red Wedding happens around the middle of the third novel and provided a convenient climax for Season 3, there are no similarly game-changing or climactic events in the middle of A Feast for Crows or A Dance with Dragons.

Ultimately, judging by casting and filming news of characters and events that belong to the climax of the fifth book, it seems that several storylines actually will reach the end of their book 5 material by the end of Season 5, thus catching up with the most current book (though the sixth novel will probably come out before Season 6 airs, based on current reports). Other storylines, however, may not yet reach the end of their book 5 material, since even in previous seasons the TV series has not been rigidly following the outline of the novels. Specifically, by the finale of Season 4 the Bran Stark and Sansa Stark storylines were already near the end of their published material. In contrast, Jon Snow's storyline has not quite finished all of his material from the third novel, and the ironborn have been put on the back burner for the last two seasons, appearing for just a few minutes in each of them. Therefore the actual rate at which each storyline exhausts its material from the most recent book will actually vary from one to the next.

Returning starring cast

 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
 * Lena Headey as Queen Regent Cersei Lannister
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen
 * Kit Harington as Jon Snow
 * Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish
 * Natalie Dormer as Lady Margaery Tyrell
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon
 * Carice van Houten as Lady Melisandre
 * Alfie Allen as Reek
 * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
 * Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane
 * Hannah Murray as Gilly
 * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth
 * Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton
 * Conleth Hill as Varys
 * Jerome Flynn as Bronn
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
 * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis
 * Tom Wlaschiha as TBA
 * Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont

Returning formerly starring guest cast

 * Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister's corpse

Returning guest starring cast

 * Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell
 * Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder
 * Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand
 * Michael McElhatton as Lord Roose Bolton
 * Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy
 * Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Lord Mace Tyrell
 * Anton Lesser as Qyburn
 * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle
 * Owen Teale as Ser Alliser Thorne
 * Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris
 * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne
 * Dean-Charles Chapman as King Tommen Baratheon
 * Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant
 * Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm
 * Joel Fry as Hizdahr zo Loraq
 * Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell
 * Kerry Ingram as Princess Shireen Baratheon
 * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett
 * Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Ser Gregor Clegane
 * Octavia Alexandru as Leaf
 * Gary Oliver as Ternesio Terys
 * Elisabeth Webster as Lady Walda Bolton
 * Brian Fortune as Othell Yarwyck
 * Charlotte Hope as Myranda
 * Will Tudor as Olyvar
 * Brenock O'Connor as Olly
 * Sarine Sofair as Lhara

New major cast

 * Alexander Siddig as Prince Doran Martell. Announced July 25, 2014
 * Toby Sebastian as Prince Trystane Martell. Announced July 25, 2014
 * Nell Tiger Free as Princess Myrcella Baratheon. Announced July 25, 2014
 * DeObia Oparei as Areo Hotah. Announced July 25, 2014
 * Enzo Cilenti as Yezzan zo Qaggaz. Announced July 25, 2014
 * Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand. Announced July 25, 2014
 * Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand. Announced July 25, 2014
 * Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand. Announced July 25, 2014
 * Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow. Announced July 25, 2014
 * J.J. Murphy as Ser Denys Mallister. Announced August 11, 2014
 * Michael Condron as Bowen Marsh. Announced August 22, 2014

New minor and unknown cast

 * Gary Pillai as a merchant captain. Announced August 6, 2014
 * Matt McArdle. Announced September 5, 2014
 * Derek Lord as a military officer. Announced September 17, 2014
 * Alan McKee. Announced September 17, 2014
 * Tom Fava as a street tough. Announced September 17, 2014
 * Gianpiero Cognoli as Master Eaton. Announced September 17, 2014.
 * Emma Maguire as a Winterfell worker. Announced September 17, 2014.
 * Mishael Lopes Cardozo as a brothel guard. Announced September 17, 2014.
 * Meena Rayann as a Meereenese noblewoman. Announced September 20, 2014.
 * Slavko Sobin as a Meereenese fighter. Announced September 21, 2014.

Characters reportedly being cast

 * Septa Unella
 * Maggy the Frog
 * Lollys Stokeworth
 * The Waif
 * Varamyr Sixskins
 * Imogen - suspected to be Young Cersei, in flashback scenes with Maggy the Frog.
 * A brunette girl - suspected to be Melara Hetherspoon, in flashback scenes with Maggy the Frog.
 * A "Son"
 * A Dornish horse rider
 * Stalwart Shield
 * A Meereenese prostitute
 * A bearded blacksmith
 * Husband-and-wife Meereenese peddlers
 * Two young street toughs
 * A man with shrewd financial cunning and a long thin face
 * A Volantene sellsword
 * A middle-aged master
 * A fatter, privileged master
 * Clea
 * Luther

Crew
In May 2014, David Nutter stated that he will be directing episodes 9 and 10 of Season 5. On July 2, 2014, it was announced that director and cinematographer Michael Slovis will be directing two episodes in Season 5, the season premiere and the second episode. Slovis previously previously directed Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's 2008 TV series New Amsterdam. On July 15, 2014, the full directors lineup was announced, indicating Mark Mylod, Jeremy Podeswa and Miguel Sapochnik will direct two consecutive episodes each; the third and fourth, the fifth and sixth, and the seventh and eighth respectively.

Thus, regular directors Neil Marshall, Alex Graves, Alik Sakharov and Michelle MacLaren will not be returning for Season 5. Notably, this is also the first time since Season 2 that the executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, direct no episodes. MacLaren's departure will also make Season 5 the first since Season 2 with no female director. MacLaren is the only female director who ever worked on the TV series, producing two episodes in Season 3 and another two in Season 4.

On July 25, George R.R. Martin stated that he will not be writing any episodes for Season 5 as he wants to focus on finishing The Winds of Winter, the sixth novel in the book series. This will be the first season to feature no episodes written by him.

Producers

 * David Benioff: executive producer
 * D.B. Weiss: executive producer

Writers

 * David Benioff & D.B. Weiss: 7 episodes
 * Bryan Cogman: 2 episodes
 * Dave Hill: 1 episode

Directors

 * Michael Slovis: episodes 1 and 2
 * Mark Mylod: episodes 3 and 4
 * Jeremy Podeswa: episodes 5 and 6
 * Miguel Sapochnik: episodes 7 and 8
 * David Nutter: episodes 9 and 10