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 is expected to again consist of ten episodes and is expected to commence production in July 2014, running late into the year. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will return as executive producers and showrunners for both seasons, having signed a new two-year contract with HBO in early 2014.

The season is expected to premiere in April 2015.

Season 5 will consist of material from both 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 show runners and executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have confirmed that Season 5 will feature a storyline in Dorne, focused on the aftermath of Prince Oberyn Martell's death and on his daughters, the Sand Snakes.

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. It was constructed by the Almohads in the twelfth century, with extensive additions 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.

Further reports on July 2, 2014 indicate that Israel is being scouted as a filming location for Season 5. A report on an Israeli website had indicated that filming may be taking place in Timna Park, near the city of Eilat (Israel's southernmost city, at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba). It is believed that Timna Park may be used as a filming location for the Red Mountains of western Dorne, which is inhabited by the "stony" Dornishmen.

On July 3rd 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.

Adaptation
Although the A Song of Ice and Fire novels were originally planned as a trilogy, to be titled A Game of Thrones, A Dance with Dragons and The Winds of Winter, eventually George R.R. 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 effectively means the first three books are one very long novel. In fact, the climax of A Storm of Swords concludes many of the plotlines begun in A Game of Thrones. Because of this, Benioff has described Season 4 as the "midpoint", which makes Season 5 the starting point of the show's second half.

Furthermore, what Martin originally planned as the middle novel (A Dance With Dragons​) grew so vast that it could not be published as a single novel, so he answered the dilemma by cutting the novel into two books that happen concurrently: 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 the rest. The TV series will present these events in chronological order, "drawing heavily" from both books for Season 5.

While developing Season 4, Benioff said that "Season 5 gives him nightmares". Combining the fourth and fifth novels essentially recreates Martin's original middle novel, which would have been even longer than A Storm of Swords. Since this third novel was adapted into Seasons 3 and 4, it follows that the combined fourth and fifth novels would have to be adapted across two seasons as well. Yet, whereas  the  Red Wedding  happens in the middle of the third novel and provided a convenient climax for Season 3, there is no similar event in the middle of  A Feast for Crows  or  A Dance with Dragons, hence the adaptation difficulties. After Season 4 aired, however, Benioff and D.B. Weiss stated that once they actually had outlined Season 5 "the fear started to dissipate."

Returning starring cast

 * All starring cast members whose characters survive the events of Season 4 are expected to return for the fifth season. The following cast members are confirmed:


 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
 * Lena Headey as Queen Regent Cersei Lannister
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen
 * Kit Harington as Jon Snow
 * Maisie Williams as Princess Arya Stark
 * Joe Dempsie as Gendry
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
 * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis
 * Tom Wlaschiha as TBA

Returning guest starring cast

 * Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Lord Mace Tyrell
 * Anton Lesser as Qyburn
 * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle
 * Dean-Charles Chapman as King Tommen Baratheon
 * Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant

Being re-cast

 * Princess Myrcella Baratheon

Characters Being Cast

 * Prince Doran Martell
 * Prince Trystane Martell
 * Areo Hotah
 * Obara Sand
 * Nymeria Sand
 * Tyene Sand
 * The High Sparrow
 * Septa Unella
 * Maggy the Frog
 * Lollys Stokeworth
 * Yezzan zo Qaggaz
 * The Waif
 * Varamyr Sixskins
 * Imogen
 * Brunette girl

Crew
In May 2014, David Nutter stated that he will be directing episodes 9 and 10 of Season 5. Neill Marshall, however, stated that he would not be returning in Season 5.

Alex Graves will not be returning to direct episodes in 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 worked on Law and Order: SVU, Elementary, Chicago Fire, CSI, and was the cinematographer for Breaking Bad. He also previously directed Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's 2008 TV series New Amsterdam.

Producers

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

Writers

 * David Benioff & D.B. Weiss
 * George R.R. Martin: 1 episode​
 * Bryan Cogman: 2 episodes
 * Dave Hill

Directors

 * Michael Slovis: episodes 1 and 2
 * David Nutter: episodes 9 and 10