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 production commenced in July 2014, and is expected to run 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
In Dorne, on the aftermath of Prince Oberyn Martell's death, his vengeful bastard daughters and his brother Prince Doran Martell react to the Red Viper's demise. In King's Landing, following the death of the Hand of the King Tywin Lannister at the hands of his son Tyrion, who has since fled to Essos, Queen Regent Cersei Lannister has to contend with the ambitious Tyrells in order to hold onto power. On the Wall, Jon Snow has to deal with the recently-arrived Stannis Baratheon and his Red Woman. In Slaver's Bay, Daenerys Targaryen continues to struggle with the her new role as Queen of Meereen. Unbeknownst to the world, the Stark children are forging their own paths: Sansa gets involved in Littlefinger's schemes in the Vale; Arya finds a new purpose in Braavos; and Bran finally learns what he needs to know from the Three-eyed raven.

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 the major news that he will not be returning in Season 5. Many fans were concerned that Bran Stark's storyline, due to its brevity, already reached the end of its material from the fifth and most recent novel, A Dance with Dragons. Bran and his companions actually passed north of the Wall at the end of the third novel (which was mostly adapted as Season 4, and ends with Tyrion killing Tywin), but Bran has so few chapters that the TV series moved his storyline ahead, having him go north of the Wall at the end of Season 3. They even had to introduce an invented arc at Craster's Keep to give the characters something to do in mid-Season 4, before ultimately continuing to the end of Bran's book 5 storyline when he meets the Children of the Forest and the "Last Greenseer" (who appeared to him in visions as the Three-eyed raven). Nairn explained that, presumably because his storyarc has caught up with the book material, Season 5 will simply take a break from it (much as Jaime Lannister simply didn't have much to do in book/Season 2, when he spent a full year as a prisoner of the Starks). Nairn stated that: "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." It is not yet clear, however, what Nairn meant by "we" - if this included Hodor, Meera Reed, and Bran Stark as not appearing in Season 5, or just Hodor and Meera. Season 4 actually adapted all but the final Bran chapter in the fifth novel, during which (vaguely speaking) Bran is mostly talking with the Last Greenseer and the Children of the Forest, so Hodor and Meera don't necessarily need to appear for such a scene, even if Bran Stark ultimately does reappear in Season 5 (they could just be implied to be in the next room, off-screen).

Adaptation

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

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. Thus Tywin's death at the end of A Storm of Swords essentially marks the end of "Act One" of a three Act story.

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". After Season 4 aired, however, Benioff and D.B. Weiss stated that once they actually had outlined Season 5 "the fear started to dissipate." 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 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 are no similarly game-changing events around the middle of A Feast for Crows or A Dance with Dragons. Ultimately, judging by news of characters and events that belong to the second half of the fifth book, it seems the majority of the fourth and fifth novels will be adapted into a single season, presumably by simplifying and cutting some story lines, which would mean Season 5 could reach the end of all currently published source material. This may not be true for every storyline, of course: Bran Stark and Theon Greyjoy's storylines actually reached the end of their book 3 material by the end of Season 3, and were already filming material from book 5 in Season 4. In contrast, other storylines such as Brienne of Tarth or Jon Snow didn't quite reach the end of their book 3 material by the end of Season 4. Most of the subplots involving the ironborn were also omitted from Season 4 (to the point that Yara Greyjoy only appears for three minutes of screentime). Thus certain subplots might reach the end of books 4 and 5 during Season 5, while others may be put on hold until Season 6.

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 Princess Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Princess 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 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
 * Joel Fry as Hizdahr zo Loraq
 * Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell
 * Kerry Ingram as Princess Shireen Baratheon
 * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett
 * 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

New cast members

 * Alexander Siddig as Prince Doran Martell, Lord of Sunspear and Prince of Dorne. 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
 * Gary Pillai as a merchant captain. Announced August 6 2014
 * J.J. Murphy as Ser Denys Mallister. Announced August 11 2014
 * Michael Condron as Bowen Marsh. Announced August 22 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

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 neither of the executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, will direct none of the episodes of a season. MacLaren's departure will also make Season 5 the first since Season 2 with no female director. Nor was there a female director in Season 1: 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 planned sixth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire 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