Season 4

Season 4 of Game of Thrones was formally commissioned by HBO on 2 April 2013, following a substantial increase in audience figures between the second and third seasons. However, substantial pre-production work on the season had already taken place previously to this point, including the writing of at least six of the scripts (by March 2013), and the booking of some of the filming dates. The season will again consist of ten episodes and will commence production on 8 July 2013, running late into the year. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are to return as showrunners, having signed a new two-year contract with HBO prior to the commissioning of the third season.

The season will premiere in the first half of 2014.

Season 4 will be mostly based on the latter part of A Storm of Swords, the third book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, but also some material may be added from the fourth and fifth books (which run concurrently alongside the end of the third book and each other).

Plot
The War of the Five Kings is drawing to a close, but the fight is just beginning. New intrigues and plots are in motion, and the surviving factions must contend with enemies not only outside their ranks, but within.

King in the North Robb Stark is dead, betrayed by his own bannermen the Boltons and Freys while he was a guest under their roof, his corpse desecrated by sewing his direwolf's head in place of his own. Robb's mother Catelyn and his wife Talisa, along with most of the Northern leadership were also killed at the massacre now known as the Red Wedding, along with the entire Northern army.

Having already defeated the Baratheon threat at the Battle of the Blackwater and secured southern Westeros, House Lannister now stand triumphant. The crazed boy-king Joffrey Baratheon gloats over his crushed enemies, though the victory truly belongs to his grandfather Lord Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King and the real power behind the Iron Throne. As reward for their betrayal, Tywin has granted the Boltons rule of the North, and the Freys with functional rule of the Riverlands, where they both attempt to assert Lannister control. The handful of Robb's remaining bannermen who refused to surrender have retreated back to Riverrun, the former capital of the Riverlands, under the command of his great-uncle Brynden "the Blackfish" Tully, but they are surrounded and their defeat is inevitable.

With the mainland of Westeros secure, the Lannisters are finally in a position to start grinding down the remaining threats to their rule from the periphery of the realm: the Greyjoys and the Baratheons. During the opening moves of the war, Robb Stark offered an alliance to Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands so that both of their kingdoms could declare independence from Lannister control. Instead, Balon spurned Robb's offer and opportunistically attacked the western coasts of the North while its armies were away in the south with Robb - but declared himself King of the Iron Islands anyway, hoping that the Lannisters would be so grateful that the ironborn stabbed the Starks in the back that Lord Tywin would overlook Balon's declaration of independence, if not outright confirm it as a reward. Balon, however, forgot that Tywin Lannister is not a man who takes treason against the Iron Throne lightly. The Greyjoys were content to sit back and gloat from their salty rocks while the Lannisters slaughtered Starks and Baratheons on the mainland, but now the chickens are coming home to roost. Ironborn occupiers remaining in the North are being flayed alive by the Lannister-backed Boltons, the Lannisters and their allies are building new fleets to take the fight to them on the seas...and an old threat from within their own ranks returns to throw the Greyjoys into turmoil.

Stannis Baratheon, as the rightful heir to his older brother King Robert, remains a thorn in the side of the usurper Joffrey - who is truly a bastard born of incest between Queen Cersei and her own twin brother Jaime Lannister. Stannis was left a king without an army after his defeat at the Battle of the Blackwater, and has languished for the past year at his stronghold on Dragonstone island. With the Young Wolf dead, the Lannisters can begin to turn their attention back to Stannis. Yet Stannis still has a powerful piece left in the game, in the form of the powerful magic-wielding Red Priestess Melisandre - her spells may strike where least expected.

While the Lannisters have crushed their external enemies, the enemies within their ranks are growing in strength, and are on the verge of a major power play. The Lannisters only managed to win on the battlefield with the key support of House Tyrell of the Reach, which they won through promising a marriage-alliance between King Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell, daughter of Lord Mace Tyrell. Queen Regent Cersei fears - correctly - that just as the Baratheons became dependent on the Lannisters in order to overthrow the old Targaryen dynasty, the Lannisters are starting to become dependent on the Tyrells, who are already insinuating themselves into positions of power at King's Landing. A royal wedding is to be held between Joffrey and Margaery, which will confirm the future of the realm.

The only two kingdoms which have remained entirely aloof from the war so far are the Vale of Arryn and Dorne, both of which were lured into neutrality by the Lannisters in exchange for promised marriage-alliances. Even the Lannisters and Tyrells have taken some losses in the war, but the Valemen and Dornish have fresh armies which have not yet been bloodied in the conflict. Now that the Starks and Baratheons are crushed and the Lannisters half-exhausted, these new pieces can drastically alter the game board.

Former Master of Coin Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish has been rewarded for his services by wedding Catelyn Stark's younger sister, the mentally unbalanced Lysa Arryn. Baelish readies to depart for the Eyrie, where his new marriage will make him acting Lord Paramount of the Vale, and one of the most powerful men in the realm: only the Gods know what game Littelfinger is really playing.

House Martell of Dorne has loathed the Lannisters ever since Robert's Rebellion, when Ser Gregor Clegane raped and killed Elia Martell (sister of the current ruling Prince of Dorne) during the Sack of King's Landing, and Lord Tywin did nothing to punish him. The Lannisters managed to secure the neutrality of Dorne in the current war by offering an exchange: Cersei's only daughter Princess Myrcella sent off to Dorne as part of her betrothal to Trystane Martell, and in return, the Martells were promised a seat on the Small Council. To the consternation of the Lannisters, a large Dornish embassy arrives in King's Landing to claim their due - but instead of the elderly Prince Doran Martell, his brash younger brother Oberyn Martell has come to claim the council seat. Oberyn loves the ladies, he loves the boys, but most of all he loved his sister Elia, and he has come to King's Landing to demand a brother's vengeance.

Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea in Slaver's Bay, perhaps the greatest threat to Lannister rule is rapidly growing in strength. Daenerys Targaryen, last scion of the royal House Targaryen, was once a frightened young exile living at the edge of the world - now, she commands three live dragons and an army of eight thousand Unsullied warrior-eunuchs, and has left a trail of burning and sacked cities in her wake. After freeing the elite Unsullied legions, Daenerys finally has the army she lacked her entire life, and is now a major player on the world's political stage. With the growing and increasingly dangerous three dragons she hatched, Queen Daenerys is carving a path through Slaver's Bay - not of conquest but of liberation. As functionally once a slave herself, Daenerys is determined to free the downtrodden slaves of the region. First Astapor and then Yunkai fell before Daenerys' forces, and hundreds of thousands of freed slaves now flock to her banner. Yet Daenerys must now face the last and greatest of the slaver-cities, Meereen, bigger than Astapor and Yunkai put together - and unlike her previous victories, they have had time to prepare for her arrival. Meanwhile, though Daenerys is convinced she can make the world a better place through sheer force of will, she has not considered the practical fallout of her decisions: now that she has freed hundreds of thousands of slaves, she must struggle with how to feed and care for so many uprooted people. And within her own ranks, Daenerys faces a betrayal of the heart.

Still, as the direwolf banner of House Stark has been trampled into the dust the dragon banner of House Targaryen is on the rise, and an entirely new stage of the War of the Five Kings is about to begin. The Targaryen Restoration may begin sooner than even Daenerys realizes, as the chaos left by the Stark-Lannister war has left the Seven Kingdoms ripe for new alliances to be forged. The Martells have been strong Targaryen loyalists since Robert's Rebellion, and would openly side with Daenerys the moment she sets foot in Westeros. While feigning to support Lannister rule for the time being, Oberyn Martell and Varys are perfecting plans to prepare Dorne to be Daenerys's first foothold in the realm when she comes to claim the throne that is rightfully hers.

Yet far to the north, far beyond the petty politics and meaningless feuds of the south, the Wall and the dwindling Night's Watch are all that stand between the Seven Kingdoms and the horrors beyond. The White Walkers have returned, leading their armies of undead Wights, bringing with them a darkness that will cover and consume the lands of the living. The remaining wildlings have rallied behind King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder in an attempt to flee south, knowing that as the White Walkers spread towards them, any who remain in the lands beyond the Wall will die. Mance's wildling army now numbers in the tens of thousands, and is determined to force its way through the Wall to reach the safety of the south. All that stands between the Seven Kingdoms and this barbarian invasion is the Night's Watch, whose numbers and leadership were recently devastated in a disastrous expedition north of the Wall, which ended with the White Walkers killing a third of their number and the death of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. Only Jon Snow, Samwell Tarly, and a handful of others returned from the expedition to the safety of Castle Black.

Not only are the Night's Watch outnumbered and their remaining leadership fractured, but advanced raiding bands of wildlings have infiltrated behind the Wall by climbing over it, preparing to attack the weakly defended southern side of Castle Black. These warbands are led by Tormund Giantsbane and the fearsome Styr, Magnar of Thenn - as well as Jon Snow's ex-lover Ygritte, whom he betrayed when he revealed his true loyalty and returned to the Night's Watch. A massive wildling assault looms on the horizon, as thousands of barbarian warriors prepare to attack Castle Black.

On top of all of this, the divided surviving leadership of the Night's Watch is hampered by new Lannister-loyal recruits sent up from the south - men who would like nothing better than to kill the bastard son of Ned Stark, to extinguish the last known bloodline of House Stark.

Production
It has been confirmed that the production will return to Dubrovnik in Croatia and Iceland. It has also been announced that the coastal city of Split, also in Croatia, has been added. Primary filming will also continue in Northern Ireland. Whether filming will also resume in Morocco is not yet known. It appears increasingly probable that it will not, and that Daenerys's storyline in Slaver's Bay will continue to be filmed in Croatia

For Season 3, apparently due to the increased workload of concurrent filming in four countries (Northern Ireland, Croatia, Iceland, and Morocco), the number of production units was increased from two to three. The first two units, organized since the beginning of the TV series, are "Wolf" unit and "Dragon" unit. The new third production unit in Season 3 was called "Raven" unit. Filming in Iceland actually began in Season 2. However, a post on the official Making Game of Thrones blog on September 25th, 2013, revealed that Season 4 would switch back to having only two units, and the extra "Raven" unit would be disbanded.

The original reason that production expanded to location-shoots in Iceland in Season 2 was apparently to accurately portray the rugged frozen vistas of the lands beyond the Wall, i.e. when Jon Snow, Qhorin Halfhand, or Ygritte are walking on an actual frozen glacier with rugged mountains in the background, without the need for special effects shots to fill those details in (which it was feared would look fake). However, the location scouts apparently found other areas in Iceland which they felt would be perfect for scenes from the other storylines. There have been confirmed sightings of Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) filming scenes for Season 4 in Iceland, even though their storylines do not take them remotely near the Wall.

Adaptation concerns
As David Benioff explained talking to EW.com, the producers are very excited to film Season 4, and the last three episodes in particular are scenes that - like the Red Wedding - they were waiting to film since production on the first season began. Generally, the TV show has aimed to adapt roughly one book as one TV season, though the producers have also said they are adapting the story as a whole and thus parts will spill over into other seasons (i.e. Jaime Lannister didn't have much to do in the second novel, so they moved up some scenes he had from the beginning of the third novel into late Season 2). The third novel, A Storm of Swords, was so long that the decision was made to split it into two seasons. One of the reasons the Red Wedding was so shocking to book readers was because it didn't happen near the end of the third novel, not at the point readers would expect such a climax. However the decision was made that Season 3 needed to have a climax and it would better suit their needs to make it the climax at the end (as opposed to putting in in the fifth episode out of ten, for shock value, similar to how abruptly Renly Baratheon died in the fifth episode of Season 2). Season 1's climax was Ned Stark's execution, Season 2's climax was the Battle of the Blackwater, thus the Red Wedding fit in as a good climactic point for the end of Season 3. Therefore, Season 3 was only the first half of the third novel, while Season 4 will adapt the second half - the half with the actual climaxes from the end of the third novel. Many storylines are left irrevocably changed by the end of the third novel.

The A Song of Ice and Fire novels on which Game of Thrones is based were originally planned as a trilogy, to be titled A Game of Thrones, A Dance With Dragons, and The Winds of Winter. However, soon after George R.R. Martin finished writing the first novel, A Game of Thrones, he realized it would have to expand into a much longer book series. The plotlines which Martin originally storyboarded out as the plot of "book one" (A Game of Thrones) were expanded into three novels: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Sworms. Thus the first three novels are in many ways one very long novel - and the climax of A Storm of Swords concludes many of the plotlines begun in A Game of Thrones. Martin even initially planned to make a five-year time jump between the third and fourth novels, to emphasize how much of a chapter-break the climaxes of the third novel were to the overall story (though the time jump was later abandoned).

A further problem was that what Martin originally planned as the middle novel (A Dance With Dragons) grew so vast that it could not possibly be published as a single novel, as it exceeded even the third novel in length. This caused several production delays, until Martin answered the "Meereenese Knot" by cutting it in two: the fourth novel (A Feast For Crows) follows all of the characters in the Seven Kingdoms, while the fifth novel (A Dance With Dragons) happens concurrently with the fourth novel, covering events outside of the Seven Kingdoms during the same time frame. It was as if Martin took the original, too long to print novel, removed all of the chapters taking place at the Wall or in Essos, and then published them as a separate novel. However, the events in the two novels happen concurrently, and the TV series will simply present these events in chronological order, intercutting between the two storylines. This is somewhat similar to how Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was internally divided into two sections: the first covered Aragorn's quest, while the second half covered Frodo's actions during the same time span (thus the middle of the novel "backs up" to show Frodo's perspective from the same day that Aragorn's storyline began). The film adaptation of The Two Towers simply intercut the two storylines chronologically, as it was felt that it would seriously damage the flow and pacing of the film to focus exclusively on one set of characters, then the other.

Thus, David Benioff said he is very confident about Season 4, because it contains many climactic scenes which not only ended the third novel (to a greater extent than the Red Wedding), but concluded storylines begun in Season 1. In contrast, Benioff said that "Season 5 gives me nightmares." It will be as if they took book four and book five, cut each book in half, and then intercut the two storylines - but ultimately, the end of Season 5 will correspond to the middle of book four and the middle of book five. Unlike the third novel, in which the Red Wedding provided a convenient mid-point to stop at, quite simply, there is no real stopping point in the middle of book four and middle of book five. It would be as if the mid-point of Season 2, "The Ghost of Harrenhal", was used as the climax of an entire season. The writers have been aware of this for many seasons, and were worrying about it even since Season 3, but more so than any other season, Season 5 has no clear climax.

Returning
All regular cast members whose characters survive the events of Season 3 are expected to return for the fourth season.

Main Cast
Confirmed main cast members:
 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister, the "Kingslayer"
 * Lena Headey as Queen Regent Cersei Lannister
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen
 * Kit Harington as Jon Snow
 * Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
 * Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish, "Littlefinger"
 * Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth, the "Onion Knight"
 * Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon
 * Carice van Houten as Lady Melisandre, the "Red Woman"
 * Natalie Dormer as Lady Margaery Tyrell
 * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Prince Bran Stark
 * Sophie Turner as Princess Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Princess Arya Stark
 * Alfie Allen as Prince Theon Greyjoy
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
 * Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey Baratheon
 * Rose Leslie as Ygritte
 * Jerome Flynn as Ser Bronn
 * Conleth Hill as Lord Varys, "the Spider"
 * Sibel Kekilli as Shae
 * Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane, "the Hound"

Recurring Cast
Confirmed recurring cast members:
 * Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy
 * Michael McElhatton as Lord Roose Bolton
 * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
 * Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell, the "Knight of the Flowers"
 * Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell, the "Queen of Thorns"
 * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle
 * Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder, the "King Beyond the Wall"
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane
 * Dominic Carter as Lord Janos Slynt
 * Kate Dickie as Lady Lysa Arryn, Lady Regent of the Vale
 * Owen Teale as Ser Alliser Thorne
 * Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Snow, the Bastard of the Dreadfort
 * Clive Russell as Ser Brynden Tully, the "Blackfish"
 * Richard Dormer as Lord Beric Dondarrion
 * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne
 * Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed
 * Kristian Nairn as Hodor
 * Mark Stanley as Grenn
 * Josef Altin as Pyp
 * Luke Barnes as Rast
 * Tara Fitzgerald as Queen Selyse Baratheon
 * Kerry Ingram as Princess Shireen Baratheon
 * Art Parkinson as Prince Rickon Stark
 * Andy Beckwith as Rorge
 * Tony Way as Dontos Hollard, "Dontos the Red"
 * Noah Taylor as Locke
 * Charlotte Hope as Myranda
 * Burn Gorman as Karl
 * Will Tudor as Olyvar
 * Josephine Gillan as Marei
 * Pixie Le Knot as Kayla

New Characters

 * Pedro Pascal as Prince Oberyn Martell, known as the "Red Viper of Dorne." Announced June 28 2013.
 * Octavia Alexandru as a Child of the Forest . Announced July 2 2013
 * Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris. Announced July 17 2013
 * Brenock O'Connor as TBA. Announced July 23 2013
 * Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand. Announced July 25 2013.
 * Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Lord Mace Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden, Warden of the South, Lord Paramount of the Reach. Announced July 29 2013
 * Joseph Gatt as TBA, Announced August 1 2013
 * Trixiebelle Harrowell as Farmer's daughter. Announced August 10 2013
 * Elizabeth Webster as Fat Walda Frey. Announced September 4 2013
 * Lu Corfield as Mole's Town madam. Announced September 4 2013
 * Rupert Vansittart as Lord Yohn Royce, known as "Bronze Yohn." Announced September 9 2013.
 * Gabrielle Dempsey as Innkeeper's daughter. Announced September 11 2013
 * Jane McGrath as TBA. Announced September 12 2013
 * Paola Dionisotti as Lady Anya Waynwood. Announced September 15 2013.
 * Alisdair Simpson as Ser Donnel Waynwood, the Knight of the Gate. Announced September 25 2013
 * Daniel Rabin as Lord Blackmont. Announced September 25 2013
 * Deirdre Monaghan as Morag. Announced September 25 2013
 * Saffie Jacobs as Craster's wife. Announced September 25 2013
 * Aeryn Walker as Craster's wife. Announced September 25 2013
 * Sarine Sofair as Lhara. Announced September 25 2013
 * Samantha Bentley as TBA. Announced September 25 2013
 * Anoushka Kellett as TBA. Announced September 25 2013
 * Jessica Jensen as TBA. Announced September 25 2013
 * Joel Fry as Hizdahr zo Loraq. Announced September 27 2013
 * Struan Rodger as the Three-eyed raven. Announced October 16 2013
 * Yuri Kolokolnikov as Styr, the Magnar of Thenn. Announced November 5 2013
 * Darren Kent as Goatherd. Announced November 14 2013
 * Alice Hewkin as TBA. Announced November 22 2013

Recast Characters

 * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis. Announced August 28 2013
 * Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Ser Gregor Clegane, "The Mountain that Rides". Announced August 30 2013

Producers

 * David Benioff: executive producer.
 * D.B. Weiss: executive producer. Benioff and Weiss signed a two-year contract in 2012, indicating that they will stay with the show to at least the end of the fourth season.

Writers

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

Directors

 * David Benioff & D.B. Weiss - Episode 1
 * Alex Graves - Episodes 2, 3, 8, and 10
 * Michelle MacLaren - Episodes 4 and 5
 * Alik Sakharov - Episodes 6 and 7
 * Neil Marshall: Episode 9, formerly reported as 10.