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 on April 6, 2014.

Season 4 will be mostly based on the second half 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 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 the Freys' roof. 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 stands triumphant. The crazed boy-king Joffrey Baratheon gloats, 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 nominal rule of Riverrun, though the castle remains under command of "Blackfish" Tully.

Though the mainland of Westeros is mostly under Lannister control, there are still two factions defying them: the Greyjoys and the Baratheons. Ironborn occupiers remaining in the North are being hunted down by Ramsay Snow, bastard son of Roose Bolton. Ramsay holds Theon Greyjoy hostage, horribly torturing him at whim, but Balon Greyjoy considers his son as good as dead.

Stannis Baratheon, as the rightful heir to his older brother King Robert, still refuses to surrender, despite having only the remnants of an army. However, following the advice of Melisandre, he has focused his attention of the threat of the wildlings marching against the Wall.

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 after Robert's Rebellion, 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. While Lysa Arryn chose to remain neutral, former Master of Coin and new Lord of Harrenhal Petyr Baelish has been sent by Lord Tywin to woo her with a marriage proposal, now that he's a high lord and a suitable match for the Lady Regent of the Vale. Nevertheless only Littlefinger knows what Littlefinger is plotting.

For their own part, House Martell of Dorne has loathed the Lannisters ever since the Sack of King's Landing, when Ser Gregor Clegane raped and killed Elia Martell - sister of Doran Martell, the ruling Prince of Dorne - and Lord Tywin did nothing to punish him. During the War of the Five Kings Tyrion Lannister prevented Dorne from declaring for any of House Lannister's enemies by sending Princess Myrcella to Sunspear as part of her betrothal to Prince 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, his brash younger brother Prince Oberyn comes to claim the council seat. Oberyn loves the ladies, he loves the boys, but most of all he loved his sister Elia, and the Lannisters aren't the only ones who pay their debts.

Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea in Slaver's Bay, perhaps the greatest threat to Lannister rule is rapidly growing in strength. Daenerys Targaryen now commands not just three live dragons - who are starting to grow large enough to serve as decisive weapons of war - but also an army of eight thousand Unsullied warrior-eunuchs. For now, 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's 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 - and unlike her previous victories, they have had time to prepare for her arrival.

Far to the north, beyond the 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 emerged in force, leading their armies of Wights. The wildlings have rallied behind King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder in an attempt to flee south, knowing that as the White Walkers advance, anyone who remain in the lands beyond the Wall will die and become part of the undead host. 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 with the deaths of a third of their number and and that of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. So far only Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly have returned 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.

Meanwhile, the Night's Watch faces threats within its own ranks, as new southerner recruits have been sent to the Wall, among them the power-grabbing Janos Slynt, one of the men who betrayed Ned Stark.

And throughout the Seven Kingdoms, while House Stark stands on the verge of extinction - and is believed to be just that by the realm at large - four "lone wolves" fight to survive: Sansa Stark remains a hostage of the Iron Throne and a forced marriage to Tyrion Lannister, Rickon Stark seeks the safety of Last Hearth and the fiercely loyal House Umber, Bran Stark and his three companions have crossed the Wall chasing a vision, and Arya Stark, having lost everything and forced to rely on the protection of a man she hates, clings to her thirst for vengeance, a Braavosi coin, and two words: Valar Morghulis.

Production
Primary filming for Season 4 continued in Northern Ireland. It has been confirmed that the production returned to Dubrovnik in Croatia, as well as Iceland. Another filming location added to the Croatia production unit's schedule was the coastal city of Split.

The Making Game of Thrones official production blog has confirmed that filming did not return to Morocco for Season 4. This decreases the number of countries that the TV series films in from four to three (Northern Ireland, Croatia, and Iceland). Morocco was used for the location filming of Daenerys's Season 3 scenes set in Slaver's Bay, specifically the cities of Astapor and Yunkai. Daenerys's storyline continues to take place in Slaver's Bay during Season 4, but other locations (apparently in Croatia) will be used to represent it.

For Season 3, apparently due to the increased workload of concurrent filming in four countries, 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
 * Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy
 * 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
 * Anton Lesser as Qyburn
 * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne
 * Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed
 * Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed
 * Kristian Nairn as Hodor
 * Hannah Murray as Gilly
 * Mark Stanley as Grenn
 * Josef Altin as Pyp
 * Luke Barnes as Rast
 * Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm
 * Tara Fitzgerald as Queen Selyse Baratheon
 * Kerry Ingram as Princess Shireen Baratheon
 * Art Parkinson as Prince Rickon Stark
 * Andy Beckwith as Rorge
 * Andy Kellegher as Polliver
 * Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant
 * 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
 * Paul Bentley as the High Septon

New Characters

 * Pedro Pascal as Prince Oberyn Martell, known as the "Red Viper of Dorne." Announced June 28 2013.
 * Octavia Alexandru as TBA. 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.
 * Sigur Rós as TBA. Announced September 10 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 TBA. 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
 * TBA as Oznak zo Pahl. Announced December 16 2013
 * Patrick Molloy as Night's Watch Ranger. Announced January 4 2014
 * Gary Oliver as Braavosi Captain. Announced January 5 2014
 * TBA as Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg. Announced January 10 2014

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.