Getting Ready for Game of Thrones

Winter is Coming!  Sex, violence, adult themes, mature story lines, incest and bloodshed.  We expect one or two of these in our weekly drama viewing, but all of them?  In one series?  In one episode even?

Yes folks, Game of Thrones returns to our screens later this year. Add in to the mix a dragon or two, and you have the recipe for yet another roller coaster ride through the wilds of Westeros.

Someone once said that Game of Thrones was ‘The Sopranos meets Middle Earth’ and the inter-family intrigue and deceit would do great credit to New York’s finest. The settings, in a World of medieval warfare and hand to hand combat, are straight out of a fantasy novel.

Which is, of course, exactly what Game of Thrones is all about. George RR Martin’s books  constructed an enormous, sprawling land in which to set his stories.  As inevitably happens with huge adaptations however, TV producers have been taking increasing liberties with the books as the series’ have progressed.  Indeed, the TV series moved ahead of the novels in series six, so the writers for the screen, were able to take the plot-lines and adapt them as they saw fit.

Series 7 will have, ironically, just seven episodes, and will adapt material from the upcoming novels ‘The Winds of Winter’ and ‘A Dream of Spring’.

All the major characters will be back, apart from those that have been brutally murdered in previous series’, as we look towards a finale in the battle for the ultimate prize, the right to sit on the Iron Throne. Jon Snow (played by the dashing Kit Harrington) will have to dispense with his stock phrase for this series.  ‘Winter is Coming’ was the cry, uttered in his distinctive Northern drawl.  Winter will finally arrive in Series 7, unleashing the full fury of the (seemingly indestructible) White Walkers onto Westeros.

Queen of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), is hovering in the background, ready to stake her claim to the throne, ably assisted by the brilliant Tyrion Lannister, superbly played by Peter Dinklage. She will not get things her own way however.

Broadcaster HBO has started to air the trailers and series 7 promises much. It’s time that some of the many loose ends start to become tied up and if you believe the conspiracy theorists, much will be revealed about the strength of the various claims to the iron Throne.

If you are a Game of Thrones virgin, then an epic binge-watch is highly recommended. The plot can be so intricate at times, that the best way to keep up is to watch episode after episode, and to hell with your life.

You will find yourself sucked in to the elaborate and sometimes tragic lives of the Lannisters, Starks, Tyrells and Greyjoys, as they rape, pillage and murder their way through the 60 episodes aired so far.  That’s just two and a half full days.  It’s not much to ask is it?  Go on, do it!

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