Inside HBO's Game of Thrones

Winter is coming, and George R.R. Martin readers cannot wait till Spring 2011, when it actually does. Confused? In a world where the Starks, the Lannisters, and the Targaryens are the main players, summers last for decades, and so does winter. The longer and more pleasant the summer is, the colder the winter will be. In Spring next year, those of us in the real world will have the chance to (visually) enter the world that George R.R. Martin has created, courtesy of HBO.

It really is not a secret just how much I get excited about The Song of Ice and Fire series, and much like other fans, I have been awaiting the premiere of HBO’s take on the story. They released a teaser earlier this year, and that was enough to get me all worked up. You can just imagine how enthralled I was with this video showing more insights about the making of the show.

A little background for those yet unfamiliar with the series. Considered high fantasy, the story is set in a world that is not that different from our own, but is totally not restricted by geographical boundaries as we know it. This makes for a realistic enough setting, but also allows for imagination to run freer. Politics, sex, drugs, war, dragons – it doesn’t get any better! Here, see it for yourself.

As far as I am concerned, I think they did the casting very well. For the most part, the characters look pretty much how I pictured them in my head. Only Jaime Lannister – played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – didn’t meet my expectations. I thought that he would have been fairer and “prettier”. As for Ned Stark – played by Sean Bean – I think they did excellently.

The sets and costumes will definitely make you stare. The attention to detail is amazing, and since there are no real historical references to stay true to, the artists behind the production really went all out.