Thrones is back and thank the gods.  Ok.  That was a bluff.  I went all-in, and I folded.  Wasn’t my best poker play.  Throne’s presence at San Diego Comic-Con kicked off with a tribute to the many casualties of the beloved series:

Author George R.R. Martin is still writing The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, the 6th and 7th installments of A Song of Ice and Fire, respectively.  The Winds of Winter is set for release December of this year, while Thrones Season 4 started location shooting last week in Nesjavellir, Iceland.  Several thespians have been cast for the season already including Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell, Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand, and Mark Gatiss in an unspecified role.

Major potential  Season 4 characters that have NOT been cast yet include: Mace Tyrell; Lord of Highgarden, Styr; the Magnar of Thenn, Aeron “Damphair” Greyjoy; The Iron Captain, Victarion Greyjoy; Captain of the Iron fleet, Ser Arys Oakheart; The Soiled Knight, Areo Hotah; The Captain of Guards, and finally Arianne Martell; daughter of Prince Doran.  Stay tuned for casting/shooting updates as they arrive.

UPDATE:

HBO parent company Time Warner has released their latest quarterly earnings report and within it are the latest viewer numbers for Game of Thrones. HBO is now reporting that Game of Thrones averaged 14.2 million viewers per episode last season. This is a 20% increase over season 2′s viewership number and is a significant jump from the last reported number of 13.6 million. (You can download the full report here.)

What does this mean? It means that even well into season 3 Thrones‘ viewership is still climbing. Which is pretty unprecedented for a drama like this. I suspect the Red Wedding may have had something to do with the late season jump as people got caught up on the show to see what all the fuss is about.

This also means that Game of Thrones is very, very close to becoming HBO’s most-watched show of all-time. The Sopranos is currently tops with an average of 14.4 million viewers per episode.Game of Thrones may very well break that next season.

ALSO:

British thespian Roger Ashton-Griffiths has been cast as Mace Tyrell; Lord of Highgarden.

Dutch actor Yorick Van Wageningen is rumored to have auditioned for Styr; the Magnar of Thenn.

Dean-Charles Chapman has reportedly been cast as King Tommen.

@DanyTargaryen_ @Emilia_Clarke @georgerrmartin @GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/h7btt5sDWS

— Keirsey.com (@Keirseydotcom) July 25, 2013

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