" Hello." " Hi there." " I'm David." " And I'm Dan." "We just have one question." "Who was the first one in here today?" " Man:" "Baba Booey!" " ( scattered cheering )" "And how long did you wait?" "All night?" "Thank you." "We are not worthy." "All right, introduce our characters, our actors." "Here is John Bradley." "( Cheering, applause )" "Dan Weiss:" "Next up, we have Rose Leslie." "( cheering, applause )" "David Benioff:" "Christopher "Kit" Harington." "( cheering, applause )" "Weiss:" "Got Sophie Turner in the house." "( cheering, applause )" "Benioff:" "Natalie Dormer." "( cheering, applause )" "Weiss:" "I got a fella named George R.R. Martin." "( cheering, applause )" "Thank you." "Benioff:" "Maisie Williams." "( cheering, applause )" "Weiss:" "Rory McCann." "( cheering, applause )" "Man:" "It's the Hound!" "( howls )" "Benioff:" "Gwendoline Christie." "( cheering, applause )" "Weiss:" "Nikolaj Coster-Waldau." "( cheering, applause )" "Benioff:" "Pedro Pascal." "( cheering, applause )" "Weiss:" "And finally our excellent moderator, Craig Ferguson." "( cheering, applause )" " Wow." " Woman:" "We love you, Craig!" "Thanks very much indeed for saying that, person who's not really telling the truth!" "I'm very happy to be here, everyone." "Thank you, David and Dan, for introducing me last after these people camp out all night to see these people, and then, at the very end, me!" "( Cheering, applause )" "I thought you understood dramatic structure." "It's very nice to be here." "Welcome to San Dee-ah-go." "( Audience cheers )" "Which, as we know, is as far south as south goes." "Do you remember that?" "That's from season two, isn't it?" ""As far south as south" " " I thought you guys knew about this." "Welcome to the big one." "Now of course we're all here to celebrate Game of Thrones." "I understand that many of you people today will know this show better than I do." "Of course these people do, and certainly you will." "I know there are people who are fluent in Dothraki out there right now, but remember we're all on the same side." "How often do you get" "Do you get to see each other at any point through all these different worlds that you exist?" "Do you guys ever get to hang out together?" " Coster-Waldau:" "In the bar, yeah." " In the bar?" "Ferguson:" "Is there a bar somewhere that isn't in the title sequence that pops out if you know the right place to go?" "McCann:" "It's like the "Star Wars" bar, but it's Game of Thrones bar." "I can imagine it probably is." "Full of white walkers and stuff." "The thing is, you" " I'm surprised to see you here, Rory, given your-- what happened." "And, you know, as you were left on the mountainside." "Yes, well, I'm still sore." "I can't believe that I'm here, just." "But, yeah, things weren't looking too good the last time I saw myself, so..." "I thought he got off lightly." "( laughter, clapping )" "Nasty bitch." "( laughter )" "Leslie:" "Insolent bitch." " Which one?" "Me or her?" " Both." "I can't believe I've been put between you two." "I feel very, very uncomfortable." " George, may I ask you a question?" " Yes." "When you began the creation of all of-- this world of Westeros and all of the attendant stories that happen therein, did you envisage anyone to look like these people?" "Does it look like the world you first thought of?" "Does it feel like it?" "Well, more or less, but, of course, not exactly." "I mean, I started this in 1991 and the show" "I didn't even have my first meeting with David and Dan until 2007, I believe it was, so there were, like, 16 years before the show was a twinkle in anyone's eye." "And I had very strong pictures of what Westeros looked like and what the characters looked like, but these people have brought the characters to life amazingly." "Does it affect your writing since, when you watch the show and you continue to write?" "Does it inform what you do now?" "Not really 'cause I do have those 16 years that took deep root before the show came along." "Sometimes it gets a little tricky, but the show is the show and the books are the books and I try to keep them separate." "I know a few of the actors have read the books, but many of them don't." "Can I ask which actors here were reading the books before they became cast members on the show?" "Is that something that you all do?" "Or not, as the case may be?" "It certainly isn't a prerequisite." "Obviously." "You guys clearly were fans of the books, right?" "When did you first come in contact with them?" "Benioff:" "When did we first read the books?" " Weiss:" "Eight years ago." " Benioff:" "Eight years ago." " That's a long time ago." " Ferguson:" "It is a long time." "And how did you manage to get it going with-- 'cause clearly this is something that costs a great deal of money to put together." "How did you manage to talk HBO into this?" " Well, first we had to talk George into it." " Ferguson:" "Right." "And sorry 'cause some of you have probably heard this story before, but we had a very long lunch with George where we told him what we wanted to do with the adaptation and we had a three-hour talk." "At the very end of it, George said, "Okay, okay." "Who is Jon Snow's real mother?"" "And there was a very long pause and I looked at Dan and Dan looked at me and we threw out a guess and he kinda-- he didn't say yes or no, but he sort of nodded and then he let us take the show." "Who is Jon Snow's real mother?" "Mrs. Snow." "( laughter )" " Harrington:" "What'd he say?" " Leslie:" "Mrs. Snow." "Couldn't be or else-- oh, never mind." "All right, well, that's good." "And so you shoot most of the time-- do you all shoot in Belfast all the time?" "Is that where you make everything?" "No, we shoot in Belfast through the entire shooting season, but we also have other foreign locations which vary from year to year." "This year it's going to be Croatia and Spain." "In past years, we've been in Malta and Morocco and Iceland." "The subject matter of the show can be, from time to time, quite controversial." "Is that something that-- sometimes you go to a conservative area, perhaps where they aren't happy when they find out it's you guys filming there?" " That happened this year." " Yes, yes." "We lost a location." "I feel like, though, if the Bible-thumpers stopped thumping the Bible for a minute and read it, they would see there's just as much incest in there." "Lots." "A whole lot." "We lost a location this year to a man who did not want his property to be involved with "Porn of Thrones."" "Please remember the views expressed by David and Dan in no way represent my own views," " for legal reasons." " Weiss:" "Yes, they do." "So, may I ask by show of hands who's still left alive in the cast?" "Um..." "Let's see, yes." "So, we've got about halfway." "Do you-- if I may ask first the actors who are still with us, does it concern you when you receive the scripts that this may be it?" "Does it worry you?" "Yeah, I mean, some of us know roughly what happens in the books to our characters, but I know that David and Dan have killed characters that are still alive in the books and vice versa, so we never really know." "So I just suck up to both David and Dan and George and just hope for the best, really." "( laughs )" "That was it." "I don't really want to take up a whole lot of time from this panel today not giving you a chance to talk because, obviously, there are a great many members of the cast here, so rather than me talking," "I want to throw it to the floor quite quickly so that we can get as many questions as possible for the fans who have waited, as you say, overnight." "So can we start putting that together right away?" "And when you come up to ask a question, please identify yourself and speak coherently and loudly." "Yes?" "Yes, David?" "I was gonna say if you'd do us a favor and don't ask us what's gonna happen next season." "Ferguson:" "Oh, yeah, obviously there will be no spoilers here." "And also if you do know what happens in the books and then you want to ask questions about stuff that hasn't reached that point in the series yet, grow up" "and don't." " All right?" " ( cheering, applause )" "That's right." "Very good, everyone." "We're all friends." "We're all Unsullied in a way, aren't we?" "I know I am." "All right, sir." "May I ask your name and what your question is?" "My name is Rick and my question is for Mr. Martin." "As the creator of this universe," "I'm wondering if there's any of the many gods or deities that you most closely associate yourself with, and if I may suggest one, perhaps the Many-Faced God because you kill with utter impunity." "( Martin laughs )" "I have plenty of punity." "No, I don't think I'd choose any one god over the other, and my reputation for killing is exaggerated." "As I like to point out that David and Dan are far bloodier than I am and they've killed a number of characters who are still alive in the books, so I may only be the second-ranked murderer here on the panel." "But, no, I think religion is an important part of the world and should be depicted, but I'm not about to endorse one Westerosi religion as true over the others." "There you are, then." "George is the second best killer on the panel, apparently." "Yes, may I ask what your name is, young lady?" "Hi, my name's Lila." "Ferguson:" "Hi, Lila." "Are you Dothraki?" "You've got lovely hair." "Thank you." "Maybe." "My question is for Kit Harington." "( Women cheering )" " Ferguson:" "Kit Harington." " McCann:" "He's got lovely hair." "Even though you know nothing, Jon Snow..." "Harington:" "It's true, it's true." "Lila:" "I wanted to ask you, what do you do to prepare for your roles on the Wall, before battle scenes, also in the freezing cold?" "Just what do you do beforehand to prepare?" "I think, with Thrones, it's weird." "A lot of the work is done for you before you even get there." "And I think a big part of that for me is costume because we have such wonderful costumes on this show that when I find I put it on-- and it's got a certain weight to it, a certain sort of-- gives a certain gravity" "that I-- it's weird, I'm about to go back and start my first day on Monday, which is really exciting and I've got a great scene, but it's odd." "I've just had my hair dyed and everything, and I get back into that costume and it's very grounding." "That's kind of how I fall into Jon Snow." "It's not a very exciting process." "Coster-Waldau:" "And the hair products, right?" " Say again?" " Coster-Waldau:" "The hair products?" "Hair products, yeah." "Many, many hair products." "Ferguson:" "I could ask the same of John and Rose who are north of the Wall with you as well." "You guys, you're working in heavy costumes." "Is it always that cold?" "Did you have to act cold in those" "No, I mean, we were in the northern part of Iceland for the majority of season two and three, and so it was absolutely freezing, so there was very little acting involved when we were cold." "But, no, there were times when we were shooting in, like, minus 40." "But we had these thermals underneath the costume and so that definitely helps." "And then you had a big fat cloak on, so that was fun." "That helped." "But, no, it is beautiful, and it was mesmerizing being in Iceland, but it-- that kind of cold, it kind of wakes you up." " It makes sure that you" " Ferguson:" "Yeah,I don'tenvyyou itatall." " The same for you?" " Yeah, I think that what this show really excels in is putting the actors into the same environment as the characters would find themselves." "If the characters are that cold, we tend to be that cold." "When we were in Iceland, especially, we thought that we were walking on the ground." "We were actually walking on five feet of compacted snow." "So if you get my costume, which weighs a fair amount on its own, put me in it, which is never gonna help anything, and then have me charging across a glacier being chased by a camera on a quad bike," "chances are that by the end of the day," "I've been driven into the ground like a tent peg." "And, you know, people say," ""Oh, but those costumes must really keep you warm,"" "and they do, but from the neck down." "And, as an actor, your tool-- pardon the expression-  is-  ( laughter )" "Your face is your tool, which-- yeah, all right." " All right, no, no, no." " Ferguson:" "Not in America." "It means something different here." "No, no, I understand." "I understand." "I'll reiterate Craig's sentiments-- grow up." "( All laughing )" "But you find your performance completely compromised because you can't be subtle at all because your face is freezing up-- literally freezing up." "And at minus 35, you're at work and you think," ""Okay, if I'm ever this cold again in my life, something's gone fairly badly wrong."" "( all laugh )" "All right, there you go, and may I ask your name?" "Hi, my name's Jacob." "Ferguson:" "Hi, Jacob, what's your question?" "Well, I have so many questions for all of the" "Ferguson:" "Yeah, but you only get one, Jacob, so what is it?" "But my question's for the masterminds behind the show" "George, David, and Dan." "As the pacing of the show has really sped up and caught up almost to where "A Dance With Dragons" is, how will you go forward planning this throughout the next few seasons and years as-- will it surpass the books" "as far as the timeline?" "Which one will end first?" "Are we gonna wait?" "Benioff:" "Jacob, it's a fantastic question and we can't answer without telling you what's gonna happen, so do you want-- should we give Jacob an alternate question?" "Yeah, you can ask one of the many other questions that you said you had, Jacob." "So many questions you had, you asked the one we can't answer!" "Oh, man." "Well... how is it working in all of the different sets and how do you manage to bring together all these different stories, twisting and turning into one great arc that has an epic feel to it?" "It's a real world." "It's a whole world." " Ferguson:" "Wow." " Pascal:" "Yeah, how do you do that?" "Yeah, how do you do it, actually?" "It all starts in George's mind." "It all started in George's brain how many years ago, George?" "30 years ago?" "Ferguson: 1991, wasn't it, George?" " Didn't you say that?" " 33 years ago?" " Ferguson:" "Yeah." " And every single character sitting up here at this table started out in some dark region of George's mind." "Can I ask you, George?" "'Cause, George, you named all the places in Westeros." "Why do they all sound a little bit like artisanal cheese farms?" "You got King's Landing, you've got Winterfell, all of them sound like they make a fairly decent cheese." "( All laughing )" "I like cheese." "Ferguson:" "Seems fair." "Fromage, yes." "I don't know, you know?" "Naming things in fantasy is very hard." "You know, I-- not only do I have Westeros, but we recently came out with a map book where they wanted me to draw maps of the entire world and we have "The World of Ice and Fire" coming out in October," "which is like a concordance, and, you know, I'm drawing up maps for places, like, thousands of miles to the east where the story will never go and I'm just running out of names." "The Pointy Mountains, the Sharp-- the Misty-- no, Tolkien used the Misty Mountains." " The Really Big Mountains." "You know?" " Cheesy Mountains?" "You do the best you can." "You're doing very well, George." "I didn't mean you to think that I was criticizing." "Yes, it looks like we have an emissary from another kingdom." " Martin:" "Yay!" " Ferguson:" "Hello." " Hey, guys." " Pascal:" "This question better be for me." "You know it!" "I'm Eric, this is Angie." "First, I wanna say do you know why all the world hates a Lannister?" "Pascal:" "We all know why." "My question's for Pedro." "Can you describe the process of preparing for the big battle in episode nine-- eight?" "You guys look amazing, by the way." "Ferguson:" "Yeah, they look very good." "May I say, I think I speak for most of us here." "Pedro, how delighted we are to see you intact." "Yeah, you're, uh... ( cheering, applause )" "Um, the HBO team set me up with a master of Wushu very early in the process, actually, and put me into some training with a guy named Master Hu in Los Angeles, and then of course I was on set in Belfast" "doing extensive rehearsals with C.C. Smith and the fight team and HafthГіr, the other actor." "And I had an amazing double." "I mean, come on, guys." "Yeah, I could ask the same, actually, of Nicolaj, Gwendoline, and Rory, actually." "And that you're all-- a lot of fight scenes, a lot of very complicated and difficult-looking fight scenes." "Did you do that before the show?" "Is that a skill you learned in drama school?" "Or are you actually "swordy" in your life?" "Christie: "Swordy."" "Yeah, I've always been really "swordy."" " Ferguson:" "You're swordy?" " Yeah, I was just drawn to it when I was three, four months old and found I developed an aptitude with it, and then this part came up and it seemed like" " my whole life was working towards it." " Ferguson:" "It's a natural fit." "Um, they train us really intensively." "We work with an amazing, amazing stunt team, all of us, who are very patient and deal with us with a great deal of humor, particularly me, who can be a bit slow." "It takes a while for it to sink in." "Um, and you work hard, but it's always with the goal that you want it to be as brilliant as it possibly can be and they facilitate that." "Yes, same for you, Nikolaj?" "Coster-Waldau:" "Yes, I mean, I had a great teacher once called Dave Hockaday, who was just amazing." "But that was years ago." "He's in Leeds now." " But apart from that" " Ferguson:" "In Leeds, you say?" " Yes." " Ferguson:" "You need a sword in Leeds." " I need a sword-- yeah, you do." " Yeah." "But I was just gonna say 'cause those two fights-- what Gwen and Rory did and Pedro, it was just-- wasn't that just amazing?" "Ferguson:" "Yeah, it was extraordinary." " ( cheering, applause )" " Unbelievable." "McCann:" "I mean, I didn't go to drama college and I didn't learn sword fighting, but I grew up in Glasgow and we don't use swords, we use a thing called a chib." "Ferguson:" "Yes, I remember them well." "It's like a sword, but it's got nails at the end of the stick, you know." "That seems to do the trick." "Coster-Waldau:" "Yeah, I spoke to Gwen after your fight." "She was in tears." " McCann:" "Sorry." " Coster-Waldau:" "You beat her up." " She beat me up." " I did." "Can I ask maybe-- further down a bit" " Natalie and Sophie, are jealous of the swordplay?" "Do you ever wish you could get a little more in the way of brutal killing action going on?" "Yeah, I wanna kill someone." "Ferguson:" "Yeah." "Isn't she adorable?" "Yeah, I" " I was talking to Gwen just backstage about her fight." "I thought" " I'm a massive "Rob Roy" -- that movie-- there's a fight in "Rob Roy"..." "Martin:" "Oh, great fight." "Great fight." "It's a fantastic swordfight, and I was really into swords when I was in my 20s." "So as Margaery, I did get a bit frustrated when I first started, but she's proven to have other weapons." "But I was just complimenting Gwen on that fight because you can count on one hand, I think-- when I watch films and see plays," "I'm always really interested in the authenticity of the violence, and that's what's great about Game of Thrones's violence." "It's disturbing because it's so real and accurate, naturalistic." "I thought that was a particularly amazing fight, and I asked about the sword-holding moment and you said that C.C.-- the stunt guy who created the fight-- actually does love the film "Rob Roy"" "and had nicked that moment of holding the sword and the hand bleeding." "That was a really nice nod, a nice reference." "I thought it was an outstanding fight." "Benioff:" "Natalie, we're the ones who ripped off "Rob Roy," not C.C." "We stole that moment from" " Sorry." " Weiss:" "Just to clarify." " I'm dead next season, then." " Benioff:" "You were not supposed to tell anybody about that, but, yes, exactly." "Ferguson:" "For legal reasons, they are just kidding." " Benioff:" "It's the moment that Liam Neeson" " Sorry, Dave." "Liam Neeson grabs the sword and we totally stole it." "And you weren't supposed to tell anyone that." "Ferguson:" "Well, the swordplay is excellent, and may I ask, Maisie, could you point out on Rory where the heart is?" "There you are." "You've still got it." "All right." " Why didn't you do it?" " Yes, sir." "Sorry." "Good afternoon, Mr. Martin." "Good afternoon, cast of Game of Thrones." "My name is Jerald and I'm here representing the Hall H Posse." "( Scattered cheers )" "My question is for Mr. Martin and the cast." "Mr. Martin, you've populated the world of Westeros with many unique, wonderful, and terrifying people." "When writing about the characters-- when writing about the triumphs and tribulations of the characters, has that helped you discover something about yourself or help you overcome a real-life challenge?" "And, if so, can you share that with your fans?" "And to the cast, which cast in the show is most like you and why?" "Ferguson:" "That's, like, five questions, man." "Um, yeah, that's a lot of questions." "You know, you draw on yourself, particularly for the viewpoint characters." "You may base them on people you know, on figures from history, on your imagination, but ultimately to make a character come alive when you're writing from inside them, you have to delve into yourself." "Fortunately, I am large, I contain multitudes, as I think Walt Whitman said-- always steal from the best-- so a lot of different characters can be pulled from inside one, and I" "I'm different from many of the characters." "I've never been an exiled princess or a dwarf or an eight-year-old girl, but I think the common humanity unites all these characters and we all have that in common." "That's what I try to draw on when creating characters." "Ferguson:" "Are you a student of history, George?" " Do you study European history?" " Martin:" "Oh, yes." "Because it seems like there are echoes of a lot of European-- the Wall, and a lot of the-- the way that the world is put together is very, like, from early European on." "Is it something that fascinated you?" "A lot of Game of Thrones is stolen from your Scottish history." " Ferguson:" "I know, I know." " A particularly bloody and dispiriting history that you have there up in Scotland." "Ferguson:" "Yes, I live in LA." "I love the Black Dinner and Glencoe Massacre." " Ferguson:" "Yeah, yeah." " I drew on both of those for the Red Wedding." "Good times." "All right." "Why, we have a crow." "We have a crow." " Hello. - ( Williams clapping ) Jon Snow." "Hi, my name is Jon and I have a question." "Ferguson:" "No kidding." "My question is for Rose and Kit." "What do you think was going on through the heads of your characters when they saw each other again at the Battle of the Wall?" "( Cast awws )" "Harington:" "That is a great question and a brilliant outfit." "Congratulations." "Brother, that's great." "Well done." "Um, I don't know." "I think it was an important moment for us." "I think what I wanted to try and capture is that he's just very happy to see her again, really, at the heart of it." "After everything that's happened, he doesn't really care, in some ways, if that arrow is loosed and he dies." "He got to see her one last time." "And I think that moment is obviously broken with what happens next, but, yeah, I think it's a beautiful moment for him." "It's quite a profound silence." "There's a silence there we wanted to get, I think." " Leslie:" "But I agree, I-- - ( man yells )" " Thanks, man." " ( both laugh )" "But it's very true." "I think that there was that silence that you were talking about, it became very profound, and I think certainly for Ygritte throughout season four, you know, she was on a ruthless mission and she was gonna get her own back with Jon Snow," "and I don't think she at all anticipated just how much she loved him, and just that hesitation of seeing him again completely threw her, and I don't think she foresaw that at all." "And of course that was her last breath, as it were." "But, yeah, no, it was a very beautiful moment." "We didn't really want to discuss much about it on the day when we shot it." "We kind of just wanted to see how it would organically flow." " Harington:" "Mm-hmm." " It was nice." " Very nice, very nice." " ( woman yells )" "So are you!" "Yes, gentleman in alarmingly ordinary clothing?" "( All laugh )" "Thank you." "Hi, Natalie and the rest of the cast." " ( Cast laughing )" " My name's Nick." "No, I'm sorry." "Ferguson:" "I wonder who your question's for." "Oh, my question's for George." "Ferguson:" "Oh, okay." "The one thing I've always wanted to ask you for years is..." "Hodor?" " Martin:" "Hodor." " That's it." "Ferguson:" "Hodor." "Uh, yes, oh, now I feel a little more comfortable." "Well, hello to you." "Hi, what's your question, girlfriend?" "( All laugh )" "Hi, my name is Dan." "My question is for Dan and Dave." "Now that Stannis has arrived at the Wall, can we look forward to more scenes developing his character for Stannis the Mannis?" "( laughs )" "Ferguson:" "Shall I tell him?" "Do you want to tell him?" "I think we can say-- we can say yes." "In violation of our earlier-- yes, we can say yes, you can." "'Cause I was gonna say then you would have to say what was gonna happen." "We can say he's a fascinating character..." " Stannis?" " and he's amazingly well drawn by Stephen Dillane and we will be taking advantage of both the character and the actor in the season to come." "Ferguson:" "I'd be careful about that woman that's with him, though." "She worries me." " She doesn't worry you?" " Weiss:" "She has her moments." "Ferguson:" "She worries me." "I don't think she's all about being good at all." " Weiss:" "Are any of us really?" " Hodor." " Yes, sir?" " My question is for George." "I was wondering, with the show getting close to catching up with the books, what would you say to fans who were planning to stop watching the show once it gets into content from books six and seven so they can experience the story in its true format?" "Would you encourage us to just watch the show anyways, or would you encourage us to wait until the books come out and then watch the show?" "Yes, I encourage everyone to watch the show." "( Cast laughs )" "Ferguson:" "We'd like to announce we're here to ask you to stop watching the show until we're ready for you to start again." "I do also encourage people to read the books." " ( Cheering, applause )" " Reading the books is good." "The question of so you can experience the story in its true form... is kind of a loaded one." "I've said a couple times in posts the riddle-- how many children does Scarlett O'Hara have?" "Um, Scarlett O'Hara has three children in Margaret Mitchell's novel." "Scarlett O'Hara has one child in the classic movie of "Gone With the Wind."" "How many children does Scarlett O'Hara have?" "What's the true story?" "Of course, the true story is Scarlett O'Hara has no children 'cause she never existed." "She's a fictional character, and there are two wonderful, classic ways of telling a story." "And, you know, that may be the situation-- that is the situation." "The show is the show and the book is the book." "Who did Robb Stark marry?" "Did he marry a noblewoman from Volantis named Talisa who died at the Red Wedding?" "Or did he marry a woman named Jeyne Westerling who's still alive and will be seen in the prologue of "Winds of Winter"?" "( Cheering, applause )" "Is one true?" "Is one not true?" "Well, you know, how many children did Scarlett O'Hara have?" "There you are." " Should I go?" " Ferguson:" "Yeah, yeah, on you go." "I wasn't shaking my fist at you." "It was at him." " You're fine... for now." " It's an honor." "So my question is, I guess, open for anybody." "If you guys could walk us through what the production process is like." "'Cause we're assuming that the shooting schedule's all over the place, so how is it moving from episode to episode and moving back and forth?" "You shoot out of sequence, I presume, right?" " Everything's shot" " Benioff:" "We do, yeah." "We shoot it as if it's a 10-hour movie, so we-- sometimes-- last year we shot scenes from the 10th episode in the first week." "We shoot in three different countries this year, in Ireland, Spain, and Croatia." "Five different directors shooting two episodes each, and the actors have to travel all over the place." "In the way-- it's called "crossboarding,"" "which is just an expression meaning that, basically, wherever's the best time for a scene to shoot, it's gonna shoot, and two separate units-- the dragon unit, the wolf unit-- this is very boring stuff, I'm sorry." "Well, no, I think it's a valid question in the sense that-- if I could throw it to the actors who are playing characters who are now deceased in the series, did you shoot your death scenes in sequence?" "Did you have to come back and shoot other scenes after you had had your head squeezed and your eyes popped out?" " Pascal:" "My very first day on set" " Ferguson:" "For example?" "Was the cell scene with Tyrion." " It was my big scene, and I was petrified." " Yeah." "Thanks a lot, David." "It was my first day on set." "It was my first day in full costume, and I don't know how the hell I got through it, to be honest with you." "It was pretty nerve-racking, but Peter made it really easy and Alik the director took care of me." "And from that point, it sort of, like, was diving in right at the gate and that was my intro into the season." "And then we were all over the place." "The fight sequence came a little towards the end." " Ferguson:" "So that helped a little bit?" " Pascal:" "Yeah." "What about you, Rory and Rose?" "Was that your story as well?" "No, I was lucky." "I think my last days were..." " ( recorded dog bark plays ) - like, the last days-- woof, woof, woof." "( Imitates dog bark )" "Ferguson:" "There's a direwolf." "A hound!" "I know exactly what that dog said, you know that." "So, yeah, that's an unusual thing." "Normally it's all higgledy-piggledy, but the fight and the death was-- that was at the end." "Luckily, I'm working with Maisie, and she knew what was going on because I get very confused." "What about you, Rose?" "Was that your story?" "Did you shoot the death scene towards the end of the shoot?" "Yes, I like-- scheduling and production were very lovely in that respect because my final day ever on the show was the time-- well, was the scene when I died in Kit's arms." "And so luckily, having shot that," "I didn't have to turn up in two days' time and be like, "Hi, I'm back."" "So that was-- yeah, that was my final day and then that was it." "Thank you." "Yes, yes?" "Hi." "Since most series questions have been asked," "I wanted to ask Gwendoline what was it like to bite the Hound's ear off?" "And so Rory doesn't feel left out, what was it like to downstairs-kick Brienne?" "( Audience and cast laughing )" "Pascal: "Downstairs-kick."" ""Downstairs-kick"?" "That's just the sort of language we will not tolerate here, sir!" " Christie:" "What was it like, Rory?" " Yeah?" "It was really good fun." "( All laugh )" "I've never done it before." "I've always wanted to." "But here's a little secret." "The-- did we do that?" "I think the idea was to put a strap in between your knees so that when you were crawling in that one move," "I could take a right good run at it, but we'd still keep it safe." "We didn't do that, though, did we?" "Well, actually, no, we didn't, did we?" "So what did you shoot?" "Oh, it was-- remember, you-- when she punched me, there was connections going on there... between the legs and..." "Best moment of my life." "It was horrible." "But when she bit my ear" "Second best moment." "Well, it kind of tickled, to be honest." "Tickly." "I was like, "Get off me."" "( Williams laughs )" "Yes, sir?" " Hello." " Ferguson:" "Hi." " My name's Jason." " Good for you." "Oh, thank you." "All right, so I recently read an article where Kit Harington said that he wanted to see" "( no audio )" "Harington:" "What was second?" " 'Cause I'm gonna go for that one first." " What does everyone else think?" "If we could throw it open for general discussion to the panel, would we like to see more male nudity on the show?" " Turner:" "Yes." " Bradley:" "Jesus Christ." " Leslie:" "Oh, baby." " Bradley:" "Yeah." "Equality." "Harington:" "I'm very aware that anything I say right now is being listened to by the men at that end of the table, so I'm gonna shut up and not say a thing so I don't have to get my kit off next season, too" "too fully." "You can't really lose with me because-  ( woman cheers )" " No, be careful what you wish for." " No, please." " McCann:" "Go on, John." " No, please." "No, no, no, no, no." " ( cast cheering )" "( cheering continues )" "I refuse to bow down to public pressure." "The good thing about me and male nudity is that everybody is served because it'll still get the boob count up." "( All laughing )" "Everybody wins." "How's about that, then?" "John." "John." "( laughs )" "I hope that answers your question sufficiently." "Yes, madam?" "Hi, I want to ask the whole cast-- dragons or direwolves?" "Ferguson:" "Ah." "Let's begin at the very end with you, then, John." "Let's start with you." "That's dragons or direwolves?" "Um..." "I'm gonna have to be loyal to my storyline, be loyal to my compadre and say direwolves, of course." "Ferguson:" "Direwolves." "Same for you, Rose?" "I am going to disagree and go for dragons." " Ferguson:" "What?" " Yeah." "Ferguson:" "I'm shocked." "Kit?" " Direwolves." " Ferguson:" "Of course." "Sophie?" "Direwolves." "Dragons are dangerous now." "No." " Ferguson:" "Natalie?" " Direwolves." "Ferguson:" "George, do you have a favorite?" "Pass." "Direwolves." " ( Howls )" " Ferguson:" "Of course." " Dragons!" " Yes." "Direwolves." "Easier to kill." " Williams:" "What did he say?" " Hmm." "Snakes." " ( Cheering, applause )" " Ferguson:" "Yes." "Gentlemen, do you have a favorite?" "No?" "Don't play favorites?" "Fair enough." "All right, there you are." "I hope you got" "Martin:" "I hear the dragons are easier to work with, right?" "Yeah, they do what you tell 'em." "Oh, yeah, I see what you mean." "Yeah, but, no-- well, never mind." "Yes, sir?" " Howdy." " Hi." "Quick question." "So, obviously the book and the show don't always go hand in hand, but there was a major character reveal that sort of happens at the end of book three." " I was just wondering-- - Benioff:" "Can't talk about that." " Can't talk about it?" " Weiss:" "Blatant violation of the rules." "Ferguson:" "Get out!" "Get out!" "I don't-- we can't-- obviously, we can't help you with that." "I can't believe he did that, after all I said." "Somebody nip down there and stab him, would ya?" "Yeah, all right." "Yes, hello, hi." " Hi, um, wow." " Ferguson:" "What are you doing?" "Really loud." "I'm recording this for humanity with a TARDIS." "Ferguson:" "Oh, it's a-- you got the wrong panel." " Well, I do what I can." " Right." "Anyway, one, you guys are all amazing, and thank you for sitting here and answering inane questions from us all day." "But my question is for Sophie because I feel like Sansa Stark gets a lot of crap that she does not deserve." "Sansa is badass and awesome, and I've been annoying my roommates all weekend, like, Team Sansaing all over the place." "So I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit how you came to envision her journey from where she started to where she ended up at the end of this season, which was just amazing, and I think even" "I'm sorry for saying this, George-- a little bit of a step up from the book." "Turner:" "Oh, wow." "Ferguson:" "When you're stabbing the other guy, stab her as well while you're down there." "Um, I never really-- when I was 13, I didn't really think," ""Okay, this is the way my character's gonna go and she's gonna end up like Maleficent, and it's gonna be great."" "But when I started, yeah, I didn't have a plan for her." "It sounds really gross and pretentious, but I kind of grew with her as an actress while she grew as a character." "I mean, it's really down to the writing of both George and David, Dan, Bryan Cogman, Vanessa." "And when I got the scripts through for season four, it was such a relief because for the past, like, three seasons, she's been deceiving with the facade of her former self for so long," "and it was such a relief for me to finally be able to shed the skin and become this somewhat manipulator that she actually is from being at court with Cersei and Tywin, and she finally gets to reveal herself." "It was frickin' awesome." "Yeah." "Mwah." "Yes, young lady?" "My question's for George." "Everyone's asked about how the fight between Brienne and the Hound felt for the characters and the actors, but how did that separation from the book feel for you?" "Well, it was a great scene." "You know, that" "David and Dan have-- and the other writers" "Bryan Cogman was mentioned." "He deserves a lot of credit, too-- have added some scenes that are not in the book in part because there are no viewpoint characters present in every season that I've loved." "The first season, the scene between Robert and Cersei where they discuss their marriage." "Not in the books, but a terrific scene." "Second season, in the "Blackwater" episode, the wonderful scene-- Bronn confronts the Hound in the brothel-- terrific scene." "And I put this-- the battle in the same category." "It was just great television and it was terrific to watch." "The things I mourn are, for the most part, the scenes that didn't make it, you know?" "I've been pretty open since before season one that I wish we had three more episodes a season." "( Cheering )" "It would, of course, kill David and Dan." "I realize that." "But, you know, it would give us parity with some other HBO shows and enable us to include some of the stuff that gets cut, but some of the stuff that gets added, particularly when it's as great as that scene, I love it." "Can I ask you all a question while we're here?" "Because there've been a lot of questions for George, obviously, about the separation of the books and the series." "How many of you, perhaps by applause, have read the books?" "( Cheering, applause )" "So let's go another way." "How many of you, by applause, have not read the books?" "( Cheering, applause )" "How many of you know the story of Westeros?" " By applause." " ( audience clapping )" "I think probably all of you, and I think that-- it's interesting that I'm watching the separation of the two, I find quite fascinating." "Is there a loyalty between-- do people who've read the books, do you feel that you're more advanced and more a part of the world than the people who have not?" " ( Cheering, applause )" " I'm serious." "It's a genuine question." "I wondered if you are." "Are you?" " Man #2:" "Yes!" " ( woman shouts )" "I'm leaving San Diego today." "Yes, Jack Sparrow." "( As Jack Sparrow ) Captain, Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow." "( Cast laughs )" "First in line for the "Pirates 5" panel right here, waiting outside." "Anyway, this goes right into my question." "More of like a praise." "I'd like to give a round of applause to you guys for doing" "I mean, how many times have we said, "The book is so much bloody better"?" "Pretty much 'cause we want to prove that we can read." "But mostly we say that all the time, and for the first time ever, I've never heard one person say that." "The show is just as brilliant." "Give a round of applause to these guys, this amazing work, what you've all done, to do that." "Ferguson:" "You're a much deeper man than you are in the "Pirate" movies, if I may say." " I am not drunk right now..." " Okay." "so when that goes in, then I get a little shortchanged on it, but the reason I look like this is 'cause tonight there is a Game of Thrones costume party on a pirate ship." "I wanted to invite all of you." "Your names are already on the list." "Everybody in the hall, you're invited, too, to come have a bottle of rum." "Bring me rum." "( no audio )" "Ferguson:" "Thanks-- thanks for that." "And when you're stabbing the oth two... give him a quick stab when you're down there as well." "Oh, hello." "Hi, what's your name?" "Hi, I'm Catherine, and this question is for my beloved Sophie Turner." "In the episode of Joffrey's wedding, you and Tyrion seem to start getting kind of close, and I was wondering what you think of Sansa and Tyrion's relationship now that they are separate?" "I think it's devastating." "He was my other half." "We loved each other so much." "You could feel the love." "But they really did actually begin to have this genuine bond and trust with each other, and it was just getting kind of beautiful, and then, in the spirit of Game of Thrones, they cut that off." "But I think, I mean, I would like in the future for them to be reunited at some point because I think they'd be a pretty awesome, like, power couple in the future." "Like, the new Brangelina." "Um, but I think, yeah, it was a really lovely relationship and she was finally beginning to trust him and love him-- not in that way, but as just a person-- and they were really on each other's team." "I love your outfit." "You look great, babes." "Lord mercy, what a lovely dress." "Man #3:" "What was that?" "No, I didn't ask you a question." "I just said your dress was nice." "That's all right, off you go." " Hi." " Ferguson:" "Hello, that's a nice outfit, too." "Thank you." "I wanted to thank all of you for coming." "You guys are my favorite characters, literally everyone who's up there." "My question is for Maisie." "Um..." "Arya has had to change her identity to survive so many times, like Arry and Nan, and now that she's finally on her own, going where she wants to go, do you feel that she's still attached to who she is as a Stark" "or do you think she's someone new entirely?" "How do you play that?" "She is no one." "( Cheering, applause )" "By the way, I believe Sean Bean's in town." "Anybody seen him?" "Benioff:" "He's already dead." "( Imitates choking )" "Uh, it's a joke, man." "He's fine." "Um, yes, sir?" "Thank you so much for bringing a wonderful world into everyone's lives." "And why did you stop looking for Benjen?" " Are you asking Kit?" " Man #4:" "Benjen Stark here." "Why did you stop looking for me?" "Benioff:" "Jon?" "That was Kit's idea." " Who says it's the" " Harington:" "I don't know whether he will come back, but I hope he does." "I love Benjen." "I think I just got, you know, distracted with other stuff." "( All laugh )" ""Distracted."" "Ferguson:" "Yeah!" "He's busy." "I think we've got time for, yeah, maybe one more." "Yes, hello, you." "Hello." "This is my sexy Ygritte costume." " Leslie:" "You look amazing." " Thank you." "Ferguson:" "You'd be a little cold north of the Wall wearing that, though." "I figured this was Ygritte in the cave." "Ferguson:" "I seem to remember Ygritte in the cave weren't wearing much of anything at all, as I remember." "I just wanted to come up and say thank you for creating such an amazing show and books." "It gives us a fantasy to take home that is a little bit more real." "So my mom back here and I wanted to come and say thank you for everything." " Benioff:" "Thank you." " Weiss:" "Thank you." "Ferguson:" "Thank you." "Let's take one more." "We can do one more." "Come on up." "That was a lovely question, though." "Hello." "Hi, I had a question about a difference that the show took from the book." "In the show" " I'm not gonna ruin it for anybody, don't worry-- but in the show when Jaime releases Tyrion, it's kind of a short scene, but in the book he had an exchange with Tyrion" "that really changed the dynamic of the relationship, and I was wondering what was the creative reasons behind the omission of that scene?" "Well, that's gotta be for you guys, I think." "Although I-- as someone-- before they even answer," "I think that that relationship-- that change was established in numerous scenes leading up to the point, at least that's what I thought watching it." "I was like, "No, I get it." "I get that it's changed."" "But what do you think?" "I think sometimes in an adaptation from a book, there are certain things you're gonna lose, and one of the problems is we don't have access to the character's mind, so there's an amazing backstory for Tyrion," "which we learn about basically 'cause we're inside Tyrion's skull, and we have pages and pages where we learn exactly what happened, and it's a really powerful moment of the story." "The problem is, the only way for us to do it in the show would be either through dialogue or through action." "We're not gonna have a flashback showing that scene." "We haven't had any flashbacks yet." "And we didn't want to have voice-over, so unless we had a long scene with dialogue explaining what happened all those years ago, which just felt like it wasn't gonna work, that was something that went by the wayside." "There are all sorts of these cuts that are incredibly difficult for us because oftentimes they're bits from the books that we love the most and for whatever reason, it just doesn't seem to work on-screen when we've got 540 minutes to tell a whole season." "This kind of goes hand in hand with the call before for extra episodes." "Believe us, from a storytelling point of view, we'd love to have 13 episodes." "That would be fantastic." "The problem is we can't." "We finish postproduction and we've already started up preproduction on the next season." "There's absolutely no downtime between the end of one season and the start of the next." "There's just no time for us to shoot more episodes and maintain the kind of quality in terms of production value, going to all the different countries and getting those locations, having the visual effects guys create the dragons, all that stuff." "Unless we find some really good divorce lawyers." "Yeah." "Anyway, I hope" "Ferguson:" "That's not gonna help you either." "I speak from some experience." "Just do what you need to do." "But I think that's-- and George said before, read the books." "I think that's one of the things that we always hope is that people who haven't read the books but watch the show then might be drawn to the books, which we think is true for a lot of people," "and then they can learn a lot more about these characters than they ever would watching the show alone and get much more depth and time to spend with those characters and learn all about them, so, unfortunately, as hard as we try," "we can't possibly match the amount of detail and storytelling in a 1,200-page book over the course of the season." "And I guess the last thing I would say is when we first talked to George, when we first got the books, they were sent to us to adapt as feature films and the idea was that each book would be one feature," "so if you can imagine Game of Thrones as a two-and-a-half-hour movie, just think about everything that would've been mutilated and cut out of that story, and one of the reasons we really wanted to do this as a show," "and luckily George agreed with us, was even though we couldn't have everything, at least we could have 10 hours for each of those books, and in the case of "Storm of Swords," 20 hours." "And even then we're amazed to find out how much of the detail we just can't get in there." "I'm always reminded" " I think it was Jim Thompson, the great crime novelist, who had a reporter ask him," ""How do you feel about what Hollywood has done to your books?"" "And he pointed to his bookshelf and said," ""Hollywood hasn't done anything to my books." "They're right there."" "The books are always gonna be their own pristine world." "Nothing's gonna change that." "And I think that's an excellent point at which we have to finish, unfortunately." "The books exist and will always exist." "The show exists and it will always exist." "Thank you so much to you guys for showing up, and to you guys, as an audience member and a fan of the show, thank you so much for coming to San Diego." "Thank you, Craig." " Ferguson:" "Thank you, everybody." " Thank you." "Ferguson:" "Thank you for coming to the Game of Thrones panel!" "( cheering, applause )"