I am here to answer all of your ‘Game of Thrones’ questions. Fire away.

Therese Odell

5 years ago

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The most googled question regarding Game of Thrones is apparently “How are Jon and Daenerys related?” Allow me to help: Daenerys is his aunt. Her eldest brother, Rhaegar Targaryen, is his father; Lyanna Stark, Ned’s sister, is Jon’s mother. They were secretly married, making Jon the legitimate Targaryen heir over Daenerys because Westeros be sexist.

If you have any other questions regarding the series, or have any theories you want to throw out there, please put them in the comments and I will try to answer them the best I can. Think of it like a mini Lost-chat (until I can figure out how to do a chat on this platform…).

Wait, Gwendoline Christie just said on Live with Kelly and Ryan that the show ends with “someone taking their rightful place on the Iron Throne,” COMPLETELY DESTROYING ONE OF MY LONGEST-HELD THEORIES. Well, shit. I don’t have video, but this honestly, might be the biggest spoiler any actor has revealed to date.

I’ve told this story a thousand times, but when the original novel first came out, I was working at Bantam Books, the publisher of A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and my pal Andrew tried to give me a first edition hardcover copy of Game of Thrones, insisting that I would love it. I sneered at him that I didn’t read books about dragons and warlocks because I was A GODDAMNED IDIOT. And I can not tell you how many people I’ve talked to who, like me, can’t believe how much they love a fantasy series. The trick, this article posits, is that the show’s creators hid the magic and supernatural elements of the series for most of the first season and focused on the interpersonal character drama. Sure, it begins with zombies, but the next most supernatural element — Daenerys emerging unscathed from Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre with her dragons — comes at the season finale, a fact that I hadn’t really given a lot of thought to.

Here is an argument that the family dynamics are what makes the show tick.

Meanwhile, other networks wanted their own epic/fantasy series, and came up with these seven series. Arguably, Vikings was the most successful, but none of them came close to being the cultural phenomena that Game of Thrones is. (Also, they argue that The CW’s Mary Queen of Scots series, Reign, didn’t have any supernatural elements. As someone who watched every episode of that nonsense: WRONG.)

Warming Glow goes over the Game of Thrones relationships we ship the hardest. A few thoughts: 1. Tormund and Brienne FOREVER, 2. I had never even CONSIDERED Sansa and Pod, but color me intrigued and 3. Sansa and Tyrion divorced? I am not sure that Sansa and Tyrion ever divorced, y’all.

They also rank the “best” deaths and I would rank these VERY differently. I mean, yes, Joffrey’s death was very satisfying, but if that’s how we’re going to rank them, I think the Frey massacre or Ramsay’s comeuppance rank even higher. If we’re ranking them based on sheer horror, the Red Wedding and the Viper are the highest. And if we’re ranking them based on saddest, Hodor takes it by a landslide. I still get emotional thinking about that one.

Related: here’s a death quiz on who killed who on the show. Tip: they are looking for who actually did the killing not who directed the killing. You’re welcome.

PLEASE MAKE WESTEROS WORLD A REAL PLACE BECAUSE I WANT TO GO TO THERE. (This is a genuinely remarkable and beautiful piece of fan art.)

This is just a very basic list of things to know going into the final season, like episode dates and what we can guess will happen from the trailers.

Here’s a travel guide to some of the most memorable locations in the series. But be gentle with Dubrovnik, guys. The cruise ship business is dumping up to 10,000 visitors A DAY on this delicate UNESCO site, and while you might think the tourist boom would help the town, the truth is visitors tend to eat and sleep on their cruises, depriving local businesses and wrecking the place in the process.

Here’s some Game of Thrones crap you can buy to help soothe the pain of your favorite show coming to an end. I’m not saying that I could successfully rock the Daenerys coat, I’m just saying I’d like to try.

I will give anything to see the original “unbelievably bad” pilot for Game of Thrones. And speaking of, here are all the ways Game of Thrones could have been a disaster.

Anderson Cooper, the White Walker of cable news, gets the White Walker treatment and he reveals his crush on Kit Harington:

We received shit-ton news about the Disney+ streaming service yesterday:

First of all, we know how much it is going to cost and when it is going to launch: $6.99 a month or $69.99 for a year and it will launch on November 1.
The Mandalorian will be available immediately, and all of the Star Wars movies will be available within the year.
In Marvel programming news, the Scarlett Witch/Vision series has received a title: Wandavision. People are having very What the Fuck feelings about it. There is also going to be a Falcon and Winter Soldier series. Also newly announced, a Marvel animated series called What If?
The Simpsons will make Disney+ their new exclusive home for streaming video.
Jeff Goldblum is getting his own docuseries called The World According to Jeff Goldblum, because why the hell not?
As Vanity Fair reports, it’s designed to be a “Netflix-Zapping Death Star:”

At launch, T.H.R. reports, Disney+’s library will include—deep breath—18 Pixar films, 13 Disney classics that have been locked away in the so-called Disney vault, nearly every Star Wars film, Marvel tentpoles like Black Panther and this year’s Captain Marvel, 250 hours of National Geographic programming (not to mention NatGeo’s Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo), 100 Disney Channel Original Movies, and nine exclusive originals. Also, it bears repeating, all of The Simpsons—including TV episodes and movies.

There will, of course, also be scores of original content. The New York Times reports that in its first year, Disney+ will be home to 10 original films and 25 original series.

In total, the Times reports, Disney+ will feature roughly 500 films from the Disney library, and 7,500 episodes of Disney TV shows including Hannah Montana—and that’s not even counting all of the new and Fox-owned content.

Jussie Smollett has officially been sued by Chicago.

Interesting and somewhat unexpected: The Act has been bringing in a record number of subscribers to Hulu. Are you watching it?

Veronica Mars, One Day at a Time, and In the Dark are joining the ATX Television Festival this year.

The WGA and the talent agencies are edging closer to making a deal, it sounds like.

That time Jackée and Eartha Kitt were feuding. PAGING RYAN MURPHY.

Eartha Kitt slapped the f%#! outta me!

She thought I was sleeping with her boyfriend.. which I was, but I didn’t know he was taken. 😩💔 https://t.co/Cq4YkPM0uQ

— Jackée Harry (@JackeeHarry) April 10, 2019

Time’s Up

Sterling Van Wagenen, a co-founder of Sundance, has been charged with sexually abusing a child.

Ashley Judd reveals a very personal reason she is opposed to these heartbeat abortion bills that are suddenly flying out of state legislatures. It’s a scary time to be a woman, y’all.

Tanya Simon has been named as the new Executive Producer of 60 Minutes in the wake of the whole Jeff Fager mess.

In Development

The Confession of Frannie Langton is being developed into a television series.

Casting News

Glenn Close is joining Hillbilly Elegy on Netflix.
Iain Glen will join Titans on DC Universe as an older Bruce Wayne.
Walton Goggins is joining The Righteous Gemstones on HBO.
Noel Fisher is returning to Shameless.
Cynthia Watros, whom we all know and love from Lost, is going to replace Michelle Stafford on General Hospital.
Keegan-Michael Key, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, and Madalen Mills are joining the Netflix musical Jingle Jangle. Not to be confused with the drugs on Riverdale.
Kate Mulvany is joining the cast of The Hunt on Amazon.

Mark Your Calendar

Euphoria will debut on HBO on June 16.

The CMT Music Awards will air on CMT on June 5.
Selection Day returns on Netflix on April 19.

WATCH THIS

FRIDAY

Special: A young gay man with cerebral palsy breaks out of his insular life in this new series. Series premiere. Netflix

Fresh Off the Boat: Season finale. 7 p.m., ABC

Speechless: Season finale. 7:30 p.m., ABC

Game of Thrones marathon: Season five. 12 p.m., HBO2

SATURDAY

Saturday Night Live: Emma Stone & BTS 10:30 p.m., NBC

Crazy Rich Asians: Last year’s breakout hit finally arrives on cable. 7 p.m., HBO

Game of Thrones marathon: Season six. 12 p.m., HBO2

SUNDAY

Game of Thrones marathon: Season seven — the first five episodes. 12 p.m., HBO2

Game of Thrones marathon: Season seven — the last two episodes. 5:20 p.m., HBO2

60 Minutes: Anderson Cooper does a Game of Thrones segment tonight, kids. 6 p.m., CBS

Game of Thrones: IT’S FINALLY HERE AND I AM SO SAD BECAUSE IT IS ENDING. ~sob~ Season premiere. 8 p.m., HBO

Les Misérables: If dragons and zombies aren’t your jam, this is on. Series premiere. 8 p.m., PBS

God Friended Me: Season finale. 7 p.m., CBS
Late Night:

Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Friday): Ethan Hawke, Kate del Castillo, Ronny Chieng
Watch What Happens Live (Sunday): Eva Marcille, Miss Lawrence

FRI.

7:00

7:30

8:00

8:30

9:00

9:30

ABC

Fresh Off the Boat
(new)

Speechless
(new)

20/20
(new)

CBS