Westeros News Roundup

For our 75th episode of the podcast, we discuss potential dragons every year through 2030. Minwa and Tony break down the new Westeros roadmap, debate a fifth season for House of the Dragon, and call out risky sequel ideas. They also do some catching up on what movies and shows they've seen since the last recording.

Transcript

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Welcome And Quick Catch-Up

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Hello everyone, welcome to Dancing with Dragons, your one and only podcast for everything related to George R. Martin's world of a song of ice and fire. I'm one of your hosts, Minua, and I'm joined here by my co-host Tony, and it's our 75th episode of the podcast. And we're here today to bring you a quick news-focused episode where we'll be discussing recent updates regarding House of the Dragon, the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and more. There's a lot happening in Westeros, so sit back and relax as we get up to date together and everything you need to

What We’ve Been Watching Lately

SPEAKER_02 0:36

know. But before that, let's catch up a little bit. How are you, Tony? It's been a while since we talked.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Yeah, we keep saying that every episode. I'm doing fine. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking. Have you watched any new movies or shows daily before we talk about everything going on in Westeros? Just I feel like I'm personally behind on everything. And I remember you saying the same thing as well. So I'm wondering if you are caught up in any recent movies and shows. Because, spoiler alert, I am not that caught up.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

I'm like a broken record on Instagram, and I keep saying I'm so behind. I am so behind. Like last year, I started the trend of not being able to watch stuff like I did when I first started my accounts. Because I remember 2020 when everything was locked down and people were watching hundreds of movies. And we were every day I had like a review up on Instagram, and the content was just flowing, and now I'm going back to our real lives. But no, uh this year has been even not worse, but uh a struggle to keep up with all these new movies. And I see people, oh, they're watching everything, and bless their hearts that they can watch five movies a day. Um I think I've logged six movies on my litter box this month, and that's the trend. The last few months has been five here, four there. But the last couple weeks I've watched a couple big movies that were highly anticipated, and that's the Leo DiCaprio and uh Paul Thomas Anderson and Benicio del Toro.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah, one battle after another, I loved it. That's one of the few recent movies I've watched, and I really liked it. It's actually the only Paul Thomas Anderson movie that I like. I'm not a big fan of him. I know uh yeah, that's an unpopular opinion, but that's the only PTA movie that I actually loved. So the fact that I love it shows that everyone can love it.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah, I think, well, I I think he's one of the best directors we have right now. And he has so many movies that I think are not so many, maybe three, that I would consider a masterpiece. And I think There Will Be Blood is my favorite, just and then it's just because of Daniel Day Lewis and how he incredible he is. But this movie is just nothing like any other movie he's ever directed. You know, I'm not gonna get into the plot, but it's highly political, and it's not something you'd expect. I mean, you could expect it, but the way the story twists and turns, you're like, wait, what? They don't really focus on one particular issue. You could see the issues in the background that you go, okay, I could relate to that in 2025 in the world, especially in the US. But I think this is Leo's one of his best performances, and it's one of those performances that he's uh like a bumbling idiot. He's he's comical, it's kind of like Wolf of Wall Street. He had that scene where he's being funny, he's not it's dramatic, also. He he's uh he's so underrated. No, you know, people call him overrated, but this is one of his best. And I I'm gonna bet a million dollars he'll get another nomination for best actor.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Um, this is gonna get like what's today's date is the 24th of November. Stamp it now, it's gonna get like 13 nominations for Academy Awards. Yeah, the whole movie is amazing and and from start to finish, it's easily jumped to my number one of the year. And there's a lot of more movies I I need to watch. Um, but other than that, any other movies you've seen recently?

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Um, for me, honestly, it's just been Frankenstein, Del Toro's new movie. It's one of my uh most anticipated films of the year. Just because I love Guillermo del Toro and I like the story of Frankenstein as well, and I know that and being a fan of his, I always knew that this would be a passion project for him, so I was extremely excited to see how he would adapt the story. And um like I watched it like about a week or so after it dropped on Netflix, and I really, really liked it. Like the more it sat with me, the more I loved it. Um it was it was one of those movies where my enjoyment kind of wasn't just during the movie itself, like the more I thought about it, the more I liked it and appreciated it, the more I kind of read about it or saw what other people said said of it, like their uh their praise of it or their interpretations. It's just I appreciate the movie more and more and more. So I think that in a few months or so I'm going to give it another watch because I unfortunately like just watched it on my iPad. I couldn't watch it like on a big screen the way I wanted to. So it definitely deserves like a proper second view, and I'm going to give it that. Um, other than that, it's just been a couple of rewatches here and there. Um, I re-watched K-pop Demon Hunters for like the third or fourth time.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I still need to watch that. Uh, my daughter keeps telling me I need to watch it.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Oh, I hope you enjoy it because it's so fun. It's just a great animated movie. Love all the details, and it's so good. I'm not as up to date as I'd like to be. I still haven't seen Wicked Part 2. Um, that's not one of my most anticipated movies of the year, and I it's out already, and I just didn't get the chance to see it.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Um I'm seeing a lot of lot of negative stuff coming out from a lot of people I trust about.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Honestly, like I I don't I don't I'm not surprised just because I know the story inside and house. You know, I watched the the the play like a couple of times. I I I know Wicked and I know that the second part is significantly weaker than the first. But at the same time, like despite that, I love it. I love Wicked, you know, like I know that it's not as good as the first part, but I still love it. And my friends who are the exact same way, they they said that they enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

So I'm going off, I mean I'm going off the uh reviewers here, and I I just looked at um not that is anything to curtail your excitement. Um Rotten Tomatoes has it at 71%. I know part one was at 80, like the high 80s, um, which I watched part one, and I think I gave it the one, I got like one star. I think I gave it like a three and a half.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Something that I would have um, and I saw it on TV and I mean uh on the on my TV, and I think something that like that I should be watched on a big screen. Yeah, uh the one other thing I did see. Oh, I did watch Frankenstein. I ended up giving it four and a half stars on Letterboxd. I'll I'll be completely honest. When it comes to the story of Frankenstein, I have no idea. Like I don't know the story. Like I the only thing I know is that Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster. Uh because everybody always confuses that. I went in, I thought the opening scene was amazing, just to start off. Mia Goth, uh, this is no shade to her. She like freaks me out when I see her. I don't know why. Maybe it's because she's this horror queen, right? But the way she looks and talk, have you seen her talk in real life? Again, nothing against her.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Yeah, I think so in a couple of interviews.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

It's really like if I were to hear her talking like at three in the morning and I was in bed, I would it would scare the crap out of me. Because just the squeakiness, and anyway, um, again, nothing against her. I think she's really good. Oscar Isaac was a kind of weird choice, but I love Oscar Isaac, and I think he did well. Uh it's nice to see uh Tywin Lannister in the movie.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Uh yeah, that was a surprise.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Charles Dance. Uh, yeah, I think the movie what's the guy's name? I forgot his name, Jacob something.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Jacob Lordi, he was amazing. Yeah, he was surprisingly, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

And who what is he originally from?

SPEAKER_02 8:23

He was in Euphoria, which was like that show with Zenday, and he was also in which he uh doesn't want to be known for now, I think, but he was in uh the kissing booth on Netflix, like that cheesy rom-com. I didn't watch it.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Hey, you know what, Jacob? Everybody has those moments.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

You gotta, you gotta, you gotta own it. You you want a paycheck, you're an actor, you sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. The music was great, it looked great. Uh, it's so funny. I see a lot of people hating on it, like, oh, it looks so manufactured, this looks so CGI. Like, I didn't really see that, but hey, whatever. I'm not gonna argue about movies anymore with random people. I've watched uh any shows before we get to uh our topics here.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Yeah, I've watched two shows. I've watched uh I just finished a K-drama called Our Unwritten Soul, which came out I think over the summer. It's good, it's emotional. Like it's it's it's a fine K-drama. I have my I don't think it's perfect, but it's it was a good watch. I think with a lot of shows nowadays, it's just for some reason I don't feel like they I'm interested for for for long, if that makes sense. Like I'd watch an episode or two, but I wouldn't feel um like engaged enough to continue or I'd forget about it. But this was a K-drama where I just kept it kept me up at night, basically, because I kept wanting to to watch it. And then I also watched and loved, or not loved, but I I I thoroughly enjoyed the competition show Physical Asia on on Netflix. Like that athletic show.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

You know what? I started watching something called 100. I don't know if it was the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Physical 100, it's the same thing, but it's 100 is yeah, yeah. Physical 100 is just Korea, and then physical Asia is where they take like the best six athletes from uh different countries in Asia and have them like fight against each other in different like uh athletic competitions basically. Um and it it it's okay, it was very fun to watch. It there's a lot of discussion online, which I kind of it seems true to me that Korea kind of cheated, if I'm honest, just because it's their show and and uh like there were some moments that were suspicious, but despite that it was a fun, it was a fun watch. So I I needed something like that at that time. And I feel like now I finished those two shows and I I'm in need of a good show. You know what I mean? Like I I need to watch something good now, I need to start something good. So I hope that's whatever show I watch next is fun, enjoyable, gripping. That's what I need right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Well, let me let me let me say something. There's you know how those the saying there's there's some things that are certain in this world, right? And um here's what I'm certain of the sun comes up every morning, and when I ask you something about shows, you always say K drama first.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Something K drama. So I should have known.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

I have to.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Uh here's something I recommend. Uh, the were you a fan of Breaking Bad and uh Better Call Soul?

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Oh yeah, that that's what I should watch. Plurbus. Plurbus.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Okay, so let me let me just tell you, I won't tell you anything about it. Okay, I went into it completely. I don't need to see a trailer because I know Vince Gilligan is the creator and he's the writer, and Rhea Seahorn is the main actress. So, right there, that's three wins. It's the the is one of the best first episodes of a show of all time. Um I'm just gonna say this I think that when you trust the process of a great writer, you always get rewarded, and that's when I think people are so um hell-bent on being satisfied. Like every five seconds they need to be. Oh, this is like you know what I mean. Like, we've come to a point where if a show is not mind-blowing, every episode uh it sucks. Like they don't trust the process. So that fourth episode, it was just building. It's it has a it reminds you a lot of a breaking bad and better called Saul uh moments where he would start an episode and there's no dialogue. He's just showing you the mundane action of somebody, but it has a point to it. The concept is is original, it's great, and I think you're gonna really enjoy it, especially after that first episode. Anyway, um, another show that uh this is it right here. I'm promised last thing. Uh, I've been uh hounded by my wife to watch a show for two years, shrinking on Apple TV, which I think Apple TV is becoming one of the best streaming services that we have because they just put off bangers after bangers. Uh I've been putting it off, I don't really want to watch it, blah blah blah blah. Uh I finally watched the first episode. We binged it in like, I don't know, a couple days. And which is nice that they're um they average like 30 minutes to episodes. I love the first season. I think you know Harrison Ford is perfect to play a curmudgeon, a therapist, but also have you know the heart deep down there, you know what I mean? So he he plays his role perfectly. Uh, the guy who plays the main guy, Jason Siegel, uh, doing great. I didn't know that the Brett Goldstein who plays Roy Kent and Ted Lasso, he's the one of he's one of the creators of the show. And he's actually starring in season two, which I'm midway through. I really enjoyed the show. Eight out of ten season one. They tiptoe the line between comedy and grief because it's part of the show. And I I think you would enjoy it if you just watched the first first episode, you know. Um, but anyway, that's what I've been watching. Oh, by the way, I did watch Jurassic Rebirth, whatever world.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah, little Jonathan Bailey.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Please, no more. I we don't need after The Lost World in '97. We haven't had really a good Jurassic Park movie. That's my that's my take. All right.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

The only thing that could convince me to watch that new Jurassic World movie is Jonathan Bailey. And I might watch Swindy because of him. I might not, I don't know. But I definitely agree with you that we've had enough Jurassic World movies, and I'm yeah, I'm done. Like, let's just let the franchise rest for a good while. Like a good time.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

How about do like uh some uh I don't want to keep talking about it, but do something different out of the box, like do an animated show, do something like when if you were to watch it and and you would to see the the storyline, you're like, this is so far-fetched. Like, what are we doing next? Are we gonna have underwater uh lab where it's just underwater dinosaurs, or are they gonna have in space, or we did uh something in in Mars? I don't know. Anyway, sorry.

HOTD and Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Official Schedule

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Let's go on to some better topics that we would know we were gonna enjoy talking about.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

So, as you all know, though, 2025 was a year where unfortunately we got another Jurassic World movie, another unfortunate situation this year, is that we had no Westerosi shows at all this year, right? Like we have obviously seen it with our podcast, our coverages last week. Didn't talk about any new show this this year at all. You know, we didn't have any week-to-week analysis of any episode. And if you've been following along or you're a fan of the show, then you obviously know that we're in for two big shows next year. The first season of United Seven Kingdoms premiering in January, and uh the next season of House of the Dragon, season three, which is set to premiere in summer, summertime, summer 2026. But it's just been announced uh and and reconfirmed almost that we're after that we're basically not going to have a year without a Game of Thrones related show. Two shows next year, United Seven Kingdoms and House of the Dragon, and then in 2027, we're going to be having uh season two of Unite of the Seven Kingdoms, and in 2028, we're going to be having House of the Dragon season four. So for the next three years, we're pretty much sorted. We can expect uh season three of United Seven Kingdoms in 2029 as well. It seems like they should be on track for that. I uh like they there could be a chance of a delay, obviously, even for these shows. We never expected United Seven Kingdoms to be delayed by just a few months to push it to uh January from now, November, October, which is when we kind of expected it to be. But this is at least like the tentative date of our show that we're not going to have a year without West Rossi stories on screen.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

And we mentioned House of the Dragon season three being out in 2026 and season four being out in 2028, but there's actually news now that uh there might be a fifth season. Me and Tony talked about it last year where when we were covering House of the Dragon season two and they officially they were like, that's it, it's just gonna be four seasons. We uh talked about how could they possibly uh structure and end the show. Tony shared his thoughts on it. He has a lot of thoughts. I'm sure he's gonna jump into it shortly. Uh it's still kind of unconfirmed, and uh that is making me concerned. So basically, the article that dropped this news basically said, Showrunner Ryan Condell had previously revealed that the series would end after four seasons, but that was not mentioned in the release and is up in the air right now. Sources tell us Condal is still writing the fourth season and the end date could change. Condor will make the final decision after season four is completed. Those last words really worry me. So he should be writing season four already knowing if he's going to be having a season five or not. Not waiting until it's over. Like I know that there's still time, but it's kind of worrying me. I like my shows kind of pre-planned. You know, we we didn't see the just swinging it stuff go well for Game of Thrones. Um and though I think, you know, we mentioned Vince Gilligan uh earlier, uh he said that not all of Breaking Bad is planned from the very beginning, but it's always that that feels so unbelievable because it feels perfectly planned out. The end feels pre-planned from the beginning, you know, like it feels like they didn't miss anything, like didn't seem like they were making it up as he went along. I don't think that this is going to be as perfectly done as Breaking Bad was. This is worrying to me because they already have the existing material, they could like just expand on it. If the situation or like the the hesitation kind of uh about the renewal is coming from HBO, and that's why they're kind of putting Ryan Condell in this limbo state of like, oh, we're gonna wait until after the scripture season four is done, then that's an executive problem. But either way, it's still it's still worrying me. I mean, they should this is this is their their like one of their biggest shows yet. They already messed up season two slightly. That it caused some damage. I don't want to see the same thing happen with season three. I want to know what you have to say about it.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Well, first off, I'm happy we have content for the next three years or more. Uh when we talk about Aegon's conquest, that's another thing that can you know happen. As for this season four, going into season five, there's only one reason why you'd go to season five, and I hope they do. And maybe they're just waiting to see how season three goes, how it's um how the fans react to it. We're always gonna want more. And they could also do like um, oh, we're gonna do season four and split them. We'll do six episodes here, and then you know, if they wanted to do that, and that way you get four more episodes uh out

Fire and Blood Spoilers

SPEAKER_00 19:23

of this one particular uh storyline that we want to talk about, and that's needed um time. Do want to mention, all right. Let me just get into it. For those who've read the novel Fire and Blood, you can keep listening. We'll just do a timestamp for this uh brief spoiler and then we'll come back to it. Uh all right, 3, 2, 1, spoilers here we go. So the only reason why you would have a season 5 is to do the hour of the wolf. That's when Craig and Stark comes in and takes over as Hand of the King. And I do want to see that all unfold because you know you have a mastic Stark presence in the King's Landing, he kind of brings Law and Order back. There's a lot of executions. Lord uh Corlus Valarian is in part of it. Like he, you know, Aegon is is poisoned. We talk about Renera, uh, how that's all gonna happen. I don't want the Hour of the Wolf limited to one episode. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like it's just not enough because if you have good writers, you can make this into even if they did six episodes, I would be okay. That's the one thing I'm thinking about. Um, because season four has to cover you know the back half of the Dance of Dragons, the drag, you know, the Fall of King's Line. There's so much that they have to cover in season three and four that I'm hoping that this news comes to fruition and we get a season five. I I don't what are your thoughts on on the Hour of the Wolf? Because I think it's one of the best chapters in the book.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

I agree that it shouldn't be condensed into one episode. That was kind of what uh we or you were really worried about when they said that's just gonna be four seasons. Um so I think like three or four episodes, maybe even five, would would be would be good. Um I don't want to see any of it rushed, you know. I mean I think that with House of the Dragon, they have this weird thing with pacing where season one kind of felt a bit too rushed. People I I was fine with it, but that's uh the impression that a lot of people got from it. And then with season two, it felt like we were moving breaking, like when you're in a traffic jam, it's like you you move and then you stop you moving. That's exactly what season two felt like because there would be some developments within you, okay, something's going on with Allison, but then also nothing really important is happening. It felt like a traffic jam, and then Damon is the big mess of the season where he was just wasting a whole the whole season away having nightmares in in Heron Hall. So it it has a it has a problem with with pacing, and I uh think that it's best for everyone if they just take their time. With so many shows nowadays, the ones that take their time are the ones that actually succeed. You know, you mentioned it in the beginning of the episode where like the new show, uh Plurribus, Fins Veligans, uh new show takes is taking its time like in one of the recent episodes, and that's how Breaking Bad was, and Breaking Bad is known to be like basically perfect, and it was a very slow show. So if you just take your time and like you should be good. House of the Dragon is a show where it's kind of uh it came with a built-in audience, it came with uh people that are going to tune in just because it's set in Westeros. You could have taken your time with everything and and and with the with the planning, with this and that. Like if HBO rushed them, then fine, maybe they rushed the production. But and I I won't blame it all on the writers because I keep mentioning HBO because I know that's uh you know, we've seen how where we know how executives are and how their involvement can really damage a product as well. I mean, we've seen it in the show, I think it's called the studio, right? The one from the one with with Seth Rogan. Like it's it's a big problem. So whether who whoever's fault it is, it's not it's not good. At the end of the day, you're doing something that isn't benefiting your show, it's not what the audiences want to see, it's not the best decision. So I think that they should just slow down uh and adapt it faithfully or in the best way possible.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

That's our dream, right? People adapting faithfully. But then let me uh let me uh I'm

Potential HOTD Season 5

SPEAKER_00 23:21

sorry to inter interrupt. Uh so okay, spoilers over. Uh back to um our conversation here. No more spoilers.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

I was just gonna say, oh, yeah, no small no more spoilers. I was gonna just gonna say that like they with House of the Dragon they have a pacing issue.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

They have uh I do think that season two, like I don't want to keep defending it, uh, because I think when I re-watch it next year before season three, I'm gonna have a lot more issues with it. But yeah, if you think in hindsight, right, if let's say we had 10 episodes, I think the season would have been way stronger because we would have had the battle of the agree. Uh we would have that would have been the penultimate episode, and then we would have had the aftermath of the battle. So that would have uh made up for the oh my god, Damon and Heronhall, oh my god, blah blah blah blah. Kind of like season five of Game of Thrones, where we're like, why is this so boring? Like, not so boring, but like it was so slow, and then we got Hard Home for season five. We got you know, John, that was uh almost a 10. Then you have um season uh episode nine with um what happens in season five, episode nine? Oh my gosh, I'm blanking.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

I'm googling it. I am let me The Dance of the Dragons. It's Loki what our episode's named after. Um what's our what's our podcast named after?

SPEAKER_00 24:40

But what happens in it? Is it the one with Daenerys?

SPEAKER_02 24:43

It's yeah, when Danny leaves the fighting pits when she rides the dragon for the for the first time and flees the city.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Okay, and then obviously the finale we get John's death. So those final three episodes kind of made up for the majority of season five. So I think that would have happened for season two, it's what I'm saying. But uh obviously it didn't happen, so that's just me, you know, whatever. So um let me jump into this. We'll we'll keep continuing and talking about the show. So if it let's say we do get a season five, right? Hypothetically, so that means we'll have another season in 2030, so then we'll have 26, 27, 28, 29. We'll be doing this podcast for a long time, and then if we get Aegon's conquest, I'm assuming they're gonna wait until House of the Dragon is done because we're not gonna have two major shows at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. Not two tar very Targaryen-esque shows at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

So then that's gonna happen, and that's gonna be something

GRRM Talking prequels and sequels

SPEAKER_00 25:41

that was talked about by George. Uh, he was he had an appearance in Iceland, and um he he said, Aside from the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in House of the Dragon, there are other GLT spin-off projects in development. Most are prequels, there are several in development, five or six series, and I'm not developing them alone, I'm working with other people, and yes, there are some sequels. Um quote prequels will be uh Aegon's Conquest, which will be a major, major, major show. Uh tons of special effects, tons of dragons. The biggest dragon you will ever see on screen will be there. Uh, this is gonna be a massive undertaking, and there's you know, this is something that um they asked the the writer Matt Matson Tomlin what's he most excited about with the show, and he said the opening scene is the it's just just to see that come to life on the show, which we don't know what that could be. That could be anything. I mean, it's fun to speculate what the opening scene can be, right? It could be the Doom of Valeria, they could show that, they could show the dragon dream prophecy, they could drill, you know, the fleeing, leaving dragon. You know, there's a lot of stuff to do. Uh, and that's something I mean we could always talk about in the future. Not until we see casting, you know, directors. Am I gonna get excited about it?

Sophie Turner & Kit Harrington reunite

SPEAKER_00 27:08

There's there's one little bit of news that I want to mention that I thought it was kind of funny. They came out a story about uh Kid Harrington and Sophie Turner.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Yes, I did, but to remind me again what Kitts exactly said.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

So apparently uh it was revealed that he's starring opposite of Sophie Turner and as her love interest in this upcoming movie called The Dreadful. And uh he said, and I quote, she was the one that sent that movie to me and somehow didn't see what I saw in it. I was like, these guys are lovers, right? I felt very odd about that, but it was a good chance to be with her again and work together. It was slightly embarrassing having to get on an apple box to kiss her because she's about a foot taller than me. But other than that, my dignity was pretty intact. What was lovely is that we got on set together and our friendship is completely ignited again. It felt like being with family, it really did. Unquote.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

Okay, so it like sweet but weird.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Yeah, because uh how old was Sophie when uh Game of Thrones started? Well, like 14, maybe 15. No, I don't think he um he was born in 1986. So he was 23. Oh so she was fifteen and he was twenty-five. So they're ten years older. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Oh I mean it it's it's definitely weird.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Um but but can I say is that they didn't really have any screen time in C when she was a minor. The only time they got to season seven, season six, she was what that was already twenty nineteen twenty eighteen. So she was already twenty, probably. It is kind of weird that you're gonna kiss her, but then again, she's you know, twenty-five. What how old is she now? Thirty?

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Yeah, so yeah, but I mean still like the I like I like I understand that obviously, and that they both seem okay with it, or like Sophie's okay with it, but like I can't imagine being in that position position because they everybody and like imagine how it's gonna be for us, the viewers, as well, because we know them as siblings as well, too. You know, like yeah, and in truth, they weren't even siblings, they were cousins. So, like we I don't know, like it's it's gonna be weird uh for everyone. It was weird for them, it's gonna be weird for us next.

Potential GOT sequels

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Okay, let's go move on to um sequels. They talked about potential sequels, and here's it was a surprise. Yeah, like we we've heard the rumors uh a couple years ago about John uh Kid Harrington starring in a show about Jon Snow, and and we're like, why? What would be the point of going back with Jon Snow? Here's the thing about Jon Snow I hated the fact. That he went back to beyond the wall, whatever. I thought he should have just stayed in Winterfell. He did all that work. Uh, what kind of show would you have with Jon Snow? Like he's exiled, he's beyond the wall. Maybe he's interacting with. I mean, he finds um we haven't explored the north, north, north. Maybe there's these magical threats that we don't know about.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Please, please.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

You know, but here you go. Like, exactly. Like, maybe some new supernatural things, but how is that gonna work if you didn't incorporate that into the actual show? You know what I mean? Like, you can't would I would I love to see a show with our favorite actors coming back and playing these roles? Yeah, but what what will be the point of going back to the future? Back to the future. Uh maybe if you did like a generational jump where everybody's gone and you have new leaders and something else pops up, uh, dragons might return. Who Drogon comes, whatever, or sorry, or you know what I mean? Like, uh, what can we do? Like, you can't have the same um how you know fighting for the throne, these houses, the backstabbing, because we've seen all that. Like, it's hard, it's hard to think about. The one that I think might work, not might work, but I would prefer to see something about the north and have Sansa, you know, Sansa's reign. And you could have like, you know, how the north is so hard to control. Maybe the northern lords or the people in the north don't want to see a woman queen, uh a queen, uh, you know, and then you have a woman queen. A woman queen. You know, she inherits it. There they have to, there's famine, there's something that has, you know, there could be some kind of stark-centric political big stakes, whatever, harsh winters, rumors spreading, king's like you know what I mean. There could be some term term moral there, but how if your brother's the king, he's always gonna have your back. That doesn't really work either. So, I mean, this is something I'm just throwing out, like whatever. Uh, here's one that maybe uh tickles your fancy. I don't know if that's a appropriate thing to say. Uh Daenerys coming back to life. Yeah, you call it the mother of dragons. No, no, after her death, Daenerys is brought to uh by Drogon to the Red Temple Valantis. She's resurrected, but not the same. She's altered, she's carrying visions, she sees uh thread in Esos, and we get to see Amelia Clark.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

I mean, look, I I feel bad saying no, but I really just don't want them to touch any of it again. You know what I mean? Like it's like even the concept of Danny seeing where she would be, like now starting all over again in Esos, it doesn't appeal to me. Like, you know what it reminds me of, funnily enough? You know, Joey, the the spin-off from Friends? That's what that's giving me. Very weird uh spin-off show where he goes to LA uh wanting like a break from like New Yorker, like a new fresh start in his acting career in LA instead of New York, and he leaves behind like the rest of the Friends crew, like Chandler, Ross, whatever, and he starts this new chapter of his life in LA, and it's so bad. Like it's not uh it's a show that I enjoyed when I was like 11 and too young to watch both Friends and Joey. It's like objectively, it's not great, you know. That's what that Danny story feels like to me, and I got the ick hearing it. Like, no, that's Joey. That's just Joey. I don't want it. I don't want to see her struggle again. Like, she didn't have to she doesn't have to go through that again. I don't want to see her struggle again.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Okay, let's say I give you um a mulligan, the writing of the last season. Again, we're gonna talk about this in the future when we get to season eight. But whatever, let's just talk about it right now. What would have been your preference with her character? Let's say they had freaking John stab her. He doesn't do that. What what should have happened?

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Listen, I'm going to be completely honest. We talk about season eight all the time, how much we hate it, how much we're so unsatisfied with it, how it was a bad ending, da da da da da. I'm gonna be completely honest and say, I never like I never came up with my own version of how I wanted the story to end because I was just so trusting, you know, of like George. And I kind of see the vision of like I honestly see see v C Bran. Like I see that vision. It's just that the sudden mad queen twist doesn't make any sense. So I don't know how I would want the story to go. That deserves its whole like separate episode from us where we talk about that and we say we're gonna. But I honestly don't have I'm gonna be honest and say I don't have an answer about how I would rewrite like that last couple of episodes of season eight and like season eight as a whole. That needs that needs so much time for me to think about. I I don't know. But before I ask your opinion, I will say like another kind of bite-sized news that we have about this actually is that uh a court in America, I think, has ruled that George R. Martin can sue Opening Eye, the people behind ChatGPT, because I heard or like there was some sort of news article or news that came out that someone used Chat GPT to write like the best version of how the Game of Thrones story could have ended. And I don't I think that they were trying to profit off of that something. I don't know because I don't know how the the suing part came into play. Like I f I found it very interesting that like and as they should honestly, because the these AI machines obviously just take from other stories and then just generate it generates content based on what they is already existing. So they kind of steal, right? So yeah, that was just something that came out. And now let me ask that very hard question to you, Tony. How would you uh end season eight?

SPEAKER_00 36:00

I wrote something down here, and I think that what's frustrating about season eight is just the laziness of the writing and the laziness of how everything happened in that last episode, since there's only six episodes, they had to rush everything, and it's kind of like okay, she takes over King's Landing, and then the next day she gets stabbed. Like, no having her guilt come into because we knew Daenerys to be a compassionate person, empathetic, and not even have her see her the struggle in her mind of what did I do, or yeah, having the guilt of like I just committed genocide against all these people. What she it should have been her struggling with her own actions. We didn't get to see, and that could have been a great something for Amelia to play with, like that play with all you know what I mean. Like, and we didn't get to see that. We get to see an amazing shot of her walking, and then you see Drogon's wings flapping, which is a great scene, a great shot. But I it's hard to to decide what could have happened because her burning down King's Landing to me doesn't make any sense. Um that could have been the the finale of a season, and you go, Oh my god, what did the narrators do? And then you have to wait, and then the whole next season is the whole aftermath of do they try to kill her. You know what I mean? Like we could have had we were robbed. Let's just say we were robbed, anyway. Yeah, I I'm just throwing out sequel ideas, you know, none of them are gonna agree to it. I I think everyone who was a part of the show, uh other than Kid Harrington, wants to come back. I think, you know, even when they asked them, you know, Amelia, um Peter Dinklage, they asked them about Hasa the Dragon, like they're like, we're done with that. We're that part of our life, you know. I haven't seen the show. Good luck to everybody. You know, I hope the show does great, but uh, we have no interest in watching that anymore, which I thought was honest.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Yeah, honestly, I don't blame them.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Like, and then you have that famous interview or that famous shot of Amelia, they're asking her, okay, yeah, of what are you and she does that, like, oh my god, do I have to say it? It's and then you have the table reading of her like slinking into her chair, like, oh my god, this is horrible. You know what I mean? You see that that that shot of them looking at each other, like, what the freak is going on here? And don't you think the writers or D were there? And they're like, Oh shit, maybe we should rewrite this? No, I think that they're they're no no I'm just saying if they had any conscience or like they could read the room, but like, okay, maybe we should um, yeah, we need to fix this. Uh well, I'll just say what we don't want to see. We don't want to see John exploring the north.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Uh no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Do we want to see do we want to see Aria going west of Westeros?

SPEAKER_02 38:58

Tony, I don't want to see anything. I don't want to see anything. I don't like the concept of any sequel to like the like literally, even if they say it's like a thousand years into the future, I don't want it. Stories should end, they should have an ending. It's not life, you know, like even life, every life has an ending. I don't want to go deep in and I don't want to say like silly things because it's midnight here and I'm I'm exhausted. So I'm just gonna say whatever if I continue speaking that way, but I don't want anything, anything that has to do with the sequel uh world in Game of Thrones, I really just don't want it. Nothing could go well, and you know what I think would be horrible, what I think would be probably the worst of the worst, like worse than John, worse than Ari, worse than Sansa, is if it's suddenly, oh, somehow the White Walkers returned. Somehow Palpatine returned that if if someone tells me that that's what they're writing, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna I'm gonna scream, I'm gonna walk into to the HBO building and be like, this is the stupidest idea that you've ever had. I don't know what George is gonna do. Oh, it's so stupid. I I I any sequel idea is is dumb and should not be adapted. I would not want to see that. I don't care what it is, I don't want it at all.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

I agree. I don't want to see a sequel unless actually unless nothing. I don't want to see a sequel.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, unless I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

Because I saw somebody say, well, maybe you could do a sequel of of people we don't know, but like, okay, but what would it be about?

SPEAKER_02 40:29

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

We we already have a show that we're gonna focus on the small folk. That's gonna be the knight of the seven kingdoms.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

If we're talking about post-Game of Thrones, you would have to always mention who is the king, who's this, like you would have to like you you would need to build that timeline, you would need to figure out what happens like to brand, to to all of the characters that we know, and I don't want to know any of it, you know, like that's it.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

And um well, wait until the books come out.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Yeah, but that's the thing too. Like, like they if they would do a sequel show, they'd be working with with no material to be like just off the top of their heads, not like nothing approved from George. That's horrible. Yeah, I need oh I was gonna sp I was just about to rant in Arabic. Um, they already don't know what they're doing when they have George's material perfectly laid out for them. We are seeing like kind of um warning signs or things that are giving us, I guess, a bit of hesitancy or confusion when it comes to House of the Dragon. George is feeling the same way, and everything is already written out for them perfectly in fire and blood. It has like like all they need to do is just like expand on the characters. The main plot points are perfect as they are, and they're going about and changing them for no reason. And it's already written there in in like in front of them. If they're just gonna be making stuff off the top of their heads, it's gonna be even worse. Like they're just gonna be making things like it's gonna be fanfiction at that point, you know. Like, oh, I think Bran marries this girl or whatever, and I think that Sansa has these kids and her son uh Edard II something, something it's like no, no, no, I don't want to see any of it. It's gonna be fanfiction.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

You think Sansa would wed somebody or marry somebody?

SPEAKER_02 42:10

I I just said that because they they would they could do that, you know. Like I it's just something that I said in a rambling moments because I'm trying to to illustrate to our listeners how unappetizing the idea of a sequel show would be.

Looking Ahead to next episodes/Outro

SPEAKER_00 42:26

I think, yeah, let's just move on here because we're getting upset. Um we're getting illustrated. Uh uh, that's gonna be I think that's gonna be all for uh this episode. Um, our 75th was gonna be us discussing the blood and cheese uh book versus show, but we decided that we wanted to talk about this and this is timely as news and give you our opinions, but our next episode will be Blood and Cheese. That's gonna be a fun one because we're gonna get dive deep into what our opinions are of the show and the book and get to talk about Allison because I do I did re-listen to our uh Son for Son episode, and my favorite part is that you went on an Allison rant for like 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

I forgot that.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Her actions in that episode infuriated you, and I think I don't even remember other than that last year. And I think we'll I think what we'll do is we can both re-watch the episode and then re you know reread the chapters. Yeah, we might have a little spoilers because one of the main reasons uh we I I'm gonna safely assume we both didn't uh think it was right because they omitted a character. So we'll talk about that. So a quick note uh with the podcast. So after this episode, we'll do the blood and cheese, like I mentioned. We'll we're planning to do at least two more before the sea the season, before the year is out. Uh, one more, we'll have a returning guest. We'll do a what if season three. Um, check out what if season one and two, those are fun to do, and then we'll figure out an episode before the year is out. But other than that, thank you for listening. To follow us on Instagram, go to dancing with underscore dragons. There we post reels, stories, uh fun polls, and any updates to the podcast you will find there. If you want to shoot us a DM, go right ahead. We welcome any ideas for the future shows. Make sure to download our episodes in your preferred podcast platform if you don't mind. Share, rate, all that good stuff. Thank you once again for listening. And here's to another 75 episodes of Dancing with Dragons. Peace out.