George R.R. Martin Fans Rejoice! A Game of Thrones comes to HBO.

That’s right folks, George R.R. Martin, the world famous fantasy writer of the seven book saga of "Fire and Ice" recently announced on his blog (quirkily titled “Not a Blog”) that HBO has begun making a ten part television series of his first book, A Game of Thrones. Martin himself is in the throes of writing book six of the planned seven book series and if this TV miniseries proves a success every book may get its own shot to be translated into film. These books have already been a cult phenomenon for some time so you can probably imagine the buzz about seeing these stories portrayed onscreen.

HBO has already shot the pilot episode and the fabled character of Eddard Stark will be played by none other than Sean Bean (our good friend Boromir from Lord of the Rings films). For those of you unfamiliar with Martin’s work, he writes long epic fantasy novels, and his mythical realm of Westeros has everything from magical sages to warring knights to undead creatures from the frosty northlands. His much anticipated sixth book in the series, A Dance of Dragons, still remains unfinished. However, Martin claims that he has completed over 1300 pages so far in this next installment in the series, after which only one more book remains. The saga itself follows a vast array of characters, but the struggles of the family children of the noble house of Stark largely provide the main impetus of the overall tale.

To learn more about George R.R. Martin’s career both past and present, checkout his website for further details. A lot of both seasoned and unknown actors will take part in this HBO special, but both Martin and his screenwriters have stated that the filming will closely mirror the actual novels themselves in plot. Below I’ve listed Martin’s thoughts about Sean Bean starring in the TV series as Ned Stark:


“For the movie fans out there, Sean Bean needs no introduction. I mean, what the hell, he was Boromir and he was Sharpe, he was terrific in both roles, and in a hundred other parts besides. I can’t imagine a better Ned. The deal took some doing, so my fingers have been crossed for a month now (and boy, that made it hard to type), but now it’s done, and I’m thrilled.”


Bean has kept a feverish pace lately in the acting world, and will also supposedly star in the sequels to the new Percy Jackson movie. So you can imagine that getting this high a caliber actor for the TV series has drawn a lot of talent to the gathering cast. For further information on the filming you can also checkout one of the major George R.R. Martin fan blogs out there, Winter is Coming, as they have further details on the characters involved.