So HBO posted a bunch of videos this week featuring the cast talking in 5-6 minute chunks about their experiences playing the characters on the show and what they took away from the experience on working on this show. They are all really fun and sad at the same time because in 6 weeks these actors will no longer get back together to play these characters that have been with me for 10 years of my life. Then I'll only have any potential books Martin is willing to write.
Speaking of Martin, he got interviewed on 60 Minutes and here's what he has to say about the show as an adaptation of his books, its ending, etc.:
I would not expect perfection from each single episode, nor would I expect everything to be terrible. Occasionally (Spoils of War, Hardhome, Winds of Winter, Battle of the Bastards, The Door, etc.) the show is better than the source material. On other occasions (Dorne, Qarth for example) the show has some goofy ideas that don't always work. They are doing their best to finish a story that even the original author has trouble finishing. I'm just glad to be able to immerse myself one final time in the world that both Martin and every person on the show created. In an age where Netflix just dumps their shows in their entirety on their streaming service and noone talks about these kinds of shows a day or two after their release, this HBO show has felt very refreshing.
"I will never forget being invited to the premiere of the first season. I went in just thinking (skeptically), ‘Well, I guess we’ll just see how this goes.’ I sat there and this show unfolds and I am stunned. Stunned," Mazin said. "And I very specifically remember walking out and I said to [Weiss and Benioff], ‘That is the biggest rescue in Hollywood history.’ Because it wasn’t just that they had saved something bad and turned it really good. You had saved a complete piece of sh*t and turned it into something brilliant. That never happens!"
Michelle Fairley was fantastic casting as Catelyn Stark, and I still remember her being snubbed of an Emmy nomination for her divine work in season 3, but I think Ehle would've made a good Catelyn too. Pity she didn't got a different role on the show, she's a stellar actress.